From the Ashes

12

"Tony... what happened?" Jensen asks next to him.

After Tony and Alec's sudden embrace, neither have said a word. They silently led them back to the van and they all went back to the packhouse, discarding the raid altogether.

Tony doesn't reply right away. His dark, chocolate curls hang over his face like a curtain as he looks down at the wood paneling of the porch beneath his feet. His eyes glance over at the sliding doors.

Daisy watches the boys on the back porch through the glass of the sliding door, a lost expression on her face.

Tony looks away to look back at the ground. His toned body is tense and his muscles contract underneath his shirt when he squeezes his hands together that hang in between his legs. "I don't know what to do. They got to her, Jensen..." His voice comes out hoarse and full of pain.

"Who? What do you mean?" Jensen asks.

Tony lets out a ragged breath. "She... they... I'm gonna kill them," he says it calmly and seriously, his tone determined.

Alessandro, mio figlio— his father's words ring in his ear. Cos'hai fatto? "What do you mean, papa?" Hanno fatto un patto con il diavolo.

They have made a deal with the devil, Tony thinks to himself. And they will have to pay.

The sound of crickets fills the silence in the crisp autumn air.

"Hanno fatto un patto con il diavolo," Tony whispers. "Li bandirò all'Inferno." I'll banish them to Hell.

His mind spins with a million thoughts. Most on what he's going to do to avenge his family. 

Tony's eyes absentmindedly follow the shadows of the porch railing made by the moon. "My mom, Jensen. Those bastards killed my mother." Anger seethes through every word. Tony's hands begin to shake as he gets angrier by the second.

Smoke sizzles off the skin of his hands. When Tony notices this, he takes a deep breath, causing the heat to die down. He closed his fists, focusing on keeping the heat inside.

His hands sting from the embers, but he keeps it inside. He wills it to burn the top of his skin. He embraces the pain.

But he can only keep so much in. Hot tears escape his eyes and he can feel a sob threatening to escape his throat. His body shakes and he cries. The pain flees as his skin heals itself--unable to truly be hurt by fire.

Jensen wraps his arms around him, pulling him closer. Tony cries freely in his friend's arms. 

Jensen holds him for some time. His face solemn, and his own eyes rimmed with tears.

After a few minutes, when Tony's slightly calmer, he looks over to the door leading to the inside. Daisy still stands there, a heart-broken expression on her face. She appears frozen in time--an eternal state of grief.

"Come on, Daisy," Tony says as his glistening dark eyes find hers through the glass. He knows she can hear him with her werewolf capabilities.

His words snap her out of her state.

She hurries out into the cool night and drops to her knees in front of him. 

Tony hugs her tightly. With his mother gone, Daisy is now the woman he loves most in the world. Her embrace brings him a temporary comfort. Though, he doubt he will feel whole for a while. He can't quite comprehend a world without his mother.

The last time he saw her, she was alive. There is no world he knows with her gone. When he goes back home, some part of him still believes she will be there. She'll be in the kitchen making fresh mozarella. She'll tell him off for being gone so long. She'll remind him of how special he is--how strong he is. All will be right in the world.