Markus
~~~~~~

He sat down on the edge of the bed feeling irritated and stiff. It didn’t bother him that Eden had ordered him in here – he was used to her sending him away – but something else was getting to him; something that was causing him to clash with Nova. He’d never had any problems with the kid before but for some reason…

He shifted to make himself more comfortable and hissed as pain shot up his right side. Kite’s hammer, the one he’d first landed on during their arrival in the fal’cie’s lair, had done more damage to his body than the beating Eden’s friend-turned-monster had managed to enact. He pulled up his shirt and tentatively touched the swelling, flinching at the pain he was inflicting on himself. “That’s gonna sting for a while.” He glanced quickly about the room knowing that he wouldn’t find anything to ease his discomfort. That is the terrible thing about hope. Faint though it might be, it will always find a way to make you try.

There was nothing to be found at a glance and he didn’t dare go searching through the belongings of another person, especially not when he knew those belongings belonged to Eden’s parents, so he sat, alone in the dark, and mused over his situation. It was strange how quickly everything had changed. He’d gone to sleep excited for his trip and anxious about what he would he would say to Eden and now…now he was the doomed puppet of a fal’cie.

He removed his right arm guard and with his thumb, traced the brand on his forearm. It just sat there, a blaring symbol of the curse now set upon him. He was no expert on the subject of l’cie but he knew enough of them to understand the fate that awaited him. Fulfill the wishes of the fal’cie and be immortalised in crystal, or fight, and become a monster. Death lay at the end of each path. Not his, but the lives of countless innocents. And one way or another, he would be the cause of their end.

I won’t let it happen. I won’t be the cause of that much pain. I won’t let that fal’cie make a monster of me. He stared down at his brand, pouring his thoughts into it, hoping, in some small part, that his rebellion of will would reach the thing responsible for his damnation. I will fight you. With every day you have left me I will resist the death you wish me to bring. And when those days end, when the last of me is fading, then I will take a life. But that life will be mine, given willingly, so that you will not take even a sliver of satisfaction from my falling.

The door to the bedroom swung open and Markus looked up, surprised to find Eden standing there.

"We need to talk." She was more curt than usual. He wanted to write it off to fatigue but he had the sinking feeling that it was more than that. The stiffness of her shoulders as she closed the door and flicked on the lights that he had chosen to ignore warned him of a tension that he had not seen in her for some time.

"What do you want to talk about?" He slipped on his arm guard, covering the brand. He had no intention of hiding it from her - there was little point in that - but he could only concentrate on one of the two and right now Eden was the one demanding his attention.

"I want you to ease off on Nova."

He raised an eyebrow at her. It wasn't like her to be so vocal about Nova. Her need to protect him had been obvious since the attack and Markus had seen hints of it before then but to hear her say it out loud was surprising, if not strangely unsettling.

"I don't know what's going on with you and him but it has to stop. You realize that pitiful display back there was your doing."

"You're going to blame me for your brother's lying to his so-called friend?"

"I'm blaming you for causing their fight. It wasn't necessary."

"Nova needs to stop running away from his responsibilities. You know that as much as I do. He's always afraid to face the truth head-on. He'll do the same with his brand, find some way to sugar-coat it, to pretend that it isn't serious. He needs to grow up, Eden. Otherwise he's going to get himself killed."

"It isn't your concern. Nor your decision to make."

"You're right. Why should I concern myself with Nova? I should just leave it to you. I should just sit back and pretend I don't notice how much harder you push yourself when you worry about him, how much pressure you put yourself under trying to pretend that you aren't worried about his latest escapades. And I definitely shouldn't care how much danger you put yourself in as a result of that worry."

She sighed and rubbed her temples. "I'm too tired for this, Markus."

"Then go to bed."

She looked at him as if trying to gauge his emotion then decided she was too tired for the effort and wished him a goodnight. He returned the gesture and looked away as she left him alone, closing the door behind her.

Wringing his hands, Markus sighed. "One day, one day that girl won't actually walk away from me." He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself but his near-fight with Eden had him too wound up. He patted his pocket to check the magi-leaf he'd purchased was still there, counted to one hundred to be sure the way out would be clear, and then slipped out into the garden.

He sought out a stone bench between two tall shrubs and, checking that he was indeed alone, pulled out one of the leaves and started chewing. The relief was almost instantaneous. Even the aching of his limbs began to ease. He leaned against once of the shrubs and smiled. "That feels better."

"What does?"

Markus jumped to his feet and spun round, finding Alex, innocent as ever, standing just a few feet away from him. And this is why you learned to never take the bag out of your pocket. He'd never been more thankful for that. "Alex, what are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep." She walked a little closer to him and admired the look of some of the flowers in faint light. "I overheard you fighting with Eden." She reached out and touched one of the petals, smiling as she did so. "Are you two okay?"

"Don't worry about me and Eden, we've fought worse than that before."

"I heard it can be healthy to fight with your lover."

Markus couldn't help it. He laughed.

"I don't understand...did I say something funny?"

"Eden and I aren't lovers."

The younger girl blushed. "Oh, I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean -"

"Don't beat yourself up about it." He walked up beside her. "So how come you couldn't sleep?"

"I just...it's all been a bit..."

"Much?"

She nodded.

"Yeah..."

They stood in silence for a few, long moments.

"How do you cope with it, Markus? How do you survive when everything is so much bigger than you are?"

He put an arm around her and felt her body tremble slightly. An image of Nova came to mind, warning him away from "his girl" but he pushed it aside. He didn't have that type of interest in Alex. She was a sweet girl, beautiful too, it was no wonder that Nova looked at her the way he did, but Markus' heart had been stolen by Eden a long time ago, and he would die before he ever got it back from her. "You just keep walking. It sounds hard and it is, I won't lie to you there, but you're not alone and it will get easier. You just have to be willing to put one foot in front of the other."

She let out a tiny laugh. "You're not how I imagined city men would be."

"Well I'm not actually from the city. I was born on a farm a long long way away from here."

Alex pulled away from him but only to provide the distance she needed to look at him properly. "You? Really?"

"You're that surprised? Everyone else picks up on it within a few minutes of meeting me. I don't have that 'refined air', as someone told me once."

She looked both confused by the oddness of his words and embarrassed at her inability to determine his lower class upbringing. Not knowing what else to do, Markus just smiled, put a hand on the girl's shoulder and asked, "Wanna go explore the gardens with me?"