Marcus…
He decided to put on a movie for Thalia to help distract her from what was going on, and after a little while she fell asleep again with her head slumped against his shoulder.
Selene also decided to stay the night to help watch over her.
As the TV screen went black, Selene turned her head to look down at Thalia and smiled softly.
“Its sweet to see her still stay close to you even with everything going on. If I didn’t already know you, I might think you were her father,” she said to him and he turned his head to look at her.
“I might as well be at this point. I raised her since she was born,” he said as he used his magic to pull a blanket from his bedroom without jostling Thalia awake and wrapped it around her.
“Look Marcus...I hate to admit this but, Ruvick is right. Neither of us can watch over her at all times. You will need to find someone to take care of her whenever you aren’t present,” she said.
“I know that but...who can I trust to take care of her? I barely know anyone here and I’d rather not resort to extorting people into submission or threatening their lives just to work for me,” he said and Selene chuckled for a moment before looking at his face and realizing that he was serious.
“Oh...you did that to people?” she asked him while raising her eyebrows curiously. She didn’t really seem concerned about it though from her expression.
“Only to bad people who deserved it” he said and she shook her head in exasperation.
“You know, when you convinced me that you had killed Artemis in front of all those people, you pulled off the act really well. You looked so menacing and heartless that I never would have been able to think otherwise,” she said and he scoffed.
“Wasn’t that the whole point? I couldn’t fill you in on what I was planning otherwise your reaction wouldn’t have been genuine,” he said and she nodded in agreement.
“Yeah...I guess so,” she said as her voice trailed off lazily. Her eyelids started to droop and she leaned back on her side of the couch.
“So…what will you do?” she asked him sleepily.
“I guess...tomorrow I’ll hire someone at the brotherhood hall to keep watch over her,” he said as he realized he was falling asleep too.
His head slumped back against the comfortable cushion and was lulled to sleep from the warm glow of Thalia’s burning hair and her steady breathing to calm his nerves.
When the next day came, Thalia followed behind him as they made their way back to the brotherhood hall.
As they were walking there, she clung next to him as if hiding behind him because of the strange looks people were giving her due to her flaming hair.
“Don’t worry about them Thalia. They are probably just a little surprised to see someone else with hair like yours other than that hero Moyako,” he said to try and ease her worries.
Her head perked up when she heard that and she replied, “That’s right! Moyako had the same flaming hair! Maybe I should talk to her about it!”
Hearing that made him nervous as he didn’t really trust that woman yet or know what to do about her.
“Maybe some other time Thalia. Right now, we need to find someone who can watch over you whenever me or Selene aren’t around,” he said.
Thalia pouted and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but stopped herself. She took a moment to think about it and then stayed silent.
Marcus raised his eyebrows curiously and said, “You were about to pout and say ‘I don’t need someone to watch me! I’m not a child!’ weren’t you?”
Thalia rolled her eyes at him and looked away from him.
Hehe…
“Well regardless, even if you were twenty years old, I still wouldn’t let you go out on your own until you knew how to control your magic and neither Selene, nor I will be able to watch you all the time until you do. So for now, you will have to bear with the fact that you need a caretaker,” he said and she sighed.
“Yeah...alright. I guess that makes sense…,” she said and her tone of voice sounded kind of sad.
“Hey...if something is bothering you, why not just tell me?” he asked.
Thalia then looked up at him and said, “Well...that house you’ve bought is supposed to be for both of us right? We’ve been in this world for over two months already and you still haven’t finished getting the home ready. Living in that church with those other kids...I don’t like it there. I just...miss being home. Yesterday, even with all the crazy things going on, it felt like I was finally back home with you. Not just that, but also the fact that you are going to hire a body guard for me makes me feel like you’re going to keep me at arms reach. When am I going to be able to come home again?”
Hearing that made him stop in place.
He didn’t realize that...all this time he had been so distracted by dealing with Ruvick, dealing with the Forrosan kingdom, and dealing with the tournament business that he hadn’t found time to finish renovating the house for the two of them.
He then turned around and knelt in front of his sister to look her directly in the eyes as he said, “Thalia, I promise you that as soon as I hire someone to take care of you, my first and most important priority will be finishing our home. Can you put your faith in me til then?”
She stared at him for a moment as asked, “Do you really mean it?”
He gave her a warm smile and said, “Of course. I swear it.”
Her expression brightened up a bit as she nodded and the two of them walked into the brotherhood hall.
As soon as they stepped foot inside, they realized that it was almost desolate. There were a handful of people but usually there were so many around that you could barely walk in there without bumping into a fellow member drunk on his earnings and alcohol.
“Where is everyone…?” he muttered.
As he looked at the bar, he noticed Dean mulling over some paperwork. He also noticed that among the few other members still present, Alta was at the job board as he tried to figure out which one to pick.
“Thalia, why don’t you go talk to Alta for a moment while I speak with the captain,” he said and she said okay as she walked over to him.
As soon as he saw her start to strike up a conversation with Alta, he started walking over to Dean but barely made it within ten feet of him before he heard the captain say, “You’re not here to pull some sketchy shit today, are you?”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed as he responded, “Only if you aren’t. I’m just here to hire someone for a job, but it doesn’t look like there’s a whole lot of people here today.”
“Yeah, with the contest of champions about to happen in a few days, most of the jobs we get in are scarce as everyone is getting prepared for all the merchant stalls and festivities. Not to mention that people will want to stay with their families for a while. There’s only a few stragglers like Alta that are still here looking for jobs or looking for a drink. So...what kind of job are you intending to post?” he asked as he took a sip of whiskey next to him.
Drinking while filing paperwork…? Whatever.
“I need someone to act as a bodyguard whenever Selene or I aren’t able to watch her,” he said and Dean turned around to look at him.
“Since when is Selene supposed to be watching your sister? She has more important things to do than deal with your family,” he said with a controlling undertone in his voice.
Ooh...Marcus didn’t like that at all…
He walked in close to Dean and said to him with a low tone, “Since when do I give a shit about your opinion on what another person should and should not do?”
Rather than back down like before when Marcus held him his own sword to his neck, Dean stood up from his seat and turned completely around to face him, staring him in the eyes.
Marcus tilted his head slightly and smirked as he said, “That shaving nick of yours seems to be healing up nicely huh?”
“Don’t push your luck with me Marcus. I don’t care if you’ve got the strength to fight gods. When push comes to shove, even god killers have weaknesses. You continue to push me any further and you’ll find out what happens,” he said, his expression unchanging.
“Oh…? What, I leave for one day and you suddenly found that your balls have dropped and now you want to play at being a man? I’d like to see you actually back up all the shit your talking about without having to use magic at all,” Marcus said, challenging him once again.
Without taking his eyes off of him, Dean raised his glass to his mouth and took another drink before asking, “Why do you even care about Selene to the point you’d threaten me like this huh? Considering the bloodthirsty look in your eyes, I’d say you’ve been involved with quite a bit of nasty business over the years. Do you view Selene as your ‘royal pardon’ to forgive yourself of the things you might have done in the past? Do you want to settle down with her and leave your past life behind? Is that it?”
Marcus couldn’t stop his eyes from narrowing in anger when he heard that and Dean pulled his head back as if to look down on him.
“Oh that pushed some buttons didn’t it…? Heh...I don’t care who you hire to watch over your sister, but keep me and Selene out of it,” he said as he turned around and sat back down on his stool to return his attention to his paper work.
“Go fuck yourself Dean,” Marcus said, spitting on the ground where he stood, before walking back to his sister.
“Come on Thalia, lets go. There’s no one worth talking to here,” he said but she tugged on his shirt.
“Hold on a minute,” she said as she looked up at Alta.
Alta held his hand up as if to wave and said, “Hey…”
Marcus looked at the board and found that there were barely any jobs left at all.
Then an idea formed in his head.
“You’re looking for work, right?” Marcus asked him.
Alta shrugged as he replied, “I don’t really know. I’m just looking for anything to do at this point.”
“What kind of magic do you use?” he asked.
Alta took several minutes explaining to him, in his own way, how he is able to manipulate the thermodynamic principles of controlling heat transfer and the rate of that transfer to the point he can freeze water almost instantaneously as well as make ice explode.
“-why do you ask? What are you hiring for?” Alta asked.
“I just need someone to watch Thalia whenever I’m busy with things. If you can be a good bodyguard to her then I’ll pay you better than anything these jobs could pay you,” he said and Alta thought it over for a while and then shrugged.
“Sure, why not? I’m not doing anything else at the moment,” he said.
Ruvick...
She had found him at his usual spot in the cafe he frequented and he was eyeing her as he tried to figure out why she was so agitated.
“What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.
Ruvick shrugged, “I’m just curious as to why you look so bothered. You’ve had all this time to talk with Marcus like you wanted and yet...oh…,” he said as he trailed off and finally understood why she was so agitated.
“You did meet with Marcus didn’t you?”
“I did…,” she said and it looked like there was more behind the story.
“So? What happened?”
“He acts like he doesn’t know a thing about me and yet he was pissed the moment he saw my sword,” she said with a bitter expression on her face.
Ruvick however, was confused.
“Why...how would he know who you are? Care to elaborate on that?” he asked but she refused to speak.
“By all means, if you want to keep your business to yourself then I won’t bother you over it. Just don’t complain to me that I won’t help you because you won’t explain to me what’s making you so angry,” he said as he took a sip of coffee.
She then looked him in the eyes and her expression softened as she said, “Even though I am over two hundred years old, I was actually born not long after he was. From what Marcus said to me, he only arrived in this world a few months ago and he left Terra around 2021. I left Terra around 2026. Me and my family have...unfinished business with him and he acts like he doesn’t remember a damn thing! He’s even challenged me and made his cooperation dependent on whether or not I beat him in the contest!”
Ruvick then smirked as he said, “Well then, I guess you should consider it fortuitous timing that you were sent back in time as long as you did and gained so much strength and experience. You will definitely need it if you want any hope of beating him.”
She then raised her eyebrows as if she were offended and asked, “You think...that someone like him who has only been in a world full of magic and barely learned to grasp it for two months has any hope of beating me? Do you think I would lose?”
He looked her in the eyes with a cold stare and said, “Underestimate him and you will lose. You seem to think that he is just an ordinary man who was granted great power but he is not. Marcus is not a human being but rather more akin to a god, and he is more ruthless and ferocious than some gods of war I know. If you let your arrogance blind you, then you will surely lose to him.”
H-hold on...you said that he isn’t human…? What do you mean by that?” she asked, her voice shaking and her expression startled.
“That bothers you?” he asked in confusion.
He knows that Moyako had never had much issue being around people who weren’t human at all but learning that Marcus isn’t human seemed to have frightened her.
What is the deal between these two…?