At the Manor

Amu laughed slightly.

"I have a feeling I'm never going to," She said, leaning against the wall near the door.

Tina shurged. "Maybe, maybe not."

Amu sighed, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. She opened her eyes, listening in the hallway to make sure Marcus wasn't there before turning to Tina.

"Tina, I care about you. You know that. I---I almost think of you like a little sister. And for that reason, I'm going to give Marcus a chance." Were these words really coming out of her mouth? "Even though he's done so much to us....everyone....I'm going to give him a chance."

She sighed, then looked at Tina.

"I still don't trust him, and I certainly don't like him. But I'll give him a chance. /One/ chance," she said. "This is sort of a 'three strikes and you're out thing'," She explained. "I'll /try/ to be nice. Alright?" She asked, giving her a small, sad smile.

She looked up at Amu a big smile on her face, she nodded. "Thank-you Amu."

Amu sighed as she walked out of Tina's room. She couldn't believe she was really doing this. Was she really going to....be /nice/ to Marcus?

She mumbled to herself as she walked down the hall and towards Marcus' room. All the things he had done swirled thorugh her mind. Fighting with them, helping Lorelai escape, hurting Tina, trying to kill her and then ending up hurting tina again, all the times he had used hsi voice to bind her, and most of all how much he had seemed to /enjoy/ all of this.

Then she began thinking about his past. He /had/ had a rather hard life, and she couldn't believe it, but she did feel somewhat sorry for him. Though the way he looked when he spoke of beheading the queen....

And then there was Eric. What was going on with those two? All she understood was that Eric had changed Marcus during the incident with the Queen, but that was it.

Then she began to think about what Tina had told her. How he had a different side, a softer side. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she may have already seen it. The way he looked at Tina, and the way he spoke about her. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn't such a bady guy after all.

No, she refused to believe it. She stopped once she reached his door, and opened it without even knocking and stepped inside.

"I'm going to make this quick and painless," She said. "I don't like you; you don't like m.e But i love Tina, and so do you, however diffrenetly," She said. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breathe before continuing. "So, it's for her sake I'm doing this. I'm going to /try/ and get along with you, Marcus," She said, looking him straight in the eyes. The coldness of them made her falter, but she quickly regained her composure and continued.

"I'm giving you /one/ chance, Marcus, and one chance only. A "three strikes and you're out" sort of thing," she said. "This doesn't mean I like you," she quickly clarified. "In fact, I still don't trust you, and I still hate you." She sighed.

"But I may have misjudged you," she said, repeating what he had told her before. "however little. I know that /somehwere/ in there, there has to be some shred of decency. At least, that's what Tina keeps telling me. And it must be true, after all, she's your mate. So you have /one/ chance," She said. "If I even /think/ that you're planning something, or hurting osmeone, no matter who or what it is, I will not hesitate to hurt you. Don't think that just because you're Tina's mate I won't. BEcause if you're staying here, you're par tof this clan. /Don't/ blow it," she said. She wlalked closer to him before contiuing.

"I will try to be nice to you, but I make no promises. Because I still rmeember what you've done, al lthe things you've done, and nothing can excuse you from that."

She couldn't belive she was about to do this. She held a hand out to him.

"Truce?" She asked, though her face looked pained.

Marcus said nothing as Amu spoke. He kept his cold eyes on her face dureing her speech. He /couldn't/ care less if she liked him or not. It didn't matter. He stared at her hand.

"I make no promises ethier. I will not swear to anything. " He paused, his voice cold. "Truce." He said, not toucing her hand, and his voice was still cold. "For Tina's Sake." He added quieter, softer.

Amu glared slightly at him, and let her hand drop to her side. She just nodded, and took note of how his voice changed when he said 'for Tina's sake'.

She remembered his arm, and looked at the bandages.

"Are you okay?" She asked, though she didn't sound like she really cared.

"I'm fine." Marcus said coldly.

Amu glared at him, rolling her eyes.

"Why did Eric come here?" She asked. "I need to know. If he comes back, we have to be prepared." She was still standing next to his bed.

"Donno, he never gets to the point." Marcus laguhed slightly. That was partly his fault, always quick to pull his sword out to try to kill him before he can speak.

"He was the one who.....changed you, correct?" Amu asked, folding her arms across her chest and watching him carefully.

"Yeah so?" HE asked. he didn't think it mattered

"And he just happens to show up, and then you two try to kill each other?" Amu asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"IS it wrong of to want to kill him?" Marcus asked.

Amu frowned.

"No," She said slowly. "But if it puts us in danger, I need to know; will he be back?"

"Most likey."Marcus said. "He doesn't liketo lose."

Amu nodded. Then she sighed.

"If he comes back, we'll know. I''ll hear him coming, and Shellie can hear his thoughts. So don't even think about trying to fight him on your own. If you're staying here, you're part of this group, and you'll have to deal with our help, weather you like it or not."

"My my, it rather like you care." Marcus said. "HE's my problem, so he's my fight."

Amu bit her lip to keep from yelling.

"I told you, I'm only doing this for Tina," She said, her voice controlled. "And you're right, he's your fight. But if things get out of hand, we're helping."

And with that she turned and left, closing the door behind her and walking to her own.

Marcus layed back and closed his eyes. After a hour he opened his eyes again, and stood up.

Amu was in her room, laying on her bed and in a restless slumber. She had been since earlier. She woke up with a start, looking around. She saw that it was dark out, and smiled slightly and stood up, stretching and yawning.

Tina's door was slightly ajar. Marcus was sitting next to her on her bed. His back against the headboard. Tina was still sound asleep, she had no idea Marcus was sitting next to her.

He had a small smileas he wacthed her sleep. He always liked to wacth her sleep. He would pull dead leaves out of her hair when she sleept. But there wasn't any, they weren't out in the woods, they were in a room. So he just wacthed her sleep. She looked like a little angel to him. This was the only time he was warm, then as soon as she woke up he was cold again.

Amu had changed out of her normal attire of her white dress and into a pair of jeans and a dark purple tank to, deciding she needed to wash her dress. She put her hair up before walking out into the hall. She saw that Tina's door was slightly open and walked over to it curiously, opening it and stepping in silently. When she saw Marcus sitting on her bed her eye twitched slightly.

"Strike one," she mumbled, before leaving, shutting the door behind her.

Marcus frowned when Amu came in, his frown deepened when she said: 'Strike one'.

He stood up suddenly. The movment almost woke Tina up. She twiched and rolled over. Marcus held his breath. She didn't know he wacthed her sleep, and he didn't want her to. He let out when she didn't wake up.

He quietly walked out of the room.

"I didn't know the rules inculded that I couldn't be near my mate." He spat when he found Amu.

Amu was walking down the hall, and when Marcus followed her she spun around, a strand of her hair falling from where she had pinned it up.

"How do I know you're not going to hurt her again?" Amu demanded in a quiet whisper, so as not to wake Tina, glaring up at him. She said she would be nice to him, yes, but Tina wasn't here right now.