Chapter 53 The Heart Of A Hero

Marcus had begun the day feeling strangely energetic. He couldn't explain it, but it felt good.

For reasons unknown, he felt as though all their problems were going to decrease. Or most of them, at least.

Of course, Harrison and Tia would probably avoid each other for a while, and the air between Joshua and Harrison would full of thick tension...but that would all work itself out over time.

He had faith that Eric would stick to his word this time and actually make a real effort to redeem himself, especially with the help of Maria.

The social would back off eventually, as long as after Christmas break they managed to keep their attendance up, as well as Harrison and Tia staying hidden. But even if the school discovered that he had no parents, if Eric managed to turn his life around, he had plans to ask him to file for legal guardianship.

Victor hadn't been heard from since that day he stopped by. Hopefully it would stay that way, but if not then both of the twins could defend themselves much better now that they had supernatural powers.

Hope, love and faith. The three things that kept him going throughout everything he had been through, and even when he had lost it all, the people he cared for the most were there to reassure him and help him find his way. For that, he was grateful. He knew he wouldn't have made it this far without them.

Today was the day he would not only make peace with his brother, but also get to work on helping Rafael find a way to live amongst humans.

Right now, he was spending the morning preparing exactly what he was going to do. The things he would say to Eric and what was going to follow after that. A small part of him was nervous, but he managed to keep the worrying to a minimum and focus on all the positives.

*******

Taking a deep breath and heading inside the cafe, Eric could feel his palms becoming sweaty. He couldn't help but feel anxious about meeting Maria.

His actions had come at a horrible price before, but he felt as though he had the power to fix that now. He knew that he was stronger than the issues he had faced - and in a way, created.

Spotting Maria, along with their little baby Kristopher in his pram, sat at one of the tables by the window, he quickly made his way over to her.

"Hey." He greeted, feeling a little shy as he sat down opposite her.

"Hello Eric." She greeted him, only half warmly.

"We have a lot to talk about." He told her.

She nodded, waiting for him to begin. It was strange being back in Moonsong Valley, yet it was nice to finally be able to talk to him when he wasn't full of rage.

"Maria, listen...I would like to say that I'm sorry for the way I acted. It's just somewhere in between Rafael kidnapping you, and putting our son in harms way, I snapped. The reason being is that I didn't want to lose you both the way I did my mother." He explained to her, the expression on his face pained at his reasons.

"It's okay. I understand. As a mother myself, I don't want to lose our little family either. But why did you take it so far? Almost killing your brother and...behaving much like your father." She questioned, reaching out and placing her hand on top of his that were resting on the table.

He huffed a breath of relief at her understanding. Truth be told, he felt so lucky to even be talking to her right now. She didn't have to come today, and yet she did.

"I guess...when Marcus began to gain hope and believe that Rafael could be redeemed, I lost my own hope. I was scared that if it turned out that Raf hadn't really changed and he was just fooling my brother, that someone could happen to any of them or even to us. So I used tough love to try and deter him from trusting the kitsune. But when I did, I lost control of my wolf and he just kept attacking and attacking until...well until I was stopped. I never meant to hurt him or anyone else. After that I was even more angrier, not at him or Rafael, but at myself." Eric explained.

The past few weeks spent in solitude he had been going over those events in his head repeatedly. He had come to regret losing control and how he had directed his anger towards everyone else except himself.

"I understand, and here is my suggestion. We can be together again, and work hard on building a safe zone for our little boy if you promise me that you will learn to control your anger." She offered.

"Sounds good to me. I promise you that I won't let you down again. I will get help and learn to stay in control." He vowed.

"Thank you, Eric." She concluded.

*****

Before leaving to go meet his half-brother, Marcus did everything he could to make sure that the others would be okay while he was out.

He left Julianna in charge of keeping things in order. Hopefully he wouldn't come back to another scene like the one he had last night.

Plugging his earphones into his ears, he left the house and began the walk to the cafe. He had left a little early since the place that he was going was on the other side of town.

The weather was getting colder by the day and now that there was a blanket of snow that covered the town, it would be easier to get around. Tonight was a full moon and he planned to use the snow to his advantage so that he wouldn't have to go all the way out to the middle of the woods to transform.

In the middle of town, there were people everywhere. Since it was almost the run up to Christmas, it would be like this for the next few weeks. He didn't mind though, as long as nobody riled him up.

Just as he made his way through the street that would take him to the other side of town, he heard footsteps behind him and a female voice call his name. With a roll of his eyes, he turned around to see someone that he never wanted to come across, ever again.

Unimpressed, he took one earphone out of his ear and confronted her.

"What do you want Alayna? I thought I made myself perfectly clear to you the last time we spoke." He questioned, unphased by her presence.

"Relax baby, I just wanted to say happy Christmas." She spoke in a flirtatious voice.

"First off, I'm not your baby. Not anymore. Secondly you can shove your happy Christmas where the sun doesn't shine." He snapped, turning around to walk away.

Infuriated by his response, she hurled herself forwards, ripped his earphones out of his ear, shoved him so that he was facing her again and gave him the hardest slap she could manage.

Though with his strength, it didn't hurt him in the slightest. If anything, it just pissed him off.

"Get your skank hands off of me!" He growled.

Clearly scared by his tone, she obeyed him. Although she seemed to be trying to be nice, he knew her all too well and if anything her being nice was just an act to carry out another ridiculously horrible plan of hers.

"If you wanted me to be your baby, you should have thought of that before cheating on me. I've moved on with Julie and I'm happier than I have ever been before. I don't need you, and I never did. Goodbye." He concluded and walked away before she could say anything else.

Arriving at the cafe, he was glad to be there. He headed inside and spotted Eric, who was still sat with Maria, instantly. Making his way over to them, his half-brother budged over to make room for him in the booth.

"You wanted to see me?" He questioned Eric.

"Uh..yes. As much as this is a lame thing to do after how I behaved, I wanted to say I'm sorry for everything that went down a few weeks back. I wasn't angry with you, I was angry with myself. But no matter what, I shouldn't have taken it out on you, nor any innocent people." Eric began.

"Right, but how do I know I can trust you not to do it again?" Marcus quizzed.

"Because I told him that I will come back to him on the condition that he learns to control his anger." Maria interjected.

"And I was wondering if you could help me with that?" Eric requested, knowing he didn't deserve the help but wanting to try anyway.

"I can, but I have a condition of my own." Marcus informed him.

"Of course. Anything." Eric agreed.

"Please give Rafael a chance. I know he has done horrific things, but I think that we all have. He passed about a week or so ago, but he told me of this legend about a God-like kitsune, and it turned out to be true." He explained, making sure that they were all caught up with what was going on.

"I will try. No promises though." Eric agreed, a little reluctant, but not wanting to push his brother.

"That is all I want. But Maria, I do have a question for you." He said, turning his attention the witch that was attending to the baby in the pram.

"Go on.." She green lighted him.

"Rafael made me a deal. He is going to hold up his end of the bargain on Sunday evening after a little ceremony that my friends and I are having, I was wondering if you could help me hold up my end afterwards?" Marcus asked.

"Depends. What was your end?" She questioned.

"I agreed to help him find a way to live amongst humans the way we do." He informed her.

"Then yes, I can help you. But it might take me a little while to find a spell that doesn't have a catch." She stated firmly.

"Thank you, and that's okay, there is no rush." He told her.

Marcus could feel a huge, almost crushing, weight lift from his shoulders and he was beginning to find it easier to breathe. He didn't fully trust Eric yet, but he hoped that with a little help from himself and Maria, that he would do the right thing. Everything was beginning to fall into place, and it may take a while to solve their other problems, but for now he was just happy that after a nearly two months of heart ache and tragedy, things were finally looking as though they were gonna get better.

He had been tested more times recently than he could count, but each time he had come out the other end even stronger than before. Since finding out what he was, he had learnt so much. From how to control his emotions - which he had always been quite good at anyway, to dealing with the worst possible situations in an appropriate way.

Now that things had settled down a little, he could finally just relax and look forward to the ceremony on Sunday night. He was nervous about it but more excited than anything.

Of course there was still the mystery of Joshua and his little disappearance the other night, but until there was proof of another threat towards them, he didn't have to spend one second worrying that they were in danger.