Marcus/Rocco
The pain didn't bother me anymore.
Not in the way it used to.
Two weeks ago, every bruise felt like a reminder of how far behind I was. Every failure sat heavy in my chest, louder than anything else.
Now, it was different. The pain was still there. But it wasn't the loudest thing anymore.
The silence was.
I sat alone in the clearing just before sunrise, the sky barely beginning to shift darkness into light. The air was still, carrying that quiet weight that came before everything woke up.
No one else was there.
No Callie pushing me.
No Seraphina correcting me.
Just me. And the bracelet.
I stared at it for a long moment, the faint markings along its surface barely visible in the dim light.
"You keep failing me at the worst times," I muttered.
The bracelet didn't respond.
It never did. Not in any way I understood.
I exhaled slowly and leaned back slightly, resting my elbows on my knees.
"Or maybe I'm the one failing," I added quietly.
That felt closer to the truth.
I closed my eyes. Not to sleep, just to think.
Seraphina's words echoed in my mind.
You're forcing it.
Callie's voice followed.
You're thinking too much.
And then my own.
I need to get stronger.
That part hadn't changed. But maybe the way I was going about it had to.
I inhaled slowly, steadying my breathing.
Then exhaled.
Again. Slow and controlled.
Not forcing anything or chasing it. Just being… still.
At first, nothing happened.
Just the sound of my own breathing.
The faint rustle of wind through the trees.
The distant hum of the waking world.
Then I felt the shift.
The bracelet pulsed. Gently this time.
Like it wasn't reacting, but responding.
My breath slowed further.
The tension in my body eased slightly, my focus turning inward instead of outward. For once, I wasn't trying to grab the power or force it.
I just let it be.
The world changed.
Not all at once or dramatically.
It was more like… everything else faded.
The clearing disappeared.
The sound of the wind softened.
Even the feeling of the ground beneath me seemed distant.
And then, I wasn't there anymore.
I stood in a wide, open space. Endless and dark, but not empty.
The air felt different here.
Heavy, but not oppressive.
Alive, in a way I couldn't fully explain.
I looked down at my hands.
Still mine. But something about them felt… sharper.
More defined.
"This is… the realm." The words slipped out before I could stop them.
"Not entirely."
The voice froze me where I stood.
I turned slowly. And my breath caught.
"… Father?"
He stood a few steps away.
Exactly as I remembered. Strong posture, calm presence, the same steady eyes that always seemed to see more than they said.
But there was something different, quieter and… distant.
"You've grown," he said.
The same words, but they didn't feel like Aldo's.
Not empty or testing. Real.
Emotion hit before I could stop it.
"You're-"My voice faltered. "You're dead."
"I am," he replied calmly.
That should've hurt more. But somehow it didn't.
Because he was here. In some way.
"I don't understand," I said.
"You're not meant to. Not all at once."
I stepped closer slowly, studying him.
"You're part of the bracelet?"
"Not in the way you're thinking," he said. "This realm carries echoes. Imprints of those who came before you."
My chest tightened slightly.
"So you're… not really him." A faint smile crossed his face.
"I am enough."
The answer lingered. Because… it was.
I looked around again, taking in the space.
"It feels… alive," I said.
"It is," he replied. "The bracelet is not just a tool. It is a prison."
"A prison for what?"
"For what hunts you."
My grip tightened slightly. "The demons?"
"Not all of them," he said. "But the source of their power… fragments of it are bound here."
I frowned. "And that gives me power?"
"it feeds you," he said. "Strength. Speed. Endurance. It enhances what you already are."
I thought back to the fights. The moments where everything sharpened.
"That's why I feel faster."
"Yes."
"And stronger."
"Yes."
"And unstable," I added.
He didn't deny it.
"Because you resist it."
That again.
I exhaled slowly. "I don't trust it."
"You don't trust yourself with it," he corrected.
That's… true.
Silence stretched between us for a moment.
Then-
"I saw him," I said.
His expression didn't change. But something in the air did.
"Aldo." The name felt heavier here.
"I remember him," I continued. "From the fire."
A pause.
"You should." My chest tightened again.
"He was there," I said. "The night everything happened."
"Yes."
The confirmation hit hard.
"He killed you."
A longer silence.
"Yes." No anger or hesitation, just truth.
I clenched my fists.
"And now he's just walking around like nothing happened."
"He has always moved freely," Father said. "That is part if the problem."
"That's not good enough," I said, my voice tightening. "He killed you, Killed Mom And now he's coming after me."
"He has always been coming after you."
That made me stop "What?"
"You were never separate from this," he said. "You were hidden from it."
The difference mattered, even if I didn't fully understand how.
I looked down at my hands again.
At the faint energy I could now feel moving through them.
"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked quietly.
"Stop running from it."
I let out a short breath. "I'm not running."
"You hesitate," he said. "You hold back. Not because you are weak, but because you are afraid of what happens if you aren't."
I didn't answer. Because he was right.
Again.
He stepped closer this time.
"The power is yours," he said. "Not because it was given, but because it was meant for you."
I met his gaze. "And if I lose control?"
"You will."
That wasn't reassuring.
"But you will learn." I exhaled slowly.
"That's not exactly comforting."
"It isn't meant to be."
That almost made me smile.
Almost.
The space around us shifted slightly, the darkness pulsing faintly like it was responding to something deeper.
"You don't have much time," he said.
That got my attention.
"What do you mean?"
"Aldo will not wait forever."
My jaw tightened. "I'm not planning to."
"Good."
He stepped back slightly now.
Fading. Just slightly.
"Wait-" I said quickly. "There's still more I need to know."
"There always will be."
"That's not helpful."
"No," he agreed. "But it is true."
His form began to blur slightly at the edges.
"You'll come back here again," he said. "When you're ready."
"I'm ready now."
"No," he replied gently. "You're not."
That stung. But I didn't argue. Because deep down, I knew.
"Marcus."
The name stopped me.
Not Rocco but Marcus.
"Both sides of you matter," he said. "Don't lose one side trying to become the other."
That… stayed. More than anything else.
With that- he was gone.
The world snapped back.
The clearing returned. The sound of wind, The ground beneath me.
My eyes opened slowly.
The bracelet pulsed once.
Steady. Controlled. Alive.
I exhaled. And this time-
It didn't feel like I was chasing it.
It felt like it was finally...
Mine.