Solo
His mom had kept him and his brother fed growing up, always pushing herself to make more money so they could be happy. Holidays had been times where their mom would work and they would celebrate on their own, or with a neighbor. Halloween was one of those times. Cheap, handmade costumes, sometimes just ones from the previous year, were donned and they boys had taken to the streets. Back then they had been living a relatively simple life. He didn’t pay attention to the monsters. The shadows. The screams were those of harmless pranks, nothing he should have been concerned over. No, back then it was easy to ignore what was right under his nose, what was just lurking at the edges of his vision.
But then they started to mess with his friend. They had take in a touch too far that night. He’d always ignored them, paid them no mind. The worse they did was mess up his stuff, scare someone briefly then- vanish. But that night something had been different, something had been off. His friend was normal… And then without warning it all went to s**t. He could hear them in the shadows, see them briefly before they moved on. It had been a rude wake up call, and a troubling moment.
Why did they change tactics? It seemed stupid. Small things to.. causing injury. It was bad and wrong. He’d ignored it, but then there was so little he could do. What did he tell people, “Hi I’m Marcus, and I can see bat s**t crazy stuff that happens that no one else seems to see.” Hello loony been ride. No, he had to bite his tongue, and deal with it. Even with his family he felt like he was in an uphill battle against whatever it was that were after him and those around him.
He wasn’t a fighter. He never wanted to go out and fight things. He just wanted to be able to live in peace, but those creatures, those things, those god forsaken monsters couldn’t let him do that. They didn’t let anyone do that. He’d seem them torment innocent people and have no way of stopping them and their antics. Watching and being able to do nothing was the worst. It was a battle, and one he had lost continuously for years.
He’d been beaten before. Back when he was a kid, his brother had taken a shine to tormenting his sibling by beating him up. Back then he’d hated his brother, thought him to be an idiot. As they grew older things started to change. His brother picked on him less, got wrapped up in school, in work. The once loathed torment from his sibling was missed in a strange way. It was just something they had done for years, a constant in their lives that neither thought might end. But… it did. What did that say about his family? What did that say about his brother? More than those things? What did it say about him?
He drifted apart from people. They drifted from him. Sometimes he’d worried that it was because they secretly knew what he could see. That they knew he was weird, different, hell back then he’d thought he’d been insane. Sometimes he still did what with half the crap he’d already seen on the island and on missions. But- that nagging thought persisted sometimes. Did he drive people away? Was that why leaving his family behind had been so easy? He just… didn’t relate to them anymore? He didn’t care for them like he used to? Sure, he came to the island, to become a hunter, so he could protect people and keep them safe from what was out there.
He was a moon hunter. Charged with protection, defense. His job was to make sure others didn’t get hurt and that they were kept safe. Bitter, he wondered why they couldn’t go back home, protect those they loved there. But then it had become obvious. The lives of the few did not out weigh the lives of the many. The world depended on them, not just their families. Not just their friends. Not just their hometown. They were the ones who had to make sure the whole world was free of the things that went bump in the night. They had to be like this. It was for the betterment of all, not the few.
Looking at Cass, asleep in his arms after their movie, Marcus wondered it in protecting other, if he was in a way, protecting himself. He’d always had put himself first but now- Now he was secondary to others. Minor. His job was to be a cog in the machine. Nothing quite more. But also to be nothing less.
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