I wrote this a couple of months ago for my friend Tiruru and I decided to publish it here because I want to raise some support for her pairing of Mari X III who are soooo cute together! If you want to read more about Mari, visit Tiruru's deviantart page and story 'Amitie Eternelle'. Enjoy, I hope III isn't OOC XD

A small teenage girl with long blonde pigtails was sitting on a lone swing in Heartland Park, which was gently swaying to the rhythm of the breeze. Her name was Mari Lockhart and instead of smiling and enjoying the movements of the swing like most girls her age would, Mari was frowning and appeared to be in a trance-like. The toes of her dainty blue shoes only just managed to touch the floor of the swing set.

It had been two months since the World Duel Carnival had ended and Mari had never felt more alone. Tsukumo Yuma had won which came as a bit of a shock to her because he was just an ordinary boy who had a bit of dueling talent, but life has it's way of surprising people. For example, the blonde haired girl never believed that she would make a new friend (a boy nonetheless) who she felt like she could trust. Even though the WDC was meant to bring people together, it sounded more like some dumb cliché that advertisers used in order to attract more people. It certainly brought her and III together.

III…

Every time Mari saw him, she felt a bit lightheaded and weak kneed to the point where she believed that she had to be catching a cold or something. What else could it be? Sure, III smiled warmly at her every time they met and he saved her from those two idiotic guys who wouldn't stop harassing her, and how could she forget the expensive hair ribbons he bought for her that Mari now fondly wore. But that's what friends do…right? Still, ever since the WDC had ended, every international duelist had gone back to their hometown - including III and his family.

He had probably forgot all about her; just like the other people that Mari had met in the past. But what truly hurt the young teen most of all was that III never said goodbye. The blonde haired girl scolded herself for believing that III was different; humans are selfish creatures and it was only in their nature to lookout for themselves. This was what she deserved for letting III in, well never again would she make that mistake! The only person that Mari could rely on was herself, she couldn't even rely on her kaa-chan because the only person she cared about was her onii-san. Not to mention that Karoi would eventually leave her when Astral had completed his mission, maybe Mari was just destined to be alone for the rest of her life. That would probably just be for the best.

"Mari-chan."

The thirteen year old broke out of her trance and raised her head at the mention of her name. Surprisingly it was the person who Mari had just been ranting about.

"III!" She couldn't help but raise her voice at the sight of him. Her pulse had significantly increased and her palms had started to sweat, what was going on with her?

Mari ignored the strange reaction her body was having towards III and focused on his emerald green eyes instead. Even though the fifteen year old boy was dressed in his usual attire, he looked like he had aged a substantial amount of years; he even had bags under his eyes which contrasted with his cream skin. It looked like he hadn't been getting enough sleep lately, but why should Mari even care about that? The only person she could trust was herself after all.

III raised his hand and pointed at the swing next to her, "Is that swing taken?"

Mari turned her head away from the swing next to her, "No."

She was surprised by how hostile her voice sounded to her old friend, but it was what III deserved considering that he had abandoned her almost two months ago with no explanation.

"Can I sit there?" He asked.

"Do what you want, it's a free country. I was just about to leave anyway." Mari declared as she jumped off the swing.

She was about to walk away when she felt someone's smooth hand wrap around her wrist.

"Please Mari-chan, don't go." III almost pleaded.

Mari was surprised to hear III talk to her that way, she had never heard him use that tone of voice before. She almost felt sorry for him, but she couldn't afford to relent; Mari wanted him to suffer the way he made her suffer. She pulled her wrist out from his loose grip.

"Hmm, why not III? You left me without an explanation and you didn't even bother to make any contact with me since! You promised me that you wouldn't abandon me and like the idiot I am, I actually believed you!" Mari fumed before III interrupted her.

"Don't call me III! That's not my name." He suddenly shouted, tears threatened to spring to his eyes.

Mari's mouth dropped open slightly, she had never seen this side of III before and it was quite shocking to see him in this state. Maybe she and him had more in common than she originally thought.

"Then what do you want me to call you?" Mari inquired.

Even though she currently had a grudge against III, Mari was still curious to know why he hated the name he originally introduced himself as.

III took a deep breath and looked into Mari's topaz eyes, "It's Michael, Michael Arclight."

Her eyes widened in shock almost instantly, "Michael? I don't understand, if that's your real name then why did you lie to me? If there's one thing I hate, it's liars."

Michael (if that was III's real name) sat back down on the swing and slowly swayed back and forth, the squeaking of the chains filled the silence between them. It felt like an entire millennia had passed before he finally spoke.

"My tou-sama…no Tron, forced my entire family to change our names in order to protect us. H-he got sent to another world and when he returned, he only had revenge on his mind. My family had to lock away our s-smiles and h-happiness in order to fulfil our r-revenge. Tron only viewed us as tools for his revenge and it hurt so much, I even d-dueled again Y-Yuma-kun because I was jealous of how even though he lost his parents, his family were still c-cheerful just like my family used to be." Tears began to trail down III's...Michael's cheeks and Mari felt her stone heart crack at that.

She couldn't stand to see him like that, so she sat down on the swing beside him and placed her hand over his own.

"Michael, you don't have to continue torturing yourself by explaining. I understand if you don't want to continue." Mari patted his hand softly and she was surprised to see Michael's hand holding her own.

"No…I have to face up to what I've done." He gulped down some air and continued with his story, "After I dueled Y-Yuma-kun, I lost and m-my soul got taken. My last thought before I fell into that c-coma was about how I had acted towards the people w-who were trying to be my f-friends. I was upset how our last conversation ended so badly that when I e-eventually woke up from my c-coma, I was ashamed to see you again. I thought that if I didn't say g-goodbye, it would help you f-forget about me and m-move on with your l-life."

Mari felt like throttling the boy at that moment for being so oblivious to how she felt about him. However she managed to restrain herself, "Michael, you of all people should know that I wouldn't simply forget about you like that! You promised to always be there for me and when you broke that promise, it hurt me more than it should have. Even though I want to kill you right now, I'm not going to do that because you're just like me." She rubbed the back of Michael's hand with her thumb in an attempt to comfort him.

Michael couldn't help but give Mari a small smile at how uncharacteristic she was acting; he wasn't very sure if he liked her acting this way.

"Arigato Mari-chan, I'm sorry for the past two months." He apologised.

They sat in silence for a few seconds, enjoying each others company before Mari couldn't help but ask him another question.

"Were you happy?" She blurted out before she could stop herself.

"I admit that once my family and I left Heartland to go back to our family home, it was the best feeling in the world. My tou-sama has returned back to normal, Thomas has taken a break from his pro dueling career and Chris tinkers in his lab a lot. In fact he even made me, Thomas and himself these bracelets." Michael pushed up the sleeve of his left wrist to reveal an ornate bracelet with a green stone in the centre.

Mari rose her right hand up and started to trace the patterns on the bracelet, "What does it do?"

His smile faltered slightly, "I haven't been completely honest with you Mari-chan. One of the main reasons I'm back in Heartland is because Yuma-kun needs my help. He helped me when I was in a really dark place and I want to return the favour, also Astral has gone back to Astral World so I know Yuma needs a friend. Dark times are approaching."

Mari wasn't surprised to hear about Astral disappearing because how could she forget about Karoi's weeping? It must be horrible to lose somebody that you love, it feels like a part of you is missing and like all the happiness has been sucked from the world. Mari realised that she had just described how she felt about Michael disappearing, a small blush graced her cheeks.

The pink haired boy was surprised to see Mari's face turn into the colour of a tomato. He hoped that she wasn't catching a cold or something; it was almost autumn. Michael quickly touched her forehead with the back of his hand, it was extremely warm. "Mari-chan, maybe we should get you into some place warm, I think you're coming down with something."

Mari couldn't speak because she didn't want to make a complete fool out of herself, so she bobbed her head up and down. Michael got up from his swing and helped her up from her swing.

"There's a café just a few minutes away from here, I think you need some hot chocolate."

Mari couldn't stop herself from hugging Michael and breathing in his familiar scent. "Don't leave me again without saying goodbye or else I really will kill you."

Michael returned her hug and rubbed her back, "I don't doubt that and this is one promise I intend to keep."

The young couple broke their embrace before walking away, hand in hand.

"You're buying the hot chocolate, it's the least you can do for abandoning me." Mari declared and Michael could only smile at her statement.

"With lots of sugar?"

"What other way is there? It's either with four spoonfuls of sugar or not at all."