Hello!

I just realized I had to write something for Marco's Bday so here it is :D Had to search through all my drabble ideas before I found this one :D Not the happiest drabble but it's not the saddest one either XD Ofc no beta :D

Rating: T+

Song of the drabble: Sweet Curse by ReVamp.

Marco was tired. He was too tired of living, dying and living again. The envy he felt for the humans that could end their suffering with one simple movement, be it stepping in front of a train or pulling the trigger... On the other hand they didn't betray their lover to his death seven thousand years ago. Well, maybe some humans did do that, but Marco was willing to bet his not very small (to put it mildly) fortune that their lovers weren't most powerful shamans of their time.

So here he was, wandering the night city and trying to find a way to ease his boredom. There wasn't a thing in this world that Marco didn't try to kill his boredom. Eventually he just gave up on everything and the reason he had a job and walked around at night was because it was better than just lying in his bed. The internet did help for a while but there weren't enough series and cat pictures to keep him interested. He was quite fond of gaming though – more often than not it helped him to pass the time.

There was a reason why he wasn't at home playing Heroes of Might and Magic III or doing dungeons in any of his multiple MMORPGs. Everything circled back to the shaman that cursed him. To lift the curse he needed the shaman's forgiveness. To get that forgiveness he needed to find the reincarnated shaman (which was a lot easier now with internet but still too close to impossible). Marco had no idea what the shaman would look like or even if he was going to be reincarnated as a man.

He still remembered that day like it was yesterday,despite all the millennia. He remembered the curse, word for word, as the shaman forced it out with his dying breath - 'Whatever life left in me... with it I curse you... I curse you to wander alone for eternity... you will never find rest until I forgive you...'

Marco didn't betray him willingly or knowingly – he loved him too much to do that but he wasn't a shaman so he couldn't protect himself when another shaman decided to kill his lover with Marco's own hands. He could see and understand everything he did and said but he couldn't control his body in the slightest. He couldn't stop himself from brutally murdering his love... Of course the shaman that made him do it was long dead, Marco personally saw to it, but that didn't revive his love. Hell, he couldn't even remember his lover's name! Well, he couldn't remember his own name either so maybe it wasn't such a big deal.

Finally deciding to call it a day and go home, Marco went to the closest bus stop. He sat down on the bench leaning back tiredly and closing his eyes. There was at least half an hour before his bus would arrive, possibly even enough for a nap. Marco sighed, listening to another late passenger walk towards him to check the schedule and back away to stand by the stop sign.

"You look horrible," the man said to Marco.

"I'm just tired," the blond decided to humour the man by answering.

"How long has it been, Marokh?" the man asked.

"Seven thousand years, give or take a couple of centuries," Marco answered with a sigh but without thinking. He was too tired to think.

"That's... a bit longer than I expected... It seems like every time I was born I missed you by a couple of months. If you just stayed in places a little bit longer this could have stopped a long time ago..."

"How long?"

"I think the first time I was reborn was in Thebes during the reign of Djer but when I was five you ran off to China. I remember seeing you often in the marketplace – I just didn't know why you looked so familiar back then." The man answered.

Marco's brain started catching up slowly. He opened his eyes and looked at the man by the stop sign. The resemblance was striking. In fact, if he wasn't sitting on a bench in a city made of asphalt, steel and plastic, he would have thought he travelled back in time. Everything was the same, down to the last freckle.

"Assei?" Marco breathed, afraid that this was another hallucination.

"I'm Ace now, the ever broke and ever hungry student," the shaman gave a small smile, looking pained and relieved at the same time. "I finally caught up to you."

"What do you mean, caught up to me?" Marco breathed, getting up and taking a shaky step towards Ace.

"Ever since I missed you at the construction of Lion Gate in Mycenae I've been using my powers to predict your movements and redirect my rebirth. I never managed to catch up to you before my time ran out..."

"Why?" the blond took another step.

"I may have been hurt and betrayed and died at the hand of the sole reason for my existence but I never intended for this to happen. I would never willingly do this to you... but I did. For that I am sorry and I forgive you. You don't need to suffer anymore."

"So if I just jump in front of a bus right now I will die?" Marco asked, moving one step closer.

"Yes." Ace answered, looking him directly in the eyes. The blond was surprised by the expression on the shaman's face. Assei was never good at lying despite being a shaman – his face always gave him up and despite the time Marco still knew his every expression. Right now he looked sad, guilty, in pain and relieved but more than anything else he looked lost.

"What if I want revenge?" The blond said, carefully observing Ace's face.

"I can teach you what curses I know if that is what you want," the shaman answered with hoarse voice, looking away.

"What do you want?"

"I want what I always wanted. That one never changed..."

"You mean you're hungry?" Marco couldn't do this anymore, not when Assei looked like a kicked puppy. He missed him too damn much to walk away out of spite.

"Wha..." Ace looked like a fish out of water for a moment before he, like Marco predicted, became hilariously angry. "Jerk! I hate you! Seven thousand years and you're the same jerk you were back then!"

"So you're not hungry?" The blond raised his eyebrow and, just as expected, Assei's stomach rumbled.

"Shut up! I hate you!" Ace shouted, red in the face.

Marco could barely hold his laughter in – Assei hasn't changed one bit.

"That's too bad. I know a good restaurant that's still open at this hour – I thought you could keep me company."

Ace looked anywhere but at him, blushing furiously. The blond finally let a chuckle out – the shaman was always too stubborn and hot-headed for his own good.

"Come here," Marco said with a smile that was getting bigger by the second, bracing himself. Cue pouncing in three... two... one... "Umph!" He grunted when he got an armful of Ace. Marco hugged him back, feeling more alive than he could ever remember. Finally, finally it was over.

See? A happy ending :D

Thanks for the reviews, favs and follows!

Hope to see you sooner rather than later,

~Rhe.