TURNABOUT By Cryogenetic

Disclaimer: Soul Calibur and all it's characters are property of Namco.

Summary: Fluff, and some sticky sap. Asty hotness, oh and Marius doing him a big favor! Hey, it's not like that! Enjoy!

Chapter Four - "Innocence"

Back at Rellos, a new day had come and it was becoming apparent that the resident misfit had disappeared for longer than usual. Old man Talros had already covered most of the village by now and there was still no sign of their surrogate son who was supposed to help him with woodwork today. "Kara, where is Marius?" He yelled, partly in frustration. "Blast, There is still much to be done here, if you see him send him right over here!" The meekly girl nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, sir!".

"Confound it, That stubborn boy has no sense of what's important sometimes..." The surly man went about collecting the wood he needed and walked back to his shop.

--

Daylight bled through Marius' closed eyes and he came to slowly, only to be startled by Astaroth just standing there completely naked with his back turned to him, his backside very prominent and not exactly what Marius was hoping to wake up to. Because he was slowly getting hard, he wondered if Astaroth was even aware that he was arousing his young acquaintance.

"Uh.." Marius hoped it would get his attention, and he couldn't help but admire the tight and full backside on the other male.

Astaroth turned around and now Marius had seen it all, his cheeks blushed a deep red and he fixed his gaze to the floor.

"You're awake. You almost looked as if you'd never wake up, I am endebted to you for staying. Err, Is something wrong?" He inquired with his husky voice. The young teen wasn't sure how to answer the question, nevertheless it slipped out. "Um, no. Just that you startled me when I awoke, and that uh I didn't think you'd still be err..unclothed?" The rellosian rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and looked down to the ground unsure if he'd get the message. Astaroth looked down at himself and vaugely understood, "Oh. Sorry." It could almost be called embarrasment though in his own guarded way, his body was that of a man's only he was much larger.

"A certain decorum must be maintained or something like that." Marius quipped, and he laughed.

Not that Marius was complaining, because secretly he was becoming increasingly frustrated with the fact that he couldn't keep his eyes off his companion; and that he enjoyed his quiet but strong company...

"What do you suggest I do then? There's nothing around here large enough for me to cover myself with." The boy then let out a string of giggles which made Astaroth again shift uncomfortably. "Marius? I don't think it's very funny, so please stop laughing... I was naked before, why can't I be now?"

Marius then started laughing even more, it was amusing listening to his new worries. "Just because! You just can't!"

A perpetual scowl stamped on his broad face, Astaroth dropped his head in a more obvious expression of feeling like an idiot. The younger male's laughter slowly died down and he thought about the situation for a moment, "I suppose I could bring you something from my village, though I'm not sure anything will fit you. You're quite big." Astaroth simply responded with a nod at that comment, it was true after all.

"If I return, will you be here?" The former warrior briefly took a moment for the request to sink in, "I'll be here." he said and then Marius went on his way back to Rellos.

Astaroth then chided himself... "Where else would I go looking like this?" He laughed at his own use of humor, it was instinctive and felt human. He loved it.

When Marius arrived he was greeted with either long stares, an occasional wave and smile and one seriously disappointed look from the old man, Talros.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Hearing it from 7 women and Talros in unison only made him feel worse about what he had done. They were worried sick and he knew they would be, but he still decided to stay with his troubled friend in the Cerrato Forest. Marius jumped, "I wandered off and uh got lost. Please forgive me!" He hated telling lies, but he couldn't say anything about him could he?

An elderly woman, wise and ripened with age stepped forward to him, held his face and frowned slightly, "You can't just wander off in the middle of the night, Marius. Danger could be lurking behind every tree or rock, what if something happened to you? How would we know? We worry about you is all, you must understand." She smiled and let go of his soft cheeks. "I'll remember that." Soon after Marius was on his way to the shops that stood on the outskirts of Rellos, there he saw many items for sale by the gypsies and merchants. Including weapons, armor and all types of food. With the work he had done for the last few months, he decided to find a smith who would make something large enough for Astaroth to wear. He arrived at a small chain of merchants lined up in a row selling various things of interest, from armor to pottery and even jewelry.

Marius spotted one very large shop that looked like it was constructed this morning, nearby was a wagon with two large oxen that he figured belonged to the blacksmith he was heading straight for.

"Hello, sir. I'm Mar-"

He was rather rudely interrupted by the scraggly man who owned the shop, "What business have you with what I sell, child?"

The wooden wall behind the man had been adorned with various weapons of many styles hanging by nails, and when Marius scrutinized it further, he saw newly aquired leather in it's raw form. It looked so different than what he thought it looked like, before it had been treated in the special baths and dyes used to prepare it for wearing. Marius gave him a confused look, almost hurt. Then he quickly remembered why he was here, for Astaroth. He smiled again, more eager. "Well, see-- I am looking for something to wear for someone I know, but um he's really, really big. So um, I'm not sure what you can do for me."

The look on the man's face was intimidating, full of doubt regarding the boy's claim. Still, a customer was a customer.

"How big? You make it sound impossible. I'll have you know I am the best armor forger and leather tailor in the land."

Enthusiatic about describing Astaroth, Marius jumped on the shop's counter to the owner's surprise and put a hand flat in the air to accentuate just how tall the golem was. Then he jumped down and made an effort to give the merchant an idea of his waist size and other measurements, the kid had a grin that threatened to split his face in two halves.

"I see. I believe I can manage, but it will be costly. How much do you think you have? I don't imagine much, you are a child after all." The boy's smile faded a bit, discouraged by the other man's almost bitter attitude. Marius untied a small leather pouch from his waist and set it on the counter, it was full of numerous gold pieces earned from his work with the old man back at Rellos. The shop owner's eyes lit up. Partly in greed and partly in surprise that the boy hadn't been robbed, the amount of gold was impressive for someone so small..

"Hmm, this will be enough." Grabbing the gold and leaving Marius empty handed with but 4 gold pieces, his face a little sad for being broke now. "How long before you finish my friend's armor? Oh, and what will it look like? Will it be really heavy? I don't know if I can carry it all the way back to him!" The stout merchant simply said, "You have to tell me how you want it to look like and what it's designed for, child."

"Oh um. I don't know. I guess I have to ask him."

Such innocence is easily taken advantage of. The blacksmith thought. Instead though, he would choose to indulge the boy and not cheat him. "I'll give you two days to return to me with your designs. If I don't see you before that, I'm off to Ecada with your gold. Remember, two days. Now, off with you." Marius ran as fast as he could back to the forest, he decided to take a detour so he wouldn't have to cut through his home and have them ask questions. When he got to the woods, rather out of breath; there he was.

Astaroth. Still waiting, still quiet and still naked.