Pacing around his room, Marvin tried his best to figure out how to explain everything to his two friends.

For their part, Jacob and especially Trevon were much more patient and quiet than he was expecting. They were both sitting on his bed, watching him carefully. Hell, even more than he himself was.

“So are you actually going to tell us anything, or will you bring someone else in for that?” said Trevon after a while. “Maybe a fairy or a centaur?”

Marvin found himself letting out an involuntary chuckle. It was actually a centaur that had introduced him to this world. If not for that, he didn’t think that he would actually be here, with these people. But now was not the time to reminisce.

Taking a deep breath, Marvin tried to remember the words Chiron had spoken that day, and when that failed, he just decided to try saying whatever words came to mind first.

“The world isn’t, well, you don’t know everything about it.” he said, wincing at his own wording. “There’s this-this secret world, like in books and movies. There’s mythical creatures and magic and all that. I found out about this when I first came to the school, where they invited me to join this organization that runs this world. Some things happened, and now we’re here.”

“Is this it? ‘A few things happened and now we’re here’?” said Trevon, narrowing his eyes at Marvin. “This is a big thing. I mean-Mallory is a part of this as well, and-and I mean, this is huge!”

“Indeed it is.” nodded Jacob. “And if the Mallory girl is in this as well, that leads to the question of who else is involved as well. What else are you keeping from us? You must understand we need a bit more than that.”

“I-give me a second.” sighed Marvin, rubbing his temples. “Okay. You are good people. We owe you this much at least. Adam, CB and Marly. As far as I know they are the only people within school right now that are involved in this. They were born like that though. They didn’t have a choice.”

“That is all well and good Marvin.” began Jacob, looking apprehensive. “But how do we know tha-”

“Please.” said Marvin. “I’ve figured you’ve known Adam for a long time. Don’t let this ruin your friendship with him. He’s still the same person you’ve known all this time.”

Trevon actually had the audacity to laugh at this. “Ya really think we could?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Marvin found himself at a loss for words. He remembered his old classmates and how he barely had any friends amongst them. How they treated him even worse after everything that had happened during that day.

It was nice that these two were willing to stay by their friend’s side even throughout a reveal much more dramatic and impactful. But that small part of himself still existed, that part that felt resentful for that fact, that wondered why couldn’t he have had that?

“We will not mention this to anyone else, but it will be okay for us to talk about this with Adam?” asked Jacob.

“Ye-Yeah. I don’t think that will be a problem.” stuttered Marvin, the blonde teen’s monotone voice breaking him out of his thoughts.

The two people nodded, quietness, which was somehow both peaceful and awkward, dominated the bedroom. Until, of course, a cry of Marvin! lead to it crashing and burning as a blonde figure appeared and slapped him in the face before hugging him.

“Um, M-Ma-Marly?” said the dark haired teen, looking at the heterochromatic girl while nodding at his bed. Noticing the two teens sitting at his bed, Marly’s face turned into a colour reminiscent of her left eyeball.

“We-” Marly cleared her throat, “-we need to talk. First of all, your grandma said that dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes. And also, I think we need to talk about the thing. You know, what we started doing in Atlanta.”

“I think we should leave the two of them alone, Trevon. This appears to be a private matter.” said Jacob as he got up from the bed.

Trevon followed suit, putting his hand on Marvin’s shoulder as the two boys exited the room. Sighing, Marvin looked at the blonde girl, noticing that he appeared quite conflicted.

“Marly? Is everything alright?” asked the dark haired teen, putting his hand on her arm. She visibly stiffened at his touch, causing him to call out her name once again, hoping that she would answer.

“Last night I-I had a dream.” she said, looking him in the eye. “Eobard and Chiron, they were working together. They had betrayed my grandpa and Ava!” she said, almost screaming as she stomped over to her bed.

“Marly, please relax.” sighed Marvin. “If you-”

“No!” Marly stomped on the floor with all her strength, actually making it crack. “Ava was fighting against Eobard, and my grandpa against Chiron. I was there as well.

“I was fighting against that, that, whatever he was, but he wasn’t alone. You were with him. Fighting against me, in a place that had the-the things on my back drawn on the floor!”

She was nearly screaming again, so Marvin had to raise his voice even more in order for her to hear him. “Marly, you’re being insane! It was just a dream.” he said, rocking her from her shoulders.

“But it wasn’t.” she responded, breaking free from his hold. “When Ava used her spell, I was transported to the Caelum Terra. I felt my back burn there, and I saw the exact same thing. And even if it was, how do you explain my seeing that thing when we hadn’t even met him before?”

“That-that was Johnny Lloyd.” said Marvin quietly. “One of the guys that had made my life hell when I was a kid. Sent here by Maria Rockwell. Why would I side with him on anything? Especially to go up against you? You of all people?”

“That was-oh my God Marvin!” she said, now being the one looking worried for his sake. “How are you feeling? I was so caught up that-”

“It’s okay.” chuckled Marvin. “I don’t think I handled it as well as I could have. I guess-I guess I regressed a bit.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was a pretty spiteful kid when I was young. I figured everyone hated me so I hated them back. Only I was pretty weak so, other than my words, I didn’t have much to go against them. I suppose I went back to being that kid. That stupid kid who just wanted to hurt him, to hurt all of them.”

“I’m sorry.” said Marly after a few moments of quiet. “I promise you that you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Not with any of us at least.”

Marvin almost chuckled as he remembered his confrontation with CB back in Atlanta. Granted they didn’t argue much after that, but they barely talked so he didn’t know if that counted as an improvement.

“Still, please promise me.” said Marly as she sat on his bed, looking up at him. “Promise me that we’ll stand together. That this dream, vision, or whatever it was won’t come true. That we’ll figure out the truth about those things on my back.”

Those were hefty promises in Marvin’s opinion.

The engravings on her back had just gotten even more odd than they were before and, if her dream was to be believed, then Marvin would have to make a choice between Eobard and Marly.

The man who had saved him, believed in him, and was a mentor to him just as much as Kara was.

The girl that had welcomed him and stood by his side as he stood by hers.

How was he supposed to pick a side?

“I-I promise you that I’ll do my best.” said Marvin, trying his best to smile at Marly. He didn’t plan on abandoning her, and he had promised to have her back. And that was a promise he didn’t intend to break as long as he could help it.

The door to his room opened once more, and a dark haired typhoon that was yelling ‘Marrin! Marrin!’ ran towards him, prompting him to pick her up. He was looking straight into his kindergartener cousin’s giddy face. An involuntary smile found its way to his face before he remembered Maria Rockwell’s words.

“Well, well.” came a familiar voice. The aforementioned brunette sorceress was standing there, clad in the same clothes as earlier that day. “It’s been a long time since you two were in Atlanta. Nice to see you again.”

“Kids! Lunch is ready!” came the voice of the two Perlies’ grandmother.

Marvin and Marly exchanged glances. Between Annie’s excited bouncing and his grandma’s yelling it was clear that neither party could do anything to attack the other.

“Nice to see you too.” Marvin forced a smile, squeezing the girl in his hands just a little tighter.