This wasn’t exactly how Marvin thought this day was going to go.

After the breakdown that was their arrival in Atlanta, he and Marly had gotten to making some small talk in his room, and when she mentioned a distraction, he thought she had meant something like watching a movie, maybe going on a nice, long walk.

Blocking her advance, he still found himself a bit baffling that she meant sword fighting. How she even managed to carry two wooden swords and her regular one was beyond him, but it was certainly something.

Once more she thrust at him, he sidestepped and parried his sword to defend himself. Not wanting to remain on the defensive for too long, he countered by lunging at her, an attack she barely managed to block.

Judging by her smile he guessed she was enjoying herself, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t as well. Archery and magic might be more his areas, but he enjoyed sparring with her, and it looked like all this training was paying off.

Still, as she closed the distance between them with a step as she began her attack, Marvin’s attempt at defence was moot, as she was too close and used that to punch him in the face.

“Ow!” he complained. “Punching? Really?”

“All’s fair in love and war.” chuckled Marly, the tension from before apparently having left her body. “Thank you for this. You’re still awful in sword fighting though.”

“You know I’m not that good at responding to compliments. Even if they are a bit underhanded.” responded Marvin. Truth be told he was rather disappointed they couldn’t have a proper sparring session here.

Last time they went all out against one another it didn’t end that well for him, and he found himself wanting a rematch oddly enough. He’d grown to enjoy these matches more than he thought he would.

“Come on now, we’ve been sitting here for a few hours and no one’s come home. And there’s something else I want to do before we find the others and start the mission.” stated Marvin, giving her his sword to put in her case.

“Don’t you want to see your family?” asked Marly.

Before Marvin could respond he heard the door open and went to check it out. As soon as they entered the door however, he saw Annie’s small form run up to him, and his uncle Phil behind her.

“Hello there Marvin. How are you?” called out his uncle awkwardly.

“I’m well enough.” he responded, picking up Annie. “How about you?” he asked, smiling at his giddy cousin.

“Marrin, Marrin! Are you going to stay with us?” asked the young girl excitedly. Her sheer enthusiasm about anything and everything always managed to amuse him endlessly.

“I’m sorry princess, but we were just leaving.” replied Marvin, seeing the girl’s excited look turn into a pout. “But I’m going to be in the city for the whole week, so I’ll make sure to come by later!” he hurriedly added to appease the young girl.

“She really has you wrapped around her little finger huh? Since Marvin apparently doesn’t know how to introduce people: Marly Mallory!” In a single breath Marly managed to tease Marvin twice and introduce herself. Quite well done in his humble opinion. Exchanging pleasantries with his uncle, she went to gather her stuff from his room.

“Please refrain from sneaking into our house for such activities in the future.” stated his uncle in a deadpan tone made it frankly impossible for the dark haired teen to tell whether he was joking or not.

“What do you mean daddy?” innocently asked Annie, prompting Marvin to turn into a shade of red so dark it neared purple.

“W-well you s-see, M-Marly and I were playing! Yeah! But w-we were actually using swords!” sputtered out Marvin in an attempt to explain himself to both the five year old and her father. “But it’s very unsafe! Don’t try it!” he added quickly. Where in the name of all that was holy was Marly?

“Don’t worry Marvin. I know we have a rather...strained relationship, but I do trust you. I hope you saw that we kept your room the same.” explained his uncle, smiling softly.

“Strained relationship? Don’t get me started.” snapped Marvin in the most kid-friendly way he could. Not only did he have the gall to call Marvin’s home his own, but to also pretend that because he kept it the same he was some sort of saint? Still, Annie was not only in the room but in his arms. He didn’t want to scare her. Thankfully, before he could say something he’d regret, Marly descended from the second floor and they took their leave.

“Are you okay?” asked Marly after a few minutes of them walking in silence alongside a small crowd of people. Marvin didn’t respond. This was not how this was supposed to go. He loved Annie to bits and he thought of her more as a sister than a cousin. He knew that using his old house as their planning ground would involve him running into his extended family, but after everything that happened he couldn’t handle it. “Marvin.” she called out once more, but more forcefully this time, breaking him out of his stupor.

Stopping in his tracks he realised that he was letting this all go to his head. This wasn’t about him. He couldn’t slow everyone else down. “Don’t worry about me Marly, I’m fine.” he responded, although he had the distinct impression it wasn’t that convincing.

Going back to his parents’ old home, seeing his uncle, everything with Ava, Adam and CB. He-he couldn’t breathe. Marly wasn’t there anymore, nothing was.

“Marvin?” he faintly heard a combination of voices call out to him. His parents, grandmother, Eobard Kon, Kara and-and someone else? What-what was happening to him?

Suddenly he found himself looking at the city once more. Only this time, it was up in flames. A scene straight out of a disaster movie was in front of him. The buildings had either fallen over the street or bits and pieces of their tops were destroyed. Even those that looked intact had what appeared to be blood stains coming out of them from what he could tell. There was no one else there but him. It also seemed to be snowing but that was impossible. It was sunny just a few seconds ago. This was not real. Someone was using magic to showcase this to him.

Still, the scent of blood filled the air. Whether that was metaphorical or not he couldn’t tell. A lot of deaths had taken place in this place. That much he could tell even in this odd state he found himself in.

“Months of work to be used on you? Foolish he is…” came an unknown voice, although he couldn’t pinpoint where it actually came from. He could feel the heptagrams in his hands had lit up instinctually, a fact that made him feel a small bit of pride amidst all the other emotions he was feeling.

Looking up he saw what for all intents and purposes impossible. A giant golden glowing heptagram produced a shadow that perfectly mimicked a solar eclipse if not of the aforementioned heptagram. How he knew all of that was beyond him but he was beyond sure that was what was going on here.

“Help… mommy… daddy-HELP!” He was brought out of his thoughts by the cries of a young child. Turning around he saw that it was a dark haired boy, no older than six by Marvin’s estimate, crawling along the ruins of the city. It was clear that the boy’s right leg was damaged, as well as his head, which had not only visible damage on its left side, but blood draining all over his forehead and extensive damage all over his body. It was a wonder he was conscious, let alone calling for his parents.

A couple of moments later it clicked for him.

That boy, that boy was Marvin himself! He needed to help him, he needed to do something! But he couldn’t move, couldn’t scream, he couldn’t even help himself. He couldn’t breathe. It was all coming back to him. Everything hurt. His parents. He needed his parents. He needed someone. He just wanted someone to be there. A few tears escaped his eyes as he fell to his knees. Why? Why was this happening to him?

“Why?”

The question came from behind Marvin. Turning around he saw that it actually was the voice of Eobard Kon. His principal was indeed there. He looked a bit younger though, and dressed in a combat suit that was covered in so much blood Marvin couldn’ tell if that was its original colour. His prosthetic arm had a knife through it and his eyes-his eyes were empty. Marvin attempted to ask Kon what the hell was going on, but he didn’t answer. He was just looking at him. Well not him. Rather his past self.

“I’m sorry.” he muttered, picking up the younger boy, asking him questions to keep him awake.

Eobard Kon had...saved him? This was why he was familiar. But did he know about this? And what did Eobard Kon have to do with that day?

“What a splendid reaction! Bravo Marvin Perlie, Bravo!” called out a jovial voice, one that was way more familiar to Marvin’s ears than he would have liked it to be. The same fear that Marvin felt when outside of his school not so long ago returned once more. Standing right in front of him was the reason for that fear, clad in the same dark red suit he was the last time Marvin had seen him, only this time he didn’t need to cover his skin from sunlight.

Amdis.

His crimson eyes crinkled in delight as he looked down at the kneeling teen.

“Why can’t you leave me alone?” asked a desperate Marvin. It was too much. Too much. This was the worst day of his life, he couldn’t go through it again, and it felt like he was.

“You’re not important, Marvin.” replied Amdis. “Yet you went through all that and came out the other side. This is the story of three people finding their long lost comrade. And now you’re just helping them. And yet you managed to be a burden, to be weak. And now you are here.

“There is no grand reason, no grand scheme regarding you. Even this wasn’t made to deal with you. You are meaningless. That’s why I want you to succeed. I want you to stop this from happening again. Give flavor to my endless existence. Still, I must be fair as well. I told you to keep quiet about our previous conversation and you didn’t listen. So consider this your punishment as well as your warning.” explained Amdis, before raising his hand and snapping his fingers.

Suddenly Marvin’s world went black.

“Marvin? Marvin?” He heard the worried voice of Marly on his side. Turning to her he realised that she was really close to him. Closer than he had been in their whole time knowing each other.

“I-I’m fine!” he replied a bit flustered. “It’s-it’s Amdis.” he explained, looking back at her.

She looked at him worried, and a bit mad in his humble opinion. “I’m going to kill him. And then we’re going to get Ava back. Or vice versa. I’m okay with it as long as both of these happen.” growled Marly, her dual coloured eyes giving her a menacing look he hadn’t seen in her for as long as he knew her. “You call Adam and I’ll call CB. We’re going to show him, and those that work with him, what we are made of!” she declared loudly, which caused some people to look at her weirdly. Not that she seemed to care much.

Taking his phone out of his pocket, Marvin felt a lot of guilt well up inside him. Amdis didn’t want Marly to go after him. He didn’t want Adam or CB. They were apparently important to some grand plan. Or at least one of them was, and they were close enough to each other and higher association members.

Which meant that in this twisted hero and villain game Amdis had made, Marvin was the only one who was insignificant enough to be targeted by him. The only one he could play around with. What he didn’t account for was that Marvin would fight back. He claimed he wanted Marvin to beat him.

And he would.

Once he found out where Amdis was, Marvin was going to go after him. He'd find a way to beat him. And he was going to bring back Ava. For Marly, Adam and even CB. He was going to return alive as well. For his grandma, for Annie. Hell even for Eobard Kon.

This was a terrible idea, but after the hell he went through, he wasn’t going to go in quietly. He wasn’t going to be underestimated, and he wasn’t going to be Amdis’s pawn.

For Marly. For Ava. For everyone. He was going to win.