Doppelgangers.

Marvin could recognize the basic concept. Not only was it kind of self explanatory, he had also read about it in his studying. Sorcerers that, through a special seal on their left hand, become an identical copy of another individual. The seal itself would become invisible to the human eye, and as far as looks and voices were concerned, these people were the ones they were imitating.

Looking at the fleeting forms of their doppelgangers, Marvin found himself questioning all of the previous statements.

Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration. There was a passing resemblance between each of them. Marvin’s was short in stature with a pale complexion and glasses, Marly’s blond haired and blue eyes, and so on. But they weren’t perfect replicas, and the seals, a circle with two parallel lines and a heptagram in the center, were visible as well.

“Those were our doppelgangers?” he whispered in disbelief.

“Don’t tell me you could tell us apart?” questioned Marly, in apparently equal amounts of disbelief.

“Maybe it’s just a magic thing. You can see it because you’re, I don’t know, a wizard yourself.” piped in Adam, leaning back in his chair, bumping into CB who was standing next to him.

“Or maybe we need to focus on what’s important here?” He probably intended to whisper angrily, but the man was just exuding nervousness. A far cry from the murderous aura he had around him most of the time he was around Marvin, especially when they met for the first time.

And he wasn’t wrong, but there was nothing for them to do. They called school like Eobard Kon had told them, and were now waiting for him and, he hoped, Kara to get to them.

The room itself wasn’t half-bad. A typical hotel conference room, at least he assumed. The only part that struck him was a circle encompassing the floor, a compass star inside, and four heptagrams in its perimeter, one in each direction. A part of him assumed that it was there for a large and complicated spell, but he could learn more about that at another time.

“I see you are all here. Good.” smiled their principal as he entered the room with Kara in tow, closing the door behind them as she gave her greetings. His smile stressed Marvin. It was unnatural, forced. “How was your mission?” he asked.

“Not good.We were attacked by a witch that was posing as a babysitter for Marvin’s cousin.” responded Marly, sighing. “And she seemed to have it out for me specifically.” she added, almost like she was still having trouble believing that fact.

“Not entirely false.” stated Kara, cringing when she saw the faces of the four teenagers. She sighed, looking Marly in the eye. “I don’t mean to be blunt, but I don’t think we have time to worry about that. Your grandfather is a Rank One Commander for the IDA.

“He’s one of the most powerful and influential people in it. And the rest of your family is composed of some of the Association’s top military, political, and financial members and supporters.” she explained, turning to look at Adam and CB. “The same goes for you two as well. Not to such an impressive extent, but some powerful soldiers come from your families.”

Marvin suddenly felt himself get uneasy. All of his teammates came from such high class families. While he was certain that came with pressures of its own-he recalled how Marly admitted that her grandfather had Ava wear a ring to showcase her origins-he felt an all too familiar feeling of unworthiness hit him.

He noticed Eobard’s gaze on him, perhaps sensing his uneasiness. “Do you understand what that means?” he asked, and although it was directed to the whole room, he could feel it was directed towards him.

“That’s why we were on this mission? Amdis’s plan?” he asked after a moment of silence. “We found Ava’s conduit.” he explained, looking towards Kara. He saw her nod toward the principal, and he sighed in response.

“We don’t think Amdis is the mastermind behind this.” he stated simply. “He’s a wild card, but just a part of something bigger. And I don’t think your mission can continue as planned. I know you’ve been out and about for about half a day, but it’s simply too dangerous. Kara and I think it best if we think some things over, you give us all of the information you have, and we figure it out.” he elaborated. He didn’t bother trying to hide any anger and sadness. Marvin could respect that. But he saw CB, Marly, and-surprisingly enough-Adam get visibly upset at those words.

“No!” shouted Marly. “She's my sister! I must help her! She-”

“We are the reason she’s gone.” interrupted a growling CB. “It’s all because we were cowards.”

“Please sir.” begged a desperate Adam.

Saving Ava Mallory.

It had been on his mind for nearly three months. He always realised how important that was to these people. People he thought could be his friends some day. Looking at them like that, Marvin thought about his parents. How it felt to lose them, and how-God he hadn’t even admitted it to himself-how little he could actually remember of them.

A clear picture of their faces, sure. A clear sound for their voices, of course-well as much he could. He cherished those things. And yet they weren't enough.

If he could bring them back, to see them, and they him…

Marly Adam and CB, they had that chance. And he found himself truly empathising with them. More than when he heard their story. Unwilling to stand by as they were potentially robbed of that chance.

He also felt jealous. A horrible, ugly part of himself felt jealous. He pushed it down as much as he could, but it was there. It was jealous because they had what he never could. Jealous of their bonds that he now realised he was likely to never be a part of.

“Use me.” he said quietly, having gone unheard by the arguing fivesome. He reached into his left pocket, taking out the lighter Kara had given him. He whispered the word ignis as he lit it, a strong fire momentarily burning and stopping their argument.

“Use me.” he repeated. “Whether or not he’s the mastermind behind whatever you know, Amdis wants me to fight against him. Maria-the babysitter sorceress-confirmed as much. Can’t you do anything with that? I-”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” snapped Kara, and it honestly scared him. He’d never seen her get upset before.

“I do. Amdis is bored. That’s why he’s doing this. It’s a game. One we had already decided to play and win. That’s how we do that.”

“Not the issue Marvin.” muttered Eobard. “Going in there alone would be certain death. Are you willing to die?” asked the white haired man quietly, although it was said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear it.

“Of cou-” he began, but the words died on his throat. He was about to give a firm acceptance but he couldn’t. He felt Annie hugging him. He heard his grandmother chastise him for even thinking that. Hell, he could even see the looks on every person in the room with him tense. A look of surprise on CB’s face. Sadness in Adam. Eobard and Kara looked like they expected him to be unable to say ‘yes’.

But it was Marly’s look that broke him. Terror filled her eyes as she heard the beginnings of his answer. He met her eyes for a second but couldn’t maintain eye contact. With any of them. He looked at the floor instead.

“The information you’ve given us is very useful.” began Kara after a while. “And we’ll see what we can do in terms of backup. Let you go in as well if we can guarantee your safety. Now I think it’s been a hell of a day for all of us so go and rest. You’re a part of the school trip now, and I promise you that Ava will return home with us by the end of it.”

“Your keycards are at the reception. I trust you can find your way around the building. You are all dismissed.” added Eobard after they didn’t move to leave. “Except for Marvin. We need to have a few words.”

The trio began to leave, with Marly stopping in front of him for a second to whisper something about meeting with her later before they all exited the room. Eobard and Kara stared at him intently.

“Five years ago I saved your life.” began Eobard Kon, no longer seeming like the man in charge that he was, but more akin to a broken man letting himself be exposed for the first time in a long time. “You saved me as well. My friends, my comrades died on that day. But at least one person was out there living as happy a life as they could was the thing that kept me going. Well, that, and the fact that they would definitely haunt me if I didn’t. They wouldn’t want me to give up.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because your parents wouldn’t want you to give up either.” explained the older man. “You are sixteen years old for crying out loud. You have your whole life ahead of you.” He looked straight into Marvin’s eyes. “Live Marvin. For those that gave their lives, for those around you, but most importantly, for yourself.”

“You’re strong Marvin.” said Kara, before the aforementioned teen could say anything. She put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. “You have friends, you have family. A real chance for something good. Grab it.” she told him. “And don’t think I’ll let you get off our training. You have three more years of this, and I’ll be damned if I don’t finish your training.” she added lightly, clearly trying to uplift the conversation.

And, in spite of himself, Marvin laughed as well. This had been a stressful day, a stressful two, nearly three, months really. And yet he found himself happier than he had been in a long time.

Something big was coming. Even bigger than Amdis. What that was he did not know and, at this point, he didn’t care. For now things were as simple as they could be and he’d let himself be happy. Although they rarely remained on track, now he could be certain that he wouldn’t be alone.

The part of him that had been jealous before disagreed. His experience was that things rarely strayed from the catastrophic path too much, but ever since they discovered Ava’s ring he’d sworn to himself that he wouldn’t back down.

He would save Ava with his friends. He would become a sorcerer. He would make his parents and everyone else proud.

After all, this was only the beginning.

--

Maria Rockwell had never been so humiliated in her life.

Unlike most modern sorcerers she had been training since she was a child for the magical arts. She finished her training while her peers were only halfway through theirs and became a mercenary that had worked for the most powerful individuals of their generation. No one would ever know of course, since all of her jobs had been a secret to the populations of even the supernatural circles.

Which made it even more infuriating that she was stuck cleaning the mess of an ages long vampire who purposefully made things more difficult than they had to be for his own amusement.

She didn’t know what exactly her benefactors’ plans were-one of the cons of being hired help-but they wanted Marly Mallory and any of her friends she could get. And she was so close to that as well, even managing to catch them all alone in broad daylight. It was as if whatever gods watched over the world were on her side. And then she was bested by mere children.

She wasn’t a warrior, she knew that. She was always more attracted to the abstracts of magic, the complex non-combat oriented spells, but that didn’t excuse the fact that she had failed. And she couldn’t accept that. Not because she was afraid of her current bosses, she knew she was too useful to be killed off at this stage. She simply wouldn’t allow herself to be defeated like that.

At this point she had little hope of Amdis’s little plan being a success. The children would go to their superiors and even the most powerful vampires couldn’t stand against the might of the IDA.

“Maria, Maria.” called out a childish voice, breaking her out of her stupor.

“Yes Annie?” she asked the excitable kindergartener holding her hand, a smile unwillingly breaking out on her face. Taking this babysitting job had been a necessity for her mission but she’d been lying if she said the girl hadn’t grown on her.

“When will I see Marrin again?” questioned the girl, a whine in her voice as they walked towards the park to meet her little friends.

Marvin Perlie. He was certainly a surprise, more than his teammates. He didn’t have a strong background or any connection to the supernatural, yet he appeared to be on the path to becoming quite the sorcerer. Especially considering he was there basically through chance and Amdis’s scheming, and he hadn’t even had three months of training. Yet, he was instrumental in bringing her down. In another life she might have been impressed, maybe even taken him under her wing. In another life.

“I think that’s up to your parents dear.” she responded, noticing the young girl’s pout.

As they reached the park, Annie ran off to her friends where other babysitters and mothers were watching. She would join them as well, but her eyes spotted the person she’d been looking for, sitting on a bench, listening to music with his headphones on.

“Johnny Lloyd.” she called out walking up to him.

“What?” he asked, annoyed while removing his headphones.

“We have a common enemy. Marvin Perlie.”

The boy had the audacity to scoff at her. “Enemy is a strong word. That little twerp is barely a nuisance.”

“Is that so?” smirked Maria. “A nuisance that destroyed your school life. A nuisance that would have gotten you expelled if the principal wasn’t lenient. A nuisance that made your parents look at you like a monster. Even if they try to hide it, you can see it, can’t you?”

“Shut up. You don’t know anything. ” growled Johnny. She had apparently hit a nerve. Her smile widened.

“Not true. I know a lot of things.” shrugged Maria. “It might sound crazy, but I know how you can get back at him. Show you the impossible. Thoria.” A heptagram glowed in her hand, giving way to a spear head. Johnny’s eyes widened, but she put a finger over his mouth silencing him.

“What are you?” he whispered as she handed him her creation.

“I have a little girl to babysit. Meet me here at eleven p.m. tomorrow night and I’ll explain everything.” And she wasn’t lying. Of course if he chose to not show up she’d kill him swiftly but that wasn’t the point. Here stood the bully of Marvin Perlie. He was decent enough in a fight and she could mold him into a true threat. For a moment she could understand Amdis and his search for entertainment.

A message was sent to her phone. Her work phone. ‘Midnight at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Be there.’

Her smile got even wider as she looked at her phone. The only people that’d contact her were the benefactors, saving her the trouble of tracking them down. Whatever they wanted to discuss was irrelevant. She knew how to haggle and get her demand.

Turns out revenge was sweeter than she’d imagined.