One step at a time.

That was what they told him when he first started using his new ‘leg’. Although it wasn’t really a leg. It barely worked and he had to have his grandma push him around in a wheelchair like he was a small child that didn’t know how to walk-which he wasn’t!

He was eleven years old. He could walk, talk and just plain be good enough without being pushed around by others.

It had been six months of constantly hearing these words and Marvin was tired of them. He wanted to see his mom and dad. Why did they have to-to-

Why?

“Are you alright Marvin dear?” asked his grandma.

“Fine.”

“You shouldn’t lie, my boy.” she said. Darn it. She could always tell. The woman was apparently able to read his mind, or he was a really lousy liar.

“I said I’m fine!” he said, hitting the chair’s armrests. “I just want to get out of this chair. I want to walk to school, have fun and come back home. I want-I want-”

“Marvin Perlie, that’s enough.” said his grandmother without raising her voice. “I know that these past months have been difficult, and I will be honest with you: you’re right.

“The time will come when you will again walk on your own two legs and you’ll make friends. Real friends. You’ll lead a fine life. I just hope I’m around to see it. You know your father-he was much like you when you were young, that’s how I know.”

Suddenly she stopped pushing and he heard her try and choke back a sob. Of course. He was eleven years old, and he was smart enough to understand that it was his fault. He was being bad so she mentioned his father and there it all led.

“Grandma-”

“He lived a good life. Married to a wonderful girl, had a great son. And he was more than a good son as well. I’m not saying you should be exactly like him-god no he was far from perfect, but-but you’re eleven years old. We’ll have this talk again when you’re older.”

“But I’m not.” protested Marvin, suddenly finding himself standing in front of his grandma and his younger self.

Suddenly he was sixteen, looking down at his grandma and his eleven year old self as they turned to dust before his eyes. Not again. This was another weird vision, or something along those lines.

Suddenly a flash of light blinded him momentarily, and he found himself staring at a pure and vast whiteness. Kara’s dead body was a fair distance away in front of him, Eobard Kon kneeling to pick her in his arms, walking away but never actually getting further.

Kara had-she had! Kara had died. How could he forget? Unless she didn’t and everything-the whole battle against Amdis and the female vampire was a twisted test or hallucination. A mental trap or whatever. Anything. He tried to reach Eobard, but the man suddenly vanished, taking Kara with him.

“No!” shouted Marvin, raising his arm in their direction as if to reach them, although both actions were useless. “Come back! This is all in my head, right? So come back, I want you. I want you to come back. Both of you! Come back. Live! Why can’t you come back?”

An image of two dark haired people suddenly popped in his vision.

“M-Mom? Dad?”

He remembered his parents. Perhaps a more idealised version of them but he did. So why were they there now?

He was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of laughter and indistinct, but happy sounding, chatter from behind him. Turning around, he saw Marly, Adam and CB talking with Ava Mallory, looking like she did in the battlefield, except her light blue eyes were open and she was conscious.

“Guys?” He tried to no effect. They either ignored him or couldn’t hear him.

He tried to go near them as well, but it was like an invisible wall was separating them. “Marly! Adam! Please!” He hit the invisible wall with all his might but they just kept on talking and laughing.

He’d lost his parents. He’d lost Kara. He wasn’t getting them back.

And there they were, Ava Mallory safe and sound. Talking and laughing.

Why?

“No. No. No.” said Marvin, repeating it over and over in his head. That wasn’t right. He couldn’t think like that. This wasn’t real.

“Marvin?” He heard Marly say, but she hadn’t moved at all. He fell to his knees.

The destroyed landscape from five years ago surrounded him. The day his parents had-his parents had-This wasn’t real. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t real.

A rollercoaster of memories flashed before him and he had enough. Enough of this nonsense.

Who had done this? Why? He just wanted to know! Was that too much?

“You’ve been through a lot Marvin, but this was only the beginning. Prepare yourself.” said the voice of Maria Rockwell. Was she-was she the one behind all of this?

And then his world went black.

Opening his eyes, the first thing Marvin noticed was just how bright everything was. Bright lights, white walls, and it took a moment for him to get his bearings, as he felt like he’d woken up after sleeping for days.

Looking down at himself he saw that he was wearing some sort of pyjamas that he very distinctly didn’t remember putting on and that his prosthetic leg was missing. The room he was in had practically nothing other than his bed and a small bedside table.

Propping himself to look around the room clearly, he noticed that there was another bed, occupied by a blonde haired woman with light blue eyes reading a book.

“Ava Mallory?” he said, his voice sounding raspy and throaty.

The woman turned to look at him, features that looked like they were sculpted on her face being highlighted by a smile as she looked at him. “It’s so nice to really meet you, Marvin Perlie. And I suppose a thank you is in order.”

“For what?”

“For saving me. You’ve been out for a couple of days, so you’re currently missing your school’s flight back to, well, here. If there’s anything you don’t remember, Marly will be back soon, she was lucky enough to not lose consciousness during the event.”

So everything really happened. Amdis’s defeat, Ava’s rescue, the female vampire.

Kara.

“What about Kara? Is she, you know, here?” he said, hoping that she understood what he meant. It was ironic how he had dealt with death so often yet he couldn’t bring himself to even say the word.

“Kara Snow is dead. They held a small funeral for her yesterday.” Ava gripped the bedsheets she was tucked under, looking at Marvin with uncertainty. “I’ll be taking over your training if you want. I’ve discussed it with my grandfather and Eobard and they are both alright with it. I heard that Kara wanted you to succeed, see the wonders of magic, so I ask you to not give up.”

Not give up.

“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.

He tried to hold back his tears but it was pointless. He’d laughed back then. It was always a certainty in his mind that she’d be there. He knew the woman for three months and yet she’d become such an integral part of his life.

She introduced him to the vast world of magic. She’d always alluded to complex spells and rituals, secrets and a world so vast he just wanted to know as much of it as possible.

“I’ll do it. For Kara.” But not just for her. He’d been through this before with his parents when he was a small child, but he now understood more than he did back then.

He had to live. For them. For all of them. He couldn’t fall down again. He’d become a sorcerer. Not just a strong or clever sorcerer of course. He’d reach the top. Kara had beat a vampire on her own, a feat that was supposedly nearly impossible.

He’d become a sorcerer worthy of being her apprentice.

Suddenly the door to the room opened and Marly entered, a tray of food in her hands. “And don’t think I will let you eat anything else than the whole thing, Ava!” said the heterochromatic, her eyes widening as she realised that Marvin was fully awake.

“Hi?” said Marvin lamely as he tried to rub his tears away-why did he even phrase it as a question-a lot of his anxieties about being left behind suddenly resurfacing, alongside images from that weird vision of his. Marly’s continued silence didn’t help either.

She got her sister the tray, making sure she was alright, before heading towards Marvin himself and pulling him in a hug.

“I’m sorry.” she said into his shoulder. After his brain properly caught up with what was happening, he hugged her back, realising just how much he needed something like this. A few more tears escaped his eyes, but this time he didn’t try to stop them.

They let go after a few seconds. He felt her wipe some of his tears away with her hand which left him quite stunned for some reason.

“I hope you two lovebirds didn’t forget that I’m here.” smirked Ava, as Marly looked at her indignantly and Marvin just tried to make himself disappear on the spot. Where’s magic when you need it?

“You’re not exactly easy to miss!”

“Oh my, it seems my little sister grew up to be quite ill-tempered. You’re going to have your hands full, Marvin.”

Watching them bicker while also smiling like sisters brought an honest smile to Marvin’s face. He was happy for Marly, for all his friends, but he had also more than once been jealous. Even now that part of him felt resentful for the fact that he would never get this reunion with any of his lost ones.

He really was a piece of shit. Looking at them still engrossed in their conversation, he suddenly felt out of place. Like he was intruding in a private moment.

“Where’s my leg? I-I need to go.” asked Marvin, looking between the two sisters.

“Something wrong?” said Marly, looking at him worriedly.

“No it’s just-I have to see my grandma. After everything that’s happened, I feel like I need to.” he said as an excuse, but as soon as he said it he realised it was true. He wanted to see his grandmother.

Even if this was a secret world and he couldn’t be completely honest with her, not at that point at least, after everything that happened he needed to be with her. He’d figure out a way to keep all the supernatural stuff a secret and tell her what happened.

“Right.” said Marly. “But we’re still good? About the thing that we started doing back in Atlanta?” If Marvin were to guess, she was referring to the tattoos on her back.

“Of course. I’ve always got your back.” he responded, adding some, hopefully, cheeky and funny banter in there. Judging by her quiet chuckle, he was at least partially successful.

“I hope you realise how many dirty jokes I would make right now if you weren’t so young.” laughed Ava as she left her book on her bedside table and closed her eyes. Both Marvin and Marly blushed like tomatoes from that remark.

“Why you-”

“Shush Marly. I’m trying to sleep.” chided Ava.

Maybe, just maybe, thought Marvin, things wouldn’t be so bad after all.

--

Eobard Kon wouldn’t consider himself an alcoholic, or really a heavy drinker for that matter. However, he had spent most of his twenties battling alongside, and hanging out with people, most of which were in various stages of all those things. So he’d been forced to endure more than his fair share of drinking binges, so he’d built up quite the resistance.

Granted, all of that was just a way for him to excuse the fact that he was holding a half empty whiskey while somehow he was still sober as a judge in a fortified ship that was anchored at the sunniest and most remote place of the Pacific ocean. The ship itself was completely empty other than Amdis, all of his body barring his head trapped in a steel cage that didn’t leave him any room to move.

And all of that after the funeral of his last living friend. How nice.

As the two men looked each other in the eye, the vampire still managed to look so smug one would think their roles were reversed.

“Kara Snow is dead, correct?” said Amdis after a period of silence.

Eobard didn’t respond, although the way he tightened his hold over the bottle was probably enough for the vampire.

“A shame. I truly think I would have liked her. But with her out, you lost a valuable asset.”

“What do you mean?” asked Eobard curtly. Amdis smiled in response, showing his elongated fangs.

“I’ve had my fun.” sighed the vampire, looking oddly content. “I fell in battle. All that’s left for me now is to await my death. Because it is coming Mr Kon. Retribution will find us all. Before you waste your breath asking, I don’t know all the details. You can say that to your higher ups.”

“Only you didn’t fall in battle. Kara did.” said Eobard, barely managing to keep himself from throwing him in the ocean. “Older generations would throw the, admittedly few, vampires they’d captured in waters like these. Your burning skin is unaffected by water, so you’d burn for eternity, never truly capable of reforming yourself or actually dying.

“I don’t want to do that. And I won’t relay anything you say back to the IDA. You want to fight a losing battle? Help me. Help me end this war and take out those that are responsible. Don’t spend your days, especially if they are your last, wasting away. Fight to the end. Claim a victory worth claiming.” said Eobard, trying to use everything he could to convince the crimson eyed beast.

Granted, he was tired, probably a little drunk in spite of everything he thought before, and in the worst possible place he could be mentally, but he couldn’t stand back. Kara gave her life and he’d make sure it wasn’t for naught.

Amdis laughed. “Now this, this is interesting. Passion. Love. Comradery. Humans are truly fascinating. The anticipation for the coming battle, the desire to avenge, to protect, to win at all costs! You have my allegiance Eobard Kon. Use me well.”

“I’ll come back at a later date when it’s more secure and I’m in contact with my allies within.” said Eobard as he turned to leave. There was another room on the ship, the teleportation room where Nicholas would soon appear and take Eobard back to the Caelum Terra.

He was there supposedly to find out the whereabouts of the female vampire, with James Mallory personally asking him to be the one to interrogate Amdis. Probably because that damn female vampire had been the one to end Kara.

And he would find her. But at that moment, for Kara’s sake and memory. For Marvin’s and everyone else’s future, this was more important. Even if he hated himself to the very core for it.

“Amdis.” he said before he exited the door. “I will make sure both you and that other vampire suffer in the most horrific way possible for what you did to Kara. To everyone.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” laughed Amdis.

“Good. Welcome to the Circle of Trust.”