It was all coming apart. Literally.

Every piece of earth, every building, every living being that was on the Caelum Terra was falling down towards a busy city area, bringing forth death and destruction below. They wouldn’t make it, the people falling or those below.

For a brief moment, Marvin’s mind flashed back to the day his parents died, that day, before he steeled himself once more. He didn’t have time for this, he needed to be focused. He took a deep breath, feeling his prosthetic leg through the trousers he was wearing.

He was standing on a platform, seemingly the only thing that wasn’t falling apart and on the unsuspecting people below. The platform itself was made of stone, and the tattoos on Marly’s back were drawn on it, glowing intently. Soft footsteps could be heard, and Marvin found himself getting ready for a battle.

“Toxon tou Apollona.” he said quietly, heptagrams appearing briefly on his hands before the sharp black bow and arrow replaced them, drawing his bow.

He turned around, only to see Marly. He almost sighed in relief, but she seemed…off.

She dressed in a navy blue military suit, with a single golden bar decorating her shoulders, and a giant golden M decorating her jacket’s chest. Her blonde hair was noticeably shorter and tied up and she was holding a shortsword in her right hand.

But everything, from the way she stood, to the way she was looking at him felt just the tiniest bit wrong.

“Marvin!” she said happily, her dual coloured eyes crinkling in delight. “Are you here to help me?”

Marvin’s whole body stiffened, and he clutched his bow even tighter. He begged God, the universe and whatever else existed out there. She couldn’t have-She couldn’t have agreed to her grandfather’s plan. Not if she knew the whole story.

“If you mean making your grandpa’s dream a reality, then I’m sorry but I can’t do it. And neither should you.” said Marvin firmly. Although he’d be lying if he said that keeping his hands from trembling was easy.

“Please don’t make me fight you.” he said, steeling himself for any response she might give.

Could he really face off against Marly?

He hadn’t beaten her in a fight, but if he was smart about this he could use magic in order to make his life easier. Ignis, Gleipnir, and a dozen other spells could help him at that point in time.

But could he really face off against Marly?

“I have to do this Marvin. You don’t know what I am. This is what I was made for.” she said, trying her best to sound detached and neutral.

She was failing horribly.

Did she know the truth? James’s plans, its cost and her origins?

She got into a fighting stance, ready to lunge at him. It was subtle, but he’d long ago grown accustomed to reading some of her movements.

So he shot the first arrow, which she used her sword to block unsurprisingly.

“Multi” he said, focusing on the bow itself, before shooting an arrow once more, one that split into a dozen.

“Snow Blade.” he said, the long ranged weapon in his hands being replaced with the snow-white sword instantly.

At the same time, Marly used her supernatural reflexes to block and dodge a lot of the arrows, but even then a few managed to hit her. One grazed her cheek, one her right arm and another two her right leg. She bled lightly, but was clearly still in the fight.

“Gleipnir!” said Marvin with force, hoping deep down that this would be enough to finish her off.

The chains appeared out of thin air, rushing towards the blonde Mallory, who narrowly dodged them. Using this opening, Marvin rushed toward her, thrusting his sword which she barely managed to block. She was breathing heavily, why couldn’t she just let the chains do their work?

They engaged in sword fighting, like during their many sparring sessions, only this time Marvin seemed to genuinely be holding his own. He could even win.

“Our last fight got interrupted, don’t you remember?” she said lightly in-between breaths.

That wasn’t entirely wrong. He had a plan that would grant him victory then, although in hindsight it wouldn’t have worked. She proved that day that she was able to escape Gleipner.

“The difference is that we’re not playing today.” snapped Marvin, pushing Marly back slightly.

“Didn’t you once say that you needed to draw circles in order to use any spells other than summoning weapons?” frowned Marly, before going on the offensive.

What? Holy crap he didn’t even realise that he used Gleipnir without drawing a circle since he was caught up in the moment. He didn’t have time to dwell on it now, but it looked like his practising magic had had results after all. He’d even feel proud of himself if not for this situation he was in.

Then, she suddenly just threw her sword over the platform’s edge.

Something was terribly wrong here. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Marvin called off the Snow Blade, before looking straight into Marly’s eyes. She was barely holding back tears, her face a broken mask of neutrality.

“You’re not real.” she said matter-of-factly.

“What do you mean?” he asked softly, hesitantly touching her shoulder.

“I’m at the Association’s base in the Caelum Terra.” she began explaining, slowly composing herself once more. “My grandpa wasn’t allowed to see me for a long time, but Ava came to visit me and told me everything. What I am, what my purpose is and the whole plan.

“They have me doing these-these simulations. The Magesmiths I mean. Ava told me that things will not be like this when it comes to pass, that she and grandpa won’t let it turn out this bad, but I’m scared, Marvin. I’ll be the one to do this, even if it’s at a smaller scale.” she admitted, looking down at the floor.

“And why does this mean I’m not real?” asked Marvin, deciding to get as many answers as possible before even attempting to make sense of this whole thing.

“Don’t you get it?” she snapped, taking my hand off of her arm. “Sorcerers have me in these simulations all the time! I’ve fought dozens of armies, of my friends, of you, dozens! All images based on my perception of you. It always takes me a while to figure it out, though.”

“But I’m real.” insisted Marvin, refusing to believe anything other than that. It was presumptuous, foolish even, to think that he’d be able to understand the difference between himself and a fake, but he does.

He knew that he was real. Even if Marly didn’t.

But why? Why would she help the IDA out if she knew that this would be the end result. A new beginning, that’s what they’d promised each other not so long ago.

Of course. The promise.

“Adam, CB and I promised each other something,” said Marvin, hoping to convince her of his legitimacy. “We would all have a clean new beginning after this. I know that this isn’t something you made up. Ava sending your letter, Eobard telling us about you, and us making that promise. These are all things that I know have happened.”

She was about to respond but Marvin didn’t let her. He grabbed her by the shoulders, they were both the same height at that point, and did the first thing that came to mind.

He kissed her.

They hadn’t done anything like this since Atlanta, and they also hadn’t talked about their relationship since then as well. But Eobard had told him to be honest, and this was the first step in that direction.

She kissed back, and they let each other go after a few moments, only to enter a stare off immediately afterwards.

Before he got here he wouldn’t have thought that-wait a minute, how did he get there? What was going on?

Marvin’s stomach churned, and he felt something bubbling up his throat, before he fell on his hands and knees, exhausted. He could see his arms begin to disappear and could feel the emptiness in certain parts of his body where solid mass was supposed to be.

“Marvin!?” frantically called out Marly, crouching to his level. “What’s going on?”

“Magic-” he coughed out, beginning to understand what was going on there. “Somehow, I ended up in your simulation. It was probably an accident of sorts, and I’m going back to whatever I was doing.”

“But-”

“I just hope we don’t fight when we cross paths in real life, yeah?” smirked Marvin.

Now that he understood what was going on there, he wasn’t worried. Magic nonsense like that could only happen in someone’s head. As long as he could remember that it wasn’t real, he would be fine.

But was Marly herself real at least? A part of him thought that she had to be, but he was hesitant to say anything for certain.

As whiteness began to overtake his vision, he could only hope that answers lied to wherever he was going next.