“Marvin?” Eobard’s voice broke the mentioned teen out of his thoughts. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m-I’m good.” responded Marvin. Although if Eobard’s expression was anything to go by, he didn’t do a good job of being convincing.

“Adam, CB, can you please answer a few questions for me?” asked the white haired man, not taking his eyes off of Marvin.

“Sure?” replied Adam with uncertainty, while CB chose to just nod instead.

“Did you believe what Marvin Perlie said just now?” asked Eobard, still not looking away.

“Please don’t do this,” said Marvin quietly.

He didn’t want this to happen. There were things that he couldn’t share, that he couldn’t tell anyone. Because if he did-if he did-Eobard couldn’t do this. Especially Eobard, especially to him.

“Not-not really.” said Adam, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“Can’t really say that the dude is a good actor.” said CB as he crossed his arms.

“Back in Atlanta you were at the brink of wanting to die. But you couldn’t say it. You couldn’t do it.” said Eobard with a sigh. “Because there were things, there were people that you would be leaving behind. People that you have helped, that you’ve formed bonds with.

“It’s been a short amount of time, but you’ve gone through a lot together. Why have you convinced yourself that it’s all going to go away?” asked Eobard, letting no emotion show in his voice. “Why are you so afraid of being truly happy?”

“Shut up!” snapped Marvin. “You don’t know me! You don’t know anything about me!”

But then again, what did he even know about himself? He didn’t know where he was going, and his whole life had been turned upside down one too many times. Live. He knew he had to live, but he didn’t know how to.

He felt his prosthetic leg with his right hand, and looked at Eobard’s own prosthesis. He trusted the man more than he trusted himself, maybe more than most people excluding his grandmother.

Adam and CB were there as well. He could confidently call Adam his friend, CB was another beast altogether. Even so, he felt that there was a certain understanding between the two of them born after their, not entirely bloodless, confrontation.

As for Marly… He knew her for only a short amount of time, but she was probably the person he’d grown the closest to in his entire life thus far. This entire world was introduced to him because of her. He’d lost a lot and hated this whole thing a lot of the time, but he was also truly happy almost as often.

Live. But how could he?

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“I don’t-I don’t know.” Marvin admitted quietly. “But I’m-I’m scared. Not about the fighting that’s coming, although that’s terrifying as hell too. Even if we do win, what if I mess up afterwards? What if I lose Marly, or you guys? Hell, I don’t even know what I want to do with my life. What comes after-after this? What if I make the wrong choices?”

“You really are slow, aren’t you shortstuff?” snorted CB.

“What?” said Marvin dumbly, looking the wolfman in the eye.

“You’ve said a whole bunch of words, yet every one of them was dumber than the last. ” he said, getting in Marvin’s personal space and pointing at Adam. “Do you really expect this idiot here to abandon you or something? Or even worse, that Marly will?”

“What I think CB is trying to say is that this mindest isn’t the healthiest.” sighed Adam before coming closer himself. “We’ll win together, and we’ll face the future together as well. Now let’s go help Marly and we’ll be golden! Yeah?” he asked, turning to Marvin and CB.

“Yeah.” lightly smiled Marvin, a smile which faded away almost instantly. “I-I have something else to tell you as well.”

“What is it?” curiously asked Adam.

“Back when, when the whole Ava thing and we were close to rescuing her, and even after we did, I felt happy for you, but I-I was jealous as well. There was this part of me that felt-felt it was somehow unfair that you got to have your happy ending.

“And I never could. My parents, Kara, aren't coming back and I don’t-I don’t know what to do.” said Marvin, finally letting out this secret. His cheeks were wet, and he didn’t need to work hard in order to guess that he was crying.

Closing his eyes, he braced himself, waiting for some sort of explosion or negative reaction from the duo in front of him. This was it. After months of hiding this, he let it all out. There was no coming back from this.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” asked a visibly annoyed Adam as he got in Marvin’s personal space. “We could have talked about this

“I didn’t know how you’d react.” responded Marvin quietly. “I didn’t think-I just-I don’t know.”

Tense silence followed, broken by a quiet chuckle from CB.

“We’re all just a whole bunch of trainwrecks, aren’t we?” he said in a self-deprecating way.

In spite of himself, Marvin let out a small chuckle of his own. This was an incredibly outlandish situation they were in. He looked around the room. He could see a range of emotions in everyone else’s faces, but the anger he expected wasn’t at its centre.

This was a far cry from the response he predicted. It was like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders. He was overcome by the sudden urge to just laugh. Thankfully he was able to control himself by taking a few deep breaths.

“Thank you.” said Marvin, somehow still breathless still. “And I’m sorry.”

Marvin felt Adam grab both CB and himself, forcing them to a group hug, something that the larger werewolf was more than eager to complain about, although he made no actual effort to prevent it.

As for Marvin himself, he would be lying if he said that it wasn’t awkward, but a truly relaxed smile appeared on his face for the first time. They could get Marly back. They would get Marly back, and then they would all heal together.

From his spot, Marvin could see Eobard was watching this whole thing unfold, a small smile on his face at the teens’ reconciliation.

“You’re all very strong,” he said, causing the hugging trio to turn back to him. “As Adam said, after all of this is over, and if we manage to come out on top, then a new beginning is awaiting you. Take everything you’ve learned here and make it a worthwhile one.”

And Marvin truly did believe that they could make it so.

A new beginning, a second chance to truly learn how to live, and do so.

For everyone he loved, and for himself.