Marcus/Rocco
Returning to school felt stranger than fighting demons.
At least then, everything made sense.
Pain meant danger. Blood meant survival. Fear kept you alive. School was
different.
People worried about finals while ancient creatures existed beyond
reality. Teachers lectured about college applications while entire bloodlines
disappeared without explanation.
Students laughed in crowded
hallways like the world wasn't balancing on the edge of something catastrophic.
It felt unreal now.
"You're staring again."
I looked over at Ella walking beside me through the front entrance.
"I'm thinking."
"That's never reassuring."
"Wow. Supportive."
"You almost died three weeks ago, Marcus. I'm past supportive."
Fair enough.
The near-death experience with Cassian had and still apparently
traumatises everyone around me more than it had traumatized me.
Or maybe I was just too exhausted to process it properly anymore.
Physically, I was fine. Valen's ability had seen to that disturbingly
fast.
The scars were barely there. The pain completely gone. Only the memory
remained. Which should feel worse.
"You slept well at least?" Ella asked.
"Technically."
"That bad?"
I shrugged. The dreams had stopped after I got my memories back. But
ever since coming home, I have nightmares instead.
"You're dissociating in the middle of a hallway," Valen observed beside
me.
I kept my expression neutral.
Getting caught talking to somebody nobody else could see, would make
school significantly more complicated.
Students passed through the halls around us without noticing the tall
silver- haired man walking calmly beside me.
Valen glanced around the school with mild disapproval.
"You force adolescents into one building for years and act surprised
when they become unstable."
You've been here for ten minutes.
"And already I disagree with the architecture."
I almost smiled. That was becoming a dangerous habit too.
"Marcus!"
Noah appeared out of nowhere holding an energy drink and looking seconds
away from academic collapse.
"There he is," he announced dramatically. "My fellow victim."
"You say that every exam week."
"This is different though. Finals are an attack on human rights."
Riley walked towards us, carrying three textbooks and the patience of
someone barely surviving friendship.
"You guys studied for twenty minutes and gave up."
"We got emotionally overwhelmed."
"You, watched alien conspiracy videos."
"The government fears free thinkers."
"The government doesn't know you exist."
Noah ignored her before looking at me more carefully.
"You look less dead today." His tone teasing.
"Comforting." I replied dryly.
"I'm serious though," he said. "You worried everyone for a while there."
The joking tone faded sightly at the end. Silence settled briefly
between us.
I look between all of them, knowing exactly what we've all been through
lately.
I smile softly at them. "I'm fine."
Noah looked unconvinced but let it go.
"You hear from Seraphina?" Riley asked quietly.
The name immediately shifted the mood.
"Yesterday," I answered.
"And?"
I shoved my hands into my hoodie pockets.
"She expects us back after finals."
Noah feigned offence.
"Can supernatural disasters stop interrupting my education?"
"That's your concern?" Riley asked.
"Yes."
"Not the possible death?"
"I can fail chemistry and die, Princess. Multitasking."
"He may be my favourite," Valen admitted amused.
Please don't encourage him.
"I heard that sigh," Noah said suspiciously,
"Didn't say anything."
"You sighed with emotional judgement."
"That's because I was emotionally judging you."
"Cruel."
The four of us continued down the hallway together, slipping into
familiar conversation so naturally it almost hurt.
Everyone else adapted so easily. Noah complained normally. Riley argued
normally. Ella rolled her eyes normally.
Meanwhile, every step I took
through Westridge felt slightly disconnected.
Like I was pretending to fit into a version of my life that no longer
existed. Or maybe one that never really had.
Bryce carter slammed his locker shut hard enough to echo through the
hallway.
"Well," he drawled loudly, "if it isn't the charity cases."
Noah sighed instantly. "You
really rehearse these lines at home, huh?"
Bryce smirked.
His lackeys lingered around him near the lockers, loud and obnoxious as
usual.
I glance at all of then till my eyes landed on Darren. He stood quieter
than the others. Watching me.
Not aggressively. Not mockingly. Just carefully.
The uneasy feeling settled in immediately. Because now that I remember
more, certain things about Darren bothered me differently.
The way he used to look at me. The things he said. The tension
underneath all of it.
Like part of him had recognized something before anyone else did.
"You still look terrible, Cole," Bryce said.
"I think that's just his face," Riley replied before I could answer.
"Wow," Noah muttered. "Friendly fire."
Bryce rolled his eyes.
"You people are seriously weird."
"And yet you keep approaching us voluntarily," Riley shot back.
One of Bryce's lackeys laughed quietly.
Darren didn't. his eyes stayed fixed on me the entire time.
Valen noticed too.
"The dark-haired one," he said calmly. "He looks at you like he is
mourning something."
That sent a strange chill through me. Before I could think too hard
about it, Bryce scoffed and stepped back.
"Whatever. Have fun failing your
exams."
"We will," Noah replied sarcastically. "Academically and spiritually."
Bryce flipped him off before walking away with the others.
Darren lingered a second longer. Then Bryce called his name and he
finally followed after them. But not before glancing back at me one last time.
Like he still couldn't believe I was real.
-
By lunch, the noise in the cafeteria already felt unbearable.
Students crowded around tables arguing about grades and summer plans
while I sat there wondering how any of this was supposed to feel important
anymore.
Callie sat across from me quietly scrolling through notes on her phone.
Ella had gone to a study session with friends.
Noah was dramatically losing a fight against a math worksheet while
Riley insulted his intelligence with increasing creativity.
"You've been staring at the same problem for ten minutes," Riley said.
"It's intimidating me."
"It's basic algebra."
"Exactly. It knows too much."
Callie glanced at me suddenly.
"You feeling better today?"
"Yeah, sorry for snapping at you the other day."
"It's fine, Rocco." She replied with a smile.
Her smile warmed my heart. I smiled back at my little sister.
Before anyone could say anything else, the cafeteria doors opened.
Bryce's group walked in loudly.
Noah groaned. "Why are they always nearby? Are we cursed?"
My eyes glanced briefly at Darren, to see him already looking in my
direction. Before we both look away.
-
The final bell range near the end of the day, and the entire school
seemed to exhale at once.
Students flooded into the parking lot in exhaustion waves, already
talking about study sessions and sleep deprivation like finals were some kind
of shared war experience.
Honestly, maybe they were.
"I'm going home and entering a coma," Noah announced dramatically as we
walked outside.
"So, we've heard," Riley replied dryly.
Ella snorted softly beside me
while Callie chuckled lightly at my other side.
The evening air felt cooler than it had that morning.
For once, my head felt almost clear. No thoughts. Just exhaustion.
Then Noah stopped walking.
"…Uh."
I looked up. Someone leaned casually against my car. Dark jacket. Hands
in pockets. Head lowered slightly.
Darren.
The parking lot noise suddenly felt distant. Riley frowned immediately.
"What's he doing here?"
But my attention shifted beside me instead. Because Callie had gone
completely still. Not tense. Frozen. Like all the air had left her lungs at
once.
Darren looked up slowly.
His eyes landed on me first. Then Callie.
And something in his expression softened. Not surprise. Recognition. Old
recognition.
A small sad smile appeared briefly on his face.
"…Hey, Callie."
She stared at him silently.
For the first time since I'd met Darren, he didn't look guarded or smog.
He just looked tired. Like someone reopening an old wound.
Noah glanced between all of us looking deeply confused.
"Okay, what the hell is happening?"
Nobody answered him.
Valen stood quietly beside me now, watching Darren carefully.
The parking lot suddenly felt too quiet despite all the noise around us.
Darren pushed himself off the car slowly before looking back at me.
Really looking at me.
And there is was again. That feeling. Recognition.
Like standing in front of a life I almost remembered.
"You really don't remember me," Darren said quietly.
I didn't answer. Couldn't.
Darren let out a small breathless laugh and shook his head slightly.
"I thought you were dead. I attended your burial alongside your
parents," he admitted softly. "When I saw you again, I thought I was losing my
mind."
Callie still hadn't moved beside me. Her expression looked dangerously
close to breaking.
Darren glanced at her briefly before looking back at me again. And this
time when he smiled, it looked fragile. Unsteady.
Like he was tired of holding it all in.
"…It's good to see you again, Rocco."