Marcus/Rocco
Finals week passed in a blur.
Not a dramatic blur. Just an exhausting one.
Sleep became optional. Caffeine became a personality trait. Noah nearly
failed chemistry twice in the same week somehow.
"I don't even think that should be mathematically possible," Riley told
him one afternoon.
"I'm innovative."
"You're academically cursed."
"Same thing."
Despite everything happening underneath the surface of our lives, school
kept moving anyway.
Teachers handed out review packets like they were weapons. Students
wandered through hallways looking half-dead from stress. Graduation rehearsals
dragged on beneath suffocating summer heat while administrators yelled at
seniors to stop throwing caps at each other.
And in between all of it… things felt almost normal again.
Almost being the keyword.
Darren and Livia slowly became part of the group in a way that felt
strangely natural.
Not instantly. Seven years was way too much time for instant anything.
But piece by piece, old familiarity started rebuilding itself. Mostly
through stories.
"You used to throw rocks at Darren whenever he annoyed you," Livia
informed me during lunch one day.
Darren looked offended. "You're making it sound violent."
"You cried because one hit your forehead."
"I was ten!"
"You were dramatic."
Callie snorted quietly beside her.
"You climbed a tree and refused to come down because you lost a race,"
Darren added.
"I fell."
"You accused gravity of cheating."
Noah looked delighted. "Rocco sounds deeply unstable."
"You think pigeons work for the government," I reminded him.
"That's unrelated."
The strange part was remembering pieces of it. Grass stains. Darren
yelling about unfair rules. Livia laughing somewhere nearby while Callie argued
with all of us at once.
Tiny childhood memories.
One afternoon after rehearsal, Darren leaned against the hood of his car
while the rest of us sat nearby drinking terrible vending machine coffee.
"So, the memory loss thing explains a lot," he admitted.
I glanced toward him. "You actually believe me?"
"You were declared dead for seven years and you said there was an
accident," Darren replied. "Plus, you didn't recognise us. So honestly, memory
loss sounds less insane."
"Yeah," Noah muttered. "We're all adjusting to this weirdly well."
Livia sat beside Callie quietly, shoulder pressed lightly against hers.
Neither of them talked directly about the years apart much. Not yet.
But sometimes I'd catch them looking at each other. Like they were still
trying to process the fact that the other existed again.
Like losing each other had become such a permanent truth that undoing it
felt impossible.
I took another sip of coffee before glancing toward Darren again.
"Can I ask you something?"
He shrugged. "Depends how emotionally damaging it is."
"A few months ago," I started slowly, "after the fight with Bryce…"
Darren's expression shifted slightly.
"You said some people wouldn't like that I was back."
Silence.
Livia visibly stiffened beside Callie. And Darren looked deeply
uncomfortable.
"Right," he muttered.
Callie looked like she knew exactly where this was going.
Darren rubbed a hand across the back of his neck giving a small awkward
laugh.
"Yeah, about that."
The nervousness in his voice immediately told me enough.
"My parents never liked the Azzurros," he admitted quietly.
The atmosphere shifted.
"They hated how close we all were growing up," Darren said. "Especially
me and you."
Something cold settled in my chest. Not quite anger. But close.
"After the funeral…" he exhaled slowly. "They said it was a good thing
that wretched family was finally gone."
Silence.
Even Noah didn't joke this time. Beside me, Valen looked unimpressed.
"Humans. Always finding inventive reasons to despise each other."
I ignored him. Callie looked furious now.
"They said what?"
Darren winced slightly. "Yeah. I know."
Livia spoke quietly for the first time since the conversation started.
"We didn't agree with them." Darren nodded.
"Not even a little."
"But," I said slowly, "you still said it."
Darren finally looked toward me. And for the first time since I'd known
him, he looked genuinely ashamed.
"I let their words get to me for a while," he admitted quietly. "Not
because I believed them completely… and being friends with Bryce kinda just
jumbled everything in my head. I just…" He laughed once bitterly under his
breath. "…You were dead. Callie vanished. Everything fell apart after that."
Nobody interrupted him.
"I made myself believe that someone needed to be blame." He finished
softly.
The honesty in his voice made it hard to stay angry. Because grief did
ugly things to people. I understood that now more than most.
Callie crossed her arms tightly.
"My family wasn't perfect," she said coldly, "but they weren't
monsters."
"I know," Darren answered. "I know that now."
Livia looked toward me carefully then.
"My parents used to say your family brought trouble with them
everywhere," she admitted softly. "But honestly?" A tiny sad smile crossed her
face. "You guys were all we talked about growing up after you disappeared."
My chest tightened painfully again. Because even though I may not fully
remember, I could feel the loss anyway.
Graduation arrived two days later.
The gym buzzed with noise and movement while parents crowded around
taking pictures aggressively like this was the greatest event in human history.
Noah adjusted his graduation gown dramatically.
"I look incredible."
"You look like a depressed wizard," I informed him.
"That's still technically incredible."
"You tripped over a chair ten minutes ago." Riley added.
"The chair attacked first."
Ella fixed my collar with visible annoyance.
"You somehow made this crooked again."
"It moved."
"You moved."
"Also true."
For once, the atmosphere actually felt light. No immediate danger. No
looming catastrophe. Just graduation.
Just students laughing too loudly while teachers desperately tried
organizing everyone.
Even Callie looked Calmer standing beside Livia near the entrance.
Watching them together still felt surreal sometimes. Lie seeing missing
pieces return to where they should've belonged.
Then my phone vibrated.
The second I saw Seraphina's name, the warmth disappeared instantly.
Valen also noticed. "That expression rarely precedes good news."
I stepped away before answering.
"What happened?"
Silence greeted me first. Then-
"Cassian resurfaced."
Every muscle in my body tensed immediately.
Instinctively, my hand moved toward the faint scar across my chest
beneath the gown.
For one horrible second, I could still feel claws tearing through flesh.
Blood filling my mouth. Concrete beneath my back.
"Where?" I asked quietly.
"Black Hollow warehouse."
Of course.
"He's searching for something," Seraphina continued. "And if I'm right,
we cannot let him find it first."
My jaw tightened.
Guess I spoke too soon about no looming danger.
"When?"
"Now, Rocco." With that she ended the call.
Right. Always now.
I turned back toward the others slowly. Noah noticed my expression
first.
"What's up?"
"…Cassian's back."
The atmosphere shifted. Callie was already moving toward me before I
finished speaking.
"What happened?"
"Seraphina needs us at Black Hollow."
Riley frowned. "Right now?"
"Yeah."
The gym doors opened nearby as families continued pouring inside
laughing and talking completely unaware that my world had tilted again.
Noah looked toward the entrance. Then toward me. And hesitated. The
hesitation hurt more than it should have.
"Can't we just go after graduation?" Riley said carefully.
"There might not be an after if Cassian finds whatever he's looking for
first."
"We understanding," Riley replied, voice tightening slightly. "But
Marcus…"
The way she called my name was like she was trying to anchor me back
toward something mundane.
"You want us to disappear during graduation?" Noah asked quietly. "Our
parents are here."
"You've gone with me before."
"Yeah," Noah replied. "But that was different and you know it."
Silence.
Callie was already walking toward the parking lot. No hesitation.
I looked toward Ella next.
"You're coming, right?"
Pain crossed her face. "…No."
The word hit harder than I expected.
"What?"
"You almost died hunting the same guy," Ella said quietly. "I can't keep
doing this, Marcus."
"It's not safe here."
"It's safer than where you're running back to."
"That's what matters right now-"
"And what about this?!" she snapped suddenly, gesturing sharply toward
the gym. "What about graduation? What about your actual life?"
I laughed in disbelief. "My life stopped being normal a long time ago,
Ella."
"That doesn't mean you stop trying to hold onto it!"
The silence afterward felt sharp enough to cut through.
Around us, students continued celebrating while something twisted slowly
inside my chest.
Noah stepped forward carefully.
"We're not abandoning you."
"It feels like you are."
"That's not fair," Riley said immediately.
Maybe it wasn't. but right now, fairness felt irrelevant.
"We've been supporting you this entire time," Noah continued quietly.
"Bur how exactly are we supposed to explain disappearing during our own
graduation?"
I didn't answer. Because part of me knew they were right. And somehow
that only made me angrier.
Callie was already waiting near the car. Choosing.
Ella looked devastated now. "Marcus…"
But I was already stepping away. "No," I muttered. "Forget it."
"Marcus," Riley called again.
I ignored her.
The noise from the inside the gym blurred into meaningless static as I
walked toward the parking lot instead.
I briefly hear Darren step out and ask where I was going. But I was too
far to heard the response.
Valen followed silently beside me. Only speaking once I reached the car.
He glanced back toward the gym entrance where; Noah looked conflicted,
Riley looked frustrated, Darren looked confused, and Ella looked heartbroken.
Then he smiled faintly.
"Humans do have fascinating priorities," he mused. "You nearly died
protecting them and they still chose ceremonial hats."
Despite everything twisting inside my chest, a bitter augh almost
escaped me.
Somehow, he wasn't so wrong.
Callie climbed quietly into the passenger seat as I started the engine.
Behind us, graduation music began faintly inside the gym. And without
looking back, I drove away.