Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Magic is usually seen as a gift, given by the blood of our ancestors before us. Having magic is also a rare sight, a recessive gene that can be easily lost if non-mages were to interwind with mages. It was inevitable to happen, though. It’s easier to find and fall in love with people that don’t have magic running through their blood. That’s what happened to my family.

I was lucky when we found out I had inherited my dad’s magic gene. It did take me longer to find out than average, pure-blooded mages, but at least I had it. After that, I took it very seriously, studying it, learning my limits, and trying to push on those limits to make myself stronger. Years and years of practice, practice, and more practice.

And finally, I became a fully-fledged mage.

From what I had been told my entire life, even after my parents’ unfortunate passing, was that only people with our blood could possess magic. That it was impossible to access it without having that gene.

But oh, how wrong we all were.

~

Marvin wasn’t fond of teleporting long distances. In his experiences, it has always left an iron taste in his mouth and an annoying headache that doesn’t go away for hours. However, this was important to him and his research on the sketchy company he’d been spying on for months now, so he’d take the consequences.

They stuck their hands out, muttering something under their breath and creating a faint green glow that grew stronger every second that passed. The mage only stopped once it had become nearly blinding, clapping their hands together and disappearing in a flash of light. When their eyes had adjusted to the sudden contrast between the bright flash of light to the night sky outside, they found themself surrounded by trees, the only building being the one they could see in the distance. Marvin took a moment to spit out the blood in their mouth, moving their cat mask slightly so that no blood got on it.

Okay, no turning back now.

He ignored the incoming headache, making sure that his hood was on and that his mask was securely in place before darting over to the building, putting his back against the wall and glancing around the corner. He watched the people–presumably guards–for a minute before a plan formed in his head. It was a stupid one, sure, but it was better than nothing at all.

They drew some symbols in the air, adjusting them to point at the guards before flicking their wrist. The symbols shot away at the movement, hitting the guards and knocking them unconscious almost instantly. With no hesitation whatsoever, they ran over to the doors, hastily checking the guards for anything that might be useful. The mage took note of the company’s logo, stealing one of their keycards to open the doors. They then slipped inside silently, drawing another symbol to dim the lights throughout the building.

Marvin continued to sneak around and down the hallways, brushing his mouth with his hand and cursing to himself out of annoyance as blood stained it. Anyone that got in his way was knocked out on the spot, although at this point, they probably already knew he was there. After a few minutes of wandering around, he found the first place he was looking for, quietly opening the door to the file room.

They spent most of the time in there skimming over each cabinet until he got to the “Subjects” one, opening it up. Their expression goes from neutral to shocked in a split second.

“Oh god.” Marvin mumbled to himself, running his hand through the files that sat in there. There were about 8 or 9 in total, but some of them were blank except for names. He knew his name was going to be in there, “Marvin The Magnificent”, also known as “ALTR 8112016”, but he didn’t realize that they had gotten more. Well, now he had a new mission to add to his small list of tasks.

They pulled out the files that contained information in them, stashed them in their book bag, and moved on before anyone walked in on them. They already knew where the cells were, where they kept their “Subjects”, so they left the room to go find them.

After some searching, the mage ended up stumbling across the rooms, scouting out the area to make sure no one was nearby before making his way toward the first cell. This one was empty, which made sense since this was once his (and they still wanted him back), but he still felt bitter about it. Marvin shook the memories away, moving on to the rest of them, taking note that only four of them were closed. Easier for him, he thought.

Marvin focused on the second room, closing their eyes as they figured out the lock with their magic, sighing in relief when they heard a click. It was concerning enough that no alarm had gone off yet, but hopefully, it wouldn’t go off until they were safely out of the building. They opened the door, glancing into the plain room.

There wasn’t much in the room, except a table, a chair, and a bed, but that wasn’t what caught his attention. What did catch his attention was the person sitting on the bed with their hands covering their face. When the door opened more, their head snapped up to stare at him.

“Um…hi? Who and why-”

Marvin cut off their sentence before they could continue, putting their hands up to stop them. “Marvin The Magnificent, but call me Marvin. I’m here to help you and the others escape.” They opened the door some more, drawing yet again another symbol to shut down the ungodly amount of cameras in the room. What the hell could this guy do to need so many cameras? “What’s your name?”

They blinked at him, most likely trying to process what he was saying. “Uh, Chase Brody. Call me Chase, though, I’ve had enough of being called ‘Mr. Brody’.” The mage tried not to laugh at that, nodding their head. He would have to look into his file later.

“Right. Follow me, and grab your belongings if you have any. I need to grab the others.”

Chase seemed confused by that, grabbing a hat off the table and following him out of the room. Marvin now could see how tired and disheveled he was. “There are others?”

“Yes. You’ll meet them in a second. Watch the hallway for me please.” Marvin began to doubt how much longer he would be able to keep going. His vision was becoming more and more blurry every time he used his magic, and his headache was hard to ignore now. However, he still had to get the other three and teleport them back to his home, so he pushed on.

They closed their eyes again, repeating the process with all three doors this time. It was more difficult, but it was faster than doing them individually. All at once, they clicked open. Marvin could already see Chase’s surprised expression before they had even opened their eyes. They didn’t turn to look at him though, gesturing to him so that he would come back over.

“Grab those two.” He said once he neared, pointing at the other two doors. He walked up to the third, slowly opening it so that he doesn’t draw too much attention. It was similar to his and Chase’s, except there were items scattered around on the table, and there was a lot of blood splattered in various places. The mage’s eyebrows furrowed, not spotting anyone inside immediately until he craned his neck to look down at the floor between the table and the bed.

In between the pieces of furniture was a person, sitting on the floor and covering their neck with their hand. Both were covered in blood. The person’s eyes gazed up at them, their eyes full of fear and pain. Well, now they knew where the blood was coming from. Marvin internally cringed at the face they were making and kneeled down.

“Hey, I’m going to help you get out of here. Can you walk?”

They opened their mouth and then immediately closed it as they remembered they couldn’t vocalize their response, nodding their head instead. He stood up again, lending a hand to help them up, which they gladly took. The person somewhat leaned into the table, picking up all the items and putting them in their pockets before nodding at the mage. He understood what they were trying to say, stepping out of the room with them in tow.

As if on cue, the lights almost completely shut off, and the hallways were bathed in red lights, the alarm blaring throughout the building. Marvin cursed to themself, grabbing the younger person’s arm and pulling them towards the other three, who were already at the end of the hallway.

“We need to leave before they get here.” Marvin urged, pushing down the pain he was in and focusing on getting everyone to the front. The younger person next to him was still bleeding from the wound in their neck (which he could see was ruining the white shirt they were wearing), and he could now see that Chase also had blood bleeding through the back of his shirt as well. The mage couldn’t tell if the person wearing the red jacket was injured, since they were covered almost head to toe, and the doctor-looking person had no blood on them either.

Right. They still had to start moving. No one in the group except them knew where the exit was. Marvin continued to hold the youngest person’s arm, pulling them down the various hallways while also keeping a steady but fast pace. They could hear the rest of the group following behind them, also keeping pace with them. They could also hear the shouts of employees behind them getting closer.

God, he could barely see. The pain is basically blinding. He hoped that no one could notice through his cat mask. Just a little farther, Marvin. The doors are right there.

The person next to him peered at him with concern written on their face.

Fuck. One of them noticed.

“Hey, get back here!” Someone shouted from behind them, startling him out of his thoughts. He couldn’t turn around to check that everyone was there.

“Don’t stop! We’re almost there!” Marvin yelled behind their shoulder, running faster. The person they were pulling along let out a strained gasp–which had to have hurt their already destroyed vocal cords–and stumbled before fixing themself.

The doors closed in on them, getting closer and closer.

Come on.

An unnatural static noise filled their ears. They didn’t falter to question where the noise was coming from.

Come on!

They couldn’t black out here, not yet.

COME ON!

They shoved their shoulder into the door, swinging it open and nearly breaking it in the process. Of course, they didn’t care, but the employees were hot on their feet, so completely breaking the door would’ve not gotten them some time to get away. The mage grimaced as their shoulder throbbed, adding to their killer headache and the blood in their mouth that was dripping down their chin.

It was when they were away from the building that someone finally broke the tense silence.

“Uh, hey cat guy? Where are we going, exactly?” An unfamiliar voice spoke up from behind him, and when he glanced behind him, he saw the one with the red jacket watching him. Marvin turned his attention back to avoiding the trees.

“Away from the building.” He replied simply. They didn’t appear to like that answer, but they stayed silent.

Once they thought that they were far enough away, they slowed down before coming to a complete stop. “Okay, everyone hold on to each other. I’m going to teleport us somewhere safer.” They stated, shutting their eyes and muttering stuff under their breath as they loosely put their hands out. The mage felt a light weight on both of their shoulders, indicating that they had listened to what they had said.

A warm feeling flowed through his body, and in a flash of light, they all disappeared.

Marvin didn’t know what happened next.

Chapter Text

”Dad?”

“Yes, Marv?”

“Um…why do most people not have magic? Like…oh! Like mum! She doesn’t have magic!”

His father had hesitated to answer that. “Well…it’s complicated…uh…well…when one person with magic and another person with no magic have a kid, most of the time that kid won’t have the magic.” He then crouched down to playfully boop him in the nose, making him giggle. “You, however, were a lucky one, eh?”

He gasped, bouncing on his toes. “I’m lucky?! Yes!! I knew it! Mwahahaha!!”

His father laughed at that.

~

Marvin felt like shit.

In his defense, he wasn’t planning on overworking his magic to the point that he would black out. He just needed enough to get him through his mission. He doesn’t even remember what happened.

…

WAIT.

Marvin shot up from their lying position, immediately regretting it as a headache formed. They groaned and put a hand on their forehead, screwing their eyes shut at the pain. Footsteps grew louder as someone walked into whatever room they were currently in, putting their hand on their shoulder.

“I would not suggest doing…that.” A heavily accented voice told him, his limited knowledge of accents automatically telling him that it was German. When he opened one of his eyes, he was met with the face of the doctor person from…earlier..? Wait, how long had he been out?

“What happened?”

They took their hand off their shoulder, crossing their arms. “Well…when we…teleported, we found you unconscious on the floor, so Jackie and I moved you to the couch. You’ve been here for about a day or two.” He explained, pushing his glasses back up his face when they started to fall. The mage’s face shifted to concern as he remembered what happened.

“Is everyone alright? Chase and…uh, the younger person had some nasty injuries. Er…” Marvin paused to touch their face when they realized the familiar weight of their mask was weirdly absent, finding nothing there. They took a quick glance around the room, feeling a sense of panic course through their body when they didn’t see it. “And also, where’s my mask?”

More footsteps followed, and one of the mentioned people peeked out from behind the wall, stepping into the room and standing next to the doctor with a small notebook in their hands. I should’ve probably asked for their names before I passed out. These names I keep mentally calling them won’t cut out. He thought to himself, pushing himself up so that he was sitting correctly.

The person wrote something down in the notebook, showing it to the doctor when they were finished. He nodded as he read it. “Can you tell him in a minute? I need to ask him something first.” They nodded, taking a few steps back. He then turned back to Marvin. “You can get it in a minute, but first, can I ask you about the…uh…symbol on your forehead?”

Oh.

They completely forget that they have their mage marking there. The mage put their hand up to the scar and ran their fingers over it. “For your information, it’s called a mage marking. All mages get one when they have completed their training.” They replied as simply as possible, hoping that it made some sense. They weren’t in the mood to explain the complexity of mage traditions right now. Luckily, he seemed to understand, humming for a moment.

“Okay, you stay here, I’ll get your stuff. JJ has something to say to you anyways.” With that, he walked off before Marvin could get another word in. The person–JJ–came closer to him, writing something down in their notebook before showing it to him.

*Are you doing okay?* He asked, tilting his head at them. Marvin slowly nodded in reply before giving him a look. “I should be asking you that. I literally found you with your vocal cords ripped out.” They retorted. JJ made a disgusted face, going back to writing.

*Ew, don’t describe it like that.* He snorted at that before reading the rest of it. *Yes, I’m fine, but unfortunately, I don’t have any other shirts to wear, so I still have the same outfit on.* He wrote, pointing at the now-dried area at the top of his shirt.

“I can let you use one of my shirts if you’d like? I should have some smaller shirts that I never got rid of.” They suggested, leaning into the armrest and putting their legs back onto the couch. JJ did a small nod at that.

*That should be fine. I didn’t want to take anything without your permission, so I decided to wait until you woke up.*

After that was resolved, a somewhat comfortable silence settled in between the two. The silence gave him a chance to actually take in the fact that he did, in fact, have bandages wrapped around his neck, which settled that part of his mind. Now he just needed to check in on Chase. The mage was broken out of his thoughts when JJ started writing again.

*Hey, Marvin?*

“Yes?”

*Thank you…for helping me. And the other three. I don’t know what they did to me, but I hope it won’t happen again with you around.* They saw him put a hand up to the covered wound, frowning for a moment. It disappeared just as quickly when his gaze landed back on them, a soft smile appearing on his face.

Marvin returned a smile. “Oh, it was no problem.” The question he thought of earlier popped back into his mind. “Uh…hey…what does JJ stand for? And while I’m at it, what is the other person’s name? I haven’t really…asked.”

JJ silently snickered. *Oh right, you were out when we all learned each other’s names. It’s an abbreviation for my full name, Jameson Jackson, and the other person’s name is Henrik. We also call him Dr. Schneep, though.*

They laughed at the nickname as they realized. “Ahhh, so that’s what the doctor outfit is about.”

“You better not be talking shit about my clothing choice,” Henrik said out of nowhere, causing both of them to jump away from his voice. Marvin barely caught what he said under his breath afterward due to the jumpscare, but his heightened hearing helped him out with that. “es ist nicht so dass ich vor meiner entführung die möglichkeit hatte mein outfit zu wechseln-”

Marvin and JJ exchanged confused expressions as they looked at each other simultaneously. “Uh, what?”

He blinked at them both, realizing that he spoke out loud. “Huh? It’s nothing, just talking to myself. Here’s your mask and that bag you had on you.” He dismisses what he said previously with a small wave of the hand, giving him the items and stepping back.

The mage shrugged off his odd behavior when they got their hands on their mask, slipping it back onto their face and sighing dramatically. “Oh thank the gods, I thought I was dying for a minute.” They remarked in a mocking voice, tilting their head back. The dapper man rolled his eyes but smiled, intending that there was no malice behind it. The doctor stayed quiet, but he also had an amused look on his face at their dramatic behavior.

He grinned back at them. It felt weird to suddenly have people in his house after being alone for so long. But…

Marvin could get used to this.

Chapter Text

AAAAAAA, I’M SO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING ANY NEW CHAPTERS, BUT I HAVE AN EXCUSE!! /hj

Okay, so after I had posted Chapter 2, burnout slammed into me like a truck. On top of this story, I was also trying to create another Septiceye (+ Iplier) Ego fanfic so that I could post chapters for that when I couldn’t post anything for this fanfic, and I was also juggling roleplays with my online friends and trying to deal with the new school year coming up. Ultimately, that led me to gain not only burnout, but also writer’s block.

I have half of the 3rd and 4th chapters finished, but at one point, my brain just shut down and I couldn’t write anything besides some of the outline. So, um, I am really sorry! ;w;

New chapters for both this and any of my future stories (I have more brewing!) will be really slow with updates, unfortunately, but yeah! Just a life update for anyone that was wondering.

Trust me, I WILL get it done eventually, just not yet. Once I am ready to continue, I will delete this.

Thank you for being patient with me, and have a wonderful day/night! :D