The world seemed to collapse.

A wave of emotion-anger, heartbreak, and shock-washed through Evelyn, leaving her swamped. Then Marvin stood out like a beacon, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her back into the world.

"Breathe, Evelyn!" he demanded, and she obediently took in a gasp of air, physically crumpling as tears overtook her. She felt him touch her tentatively in comforting, but she struggled to push him away, suddenly suspicious.

"No!"  she choked out. "Y-you want to k-kill her too!"

"'Lyn!" he gasped, horrified. "Of course not!"

"But then why-" she began, but Seraphine cut her off.

"We're here because we were guarding you, Evelyn," she said, exasperated. "Ever since last night." She gave a huge yawn, showing off her long teeth and emphasizing her statement. Evelyn suddenly realized that they must have gone almost twenty-four hours without sleep to guard her, only to have her accuse them of trying to kill her dragonet. Her cheeks flushed brightly, and she groped for the proper words to apologize.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I d-didn't-"

"It's fine, Evelyn," Marvin said, sneaking an amused glance at his partner. "It wasn't quite as bad as Sera said. We took shifts," his grin turned malevolent. "But I will say I got considerably less sleep than someone I won't."

Seraphine looked indignant, the spines on her neck sticking up in her outrage. "Your snoring was enough to put the sun to sleep! I had to wake you up in order to stop myself from falling asleep!"

Evelyn sighed as the two proceeded to bicker good-naturedly, but her heartbreak eased considerably when her gaze landed on the sleeping dragonet by her side. She smiled slightly, but then she remembered with a jolt Seraphine's warning, and her blood ran cold.

"Wait," she spoke softly, and the two stopped arguing immediately, looking slightly guilty. "Seraphine," Evelyn addressed the dragoness, not trusting herself to say Marvin's name without a stutter. "You said you two were guarding me?"

"Yes," Seraphine dipped her head. "On Aldebar's orders."

"And the council-" Evelyn began, fear knotting in her stomach.

"Doesn't know about it," Marvin answered. "That's why it's only me and the sleepy queen doing it." That made Evelyn smile; she had once told Marvin a few traditional stories of Earth, but he could never get the names right.

"And least my snores don't create earthquakes," Seraphine retorted.

"And how many--" Evelyn trailed off, not wanting to voice her worry in the dread that she might not like the answer. "Did the council--"

"They haven't voted yet, sweet," Seraphine reassured her, snaking her head around so that she could rub it comfortingly against Evelyn's. "And a lot of them haven't really voiced their opinions yet. There has been some dissent, and some have been rather voiced about it, which is why Aldebar had us guard. We weren't supposed to tell you," she added ruefully.

Her fears slightly eased, Evelyn solemnly contemplated the thought of losing her second chance. She would be completely broken, she realized, even worse than when she had lost Indigo. She fiercely resolved to never be separated from the dragonet. She had been so lost when Indigo had died that she had never thought she would be happy again. She'd left the Wings, her home, and. . . Marvin. . .

She snapped back to the present to find him staring at her furiously, or rather, she realized with some relief, Seraphine, whose head was behind her. He plastered on a weak smile when he noticed her gaze and opened his mouth to speak, but Seraphine beat him to it.

"I'm going to go report to Aldebar," she announced, getting up and heading out in her usual sassy way. "Don't be too awkward!" she threw over her shoulder, making both Marvin and Evelyn red with embarrassment.

It was only when the doors had shit behind Seraphine that Evelyn realized that the dragoness could easily have contacted Aldebar with her mind, and that her only real reason in leaving had been to get them alone.

She fidgeted slightly, trying to put her mind away from the awkwardness by staring at her dragonet. Finally, Marvin broke the silence.

"She's beautiful."

Evelyn felt herself smile in response. "Yes, she is."

"And devoted." He smiled when she glanced up at him questioningly. "After you fainted, I tried to take you up to your old room, but she followed me, whimpering like a kicked puppy. So, I brought you here."

Evelyn blushed a bit as he mentioned that he had carried her. She tried to draw attention away from herself. "And Aldebar?"

"I just hope the council doesn't wake him before noon; it's mid-morning now."

Evelyn snorted. "Fat chance of that. You know they never give him any respect. I'm surprised he hasn't chosen a successor yet."

"Well, he has."

"He has?" Marvin had dropped the friendly exterior that he had assumed for a mere moment in exchange for his favorite stone-faced impenetrableness. "Who?" she prompted when he offered her no clues.

He turned away slightly, not looking her in the eyes. "Me."

Evelyn struggled not to gape with astonishment. "But...I thought you wanted to do field work. Being the next Wingmaster is--"

"The complete opposite, I know," he finished with a grimace that told her he had heard the same comment before.

"But...why?" she asked when he didn't continue. The Marvin she had known had loved the adventures of field assignments, the simple pleasure of surviving on one's own. She had much trouble visualizing him in a situation where he was giving orders instead of carrying them out. She feared that she didn't know him at all now.

"Because..." he paused, and she could tell that the answer was something that he didn't wish to talk about. "Well, he'd asked me before, and I'd said I'd think about it. Then...Indigo died." He trailed off, and then asked her a question. "We were going to go out on a field assignment together, remember?"

Evelyn's voice was barely audible. "I remember."

"But it got delayed because of that special mission, the one--"

"Where Indigo died," Evelyn finished for him, her voice stronger now. "Yes, I remember."

"I was still assigned to that after. . . after you left, but I didn't want. . . I couldn't go. . . alone, not when we could've gone together. Then I remembered Aldebar's offer." He shrugged and smiled weakly. "So now I'm here."

They were both silent, Marvin with presumably nothing left to say, and Evelyn lacking the courage to say what she knew she had to. She opened her mouth several times, but she couldn't force the words out of her mouth.

Finally Marvin stood up. "I'd better go and see if Aldebar needs me." It was such an obvious lie that she suddenly felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her, and he was nearly halfway to the door before she called out to him.

"Marvin. . . " Her heart nearly stopped as he turned around this time, but she pressed on, this time. "I-I'm sorry."

She didn't dare look at his face, and instead stared at the ground, glancing up at him as the silence became interminable.

"I know," he said, tiredness leaking into his voice. He turned back around and resumed his walk to the door. "I'm sorry too."

Evelyn stared after him in despair as he disappeared from view, suddenly feeling as if she had lost Indigo all over again. But as she lay down next to her still-sleeping dragonet, exhaustion consumed her, and she gave herself up to the darkness.