Marcus was in the middle of a lightning storm created by flashing cameras. The whole entrance of the estate was filled with reporters and floodlights turned the night into day. Even minutes before his performance he hadn't been sure how he wanted to do this. What to tell and in which way. In the end he followed his heart and told the world what happened from his point of view. No hiding the brutality of the attack, but also no cheap manipulation.

Marcus followed one of Kim's advises and looked at a spot close to one of the cameras, to not get overwhelmed by the crowd. After Marcus had finished his sad tale, he answered five questions from reporters. He confirmed he was in good health and gave his condolences to all the families who had lost someone.

The lightning storm stayed with him until the door of the estate closed behind his back and he could finally take a deep breath. "Well done," Janette said with a smile, and offered him some water, which he gratefully accepted. "I don't think there is much more you can do today. You should go and rest," Grace said, leaning against a wall in the background.

Marcus looked at her and squinted his eyes, "So that I'm well rested for training in the morning?" Grace smiled. In her own way, Grace was very considerate of him. He said good night to his people and retired into his room, but he had no intention to sleep. Instead he lay awake and thought about his fourth ability and what it all meant. Losing himself in this world of the mind was a good way to let go of everything else. Without him knowing he fell asleep and this day finally ended.

"Rise and shine!" Made Marcus nearly jump out of the bed. Grace stood in the doorway, ready for training. The sun had barely started to show itself and Marcus was already working hard. They were sparring and Grace wasn't going easy on him. Marcus wasn't holding back either. After an hour they took a break and Grace smiled satisfied, "You haven't lost your edge, good. I feared your near death experience might have dulled you." Marcus laughed, "That is so you. Putting me through the grinder to find out if I am damaged goods." She shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing.

"What is your level now?" Grace asked, as they were walking back to the villa. "73," was Marcus' reaction, and she moaned. "You are getting on me. I need a few high EXP missions to get ahead of you again," she said. Marcus was in thoughts for a few seconds before he answered, "For the time being the Colors wont go on a mission, at least the veterans will stay home. I have other plans." Grace looked at him for a moment and then nodded. Once they had freshened up, they shared breakfast and were joined by the Saito family and Candis. Marcus wasn't yet fully done eating, when Janette walked into the kitchen and called him to the common room.

An open laptop was waiting for him and once he saw the screen, Azaa was smiling at him. "How?" Was his first reaction and Janette quickly explained that… "With the current situation we had a lot of leverage with the UN and they allowed us to use a secure diplomatic channel." The connection was choppy, but it didn't matter to Marcus. Azaa looked brilliant in her light blue dress with white dots, and she even put on makeup again.

It had been only one day and he already wished he could reach through the screen and embrace her. "How are you feeling, Marcus?" Azaa asked, and Marcus took a deep breath. "I nearly died and they murdered a child in front of my eyes. Not to talk about all the people who died in the plane they destroyed," he put it all out there. Azaa nodded and gave him a faint smile, "I really can't let you out of my sight."

Her face turned serious. "We have been informed about the events and we are right now working on a solution for the problem," Azaa said, with a cool look in her eyes. Marcus felt something cold run down his spine, "That doesn't involve your father coming over and wrecking the USA, right?" "Currently this isn't planned," was her short answer, and Marcus didn't miss that 'currently' in her sentence. He nodded in understanding and then spent a few more minutes talking about the attack and the general situation, before Azaa wanted to end the call.

"Already?" Marcus said and Azaa looked bashful. "If we don't stop soon, I wont be able to hold myself back from coming to Earth and abducting you," she said, and Marcus' face turned red. After the call was over Janette broke out into hysterical laughter. Red-faced Marcus punished the demon with a couch pillow, but she was already running to the kitchen telling everybody about Azaa's words.

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At least the villa was filled with laughter, that was better than depression, Marcus told himself. He had barely started to plan the rest of his day, when his father suddenly stood in the room. "Vater!" Marcus exclaimed, and Reinhardt Freimann embraced his son. Rin had brought him here from Paris, he quickly explained. He was currently part of an important meeting, but he had sneaked away for an hour to see how Marcus was doing.

"I have read the reports, but I wanted to see you myself. I can still not fathom they would go so far. And yet, in the end they underestimated what you are capable of," his father said. Even though this was a tragedy the pride in his father's eyes made Marcus happy. They talked a bit about the coming days, but were disturbed by Janette, who walked in and activated the large screen. "You have to see this. Somebody actually filmed the end of the fight with a phone," she said, and showed them a news feed.

The video was shaky and was made from a window overlooking the plaza in front of the church. There was some French chatter in the background, but the focus was on the events in the video. Marcus had just fought off his pursuers and escaped into the church. The black clad killers rushed after him and for a few seconds nothing happened. Then the church exploded and all windows in the vicinity were destroyed. The video showed the ceiling of the room for a moment before the camera person crawled back up to the destroyed window.

The church was only a few walls now and Marcus crawled out of the debris. He looked like hell, worse than he had realized and the current Marcus could see his father gasping. Some of the killers had survived and were closing in on the half dead Marcus in the rubble. In the same moment the giant body of Cherry's phantasmal dragon descended onto the ruins and the camera holder screamed in terror.

The black horror, with half a dozen red eyes, was larger than the church itself and had two people on its back. It leaned forward and opened its maw to release a flood of black flames into the ruins. "Guter Gott!" Reinhardt exclaimed in panic, but his son was evidently safe. A single killer had run from the church fast enough to escape the horrific death, but he only made it to the middle of the plaza. Rin was suddenly next to him and a lightning fast combination of strikes and kicks brought him to his knees before her blade decapitated him without a moment of hesitation.

Marcus had never seen Rin fight before or thought of her as an active combatant, but he should have known better. Cerberus wasn't a clan who would accept class holders who can't defend themselves. Rin vanished a second later into thin air and Marcus knew she was returning to her mistress. The camera zoomed in and showed how Cherry was holding the blood covered Marcus in her arms.

"I owe your wife a debt of gratitude, Janette," Reinhardt said, after the video had finished. "It is all okay. We care about him as much as you do," Janette said, but looked happy that her wife had been praised. "This video will only increase your fame and cause the USA problems,"she said, and pointed at the view counter. It was already growing into the millions and it had been less than an hour since the upload. And as it turned out, she was right about that.

But not only Marcus would see a rise in popularity, Cherry became hyped too. Also… The Queen of Hearts + The Titan romance rumors exploded on the net. After they were done talking Marcus escorted his father outside, where Rin was waiting to bring him back to Paris. Marcus saw her with very different eyes now and gave her a deep bow, which made her chuckle. With barely a sound Rin and Reinhardt vanished into the ether, leaving Marcus to his own thoughts.

An hour later Marcus invited the core of the clan (including Rian and Luca) into the common room for a meeting. "A meeting in the middle of the day?" Candis asked, and looked suspicious. Marcus smiled and waited until everybody had found a seat. Then he started to put his thoughts into actions.

"As the clan leader I have decided to make some announcements and also some changes to the clan," he said, and everybody was suddenly very concentrated. "After I came back, I tried to continue where I left off, but that was foolish of me. You all have changed and so have I. Trying to make everything like it was, will never work. It is time for me to get to know the current Colors of the Wild and for you to learn about the man I am today," he said, and let them have a second to let this sink in.

"To make that happen we will spend a lot of time together in the next weeks and months. Group combat, tactics, personal abilities and skill level will be a focus for the veterans. In addition there will be some changes. Janette will from now on hold the position of Executive and will be in charge of most daily decisions concerning the clan," he said, and Janette screamed, "NOOOOO!" But Marcus was uncompromising, "You have shown great skill and I will make use of you."

"Janette, Grace, Kou and myself will from now on be squad leaders and train for that position. We will dissolve the current squads and instead we will use a rotating system where members of the various experience levels will be mixed depending on the missions. Ideally I want one or two rookies on missions that are suitable. To compensate for this change we will increase the squad size to six people. In case we form a raid Grace will be in charge of the raid, overseeing the squad commanders beneath her. I will also make Fin officially my disciple if he accepts. Feel free to choose one yourself, too. Questions?" Marcus finished.

There was a long pause while everybody took in the news. Grace looked very happy, her cheeks had gained some color. "Kou and I only want to go on missions together," Achara said with a firm voice and Marcus nodded, "That should not be a problem. More questions?" "Does that mean no rookie missions anymore? I had one planned in the near future," Luca said, with a serious face.

"We can always talk about special missions like that. And because you are in charge of the training you will also be in charge of the mission. But I want to bring your and Rian's level up, before I make you squad leaders for general missions," Marcus explained, and Luca's face brightened. "Anything else?" Marcus asked, but everybody was happy with the situation. He smiled and said, "Then, I am looking forward to spending a lot of time with you all."

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