Marie and Alex

As her eyelids slowly opened, the world around her gradually came into focus, like a painting slowly emerging from the depths of darkness. Marie's gaze was met with a scene of crumbling walls, shattered debris, and a thick, impenetrable mist that shrouded everything.

"I am- still here...the tournament, yes."

The pain that ravaged her body made her struggles seem futile. She lay there, breathing in and out.

"It hurts...."

She realises her head is on something soft and not hard ground. She tilts her face around and sees Alex's face with closed eyes. He has kept his head resting on the wall.

"Alex.." says Marie.

She sees his t-shirt with a hole and recalls what happened to him and how his chest got penetrated by Serena's attack, and he collapsed.

"You are alive.."

No response came from Alex, as he is sleeping.

"I am glad."

Marie lifts herself from his lap and sits straight. She looks at her clothes and sees that she is wearing Alex's white jacket over her sweater dress.

~It's his jacket.

Says Marie inside her mind.

"Oye Alex,"

She tries to wake him up, pulling his shoulders.

"Alex, wake up. We can't be sleeping here."

Her attempts to wake him were useless, as Alex was snoring too deep in sleep.

"Sigh* I guess I can't make you do anything without raising my voice."

Marie breathes out and again inhales.

"ALEX, YOU GODDAM WAKE UP, RIGHT NOW!!!!" Marie yells into his ears.

"AAA Wha- "

Alex jolts in shock and wakes up suddenly.

"What happened? Are we getting attacked again?" asked Alex.

"No. I was trying to wake you up." replied Marie.

"Ahh- I see..."

"Yes."

"Can't you scream a little slower?"

"You weren't waking up, so I had no other choice."

"That doesn't mean you will do this."

"Tch* you said something?" Marie glares at Alex.

"No, no, I didn't. Sorry."

"Good."

"She hates me; I love her; she hates me; I love her." Alex turns around sulking.

"What even- "

With a growing sense of unease, Marie's gaze swept her surroundings, taking in the shattered walls, the scattered debris, and the eerie silence that hung in the air like a pall. And then her eyes landed on a familiar sight - her knife, lying close on the ground.

"It's the same place," says Marie, slowly.

Just then, the realisation hit her like a thunderbolt: she was fighting with Han and Yeona. She lost because of the Infusuon beeds Yeona threw at last.

Marie has no memory of what happened to her and others after that, as they aren't anywhere nearby anymore.

"Alex.." says Marie.

"Yea?" Alex turns back to Marie, stopping his cries.

"What happened here?"

"Means?"

Alex asks cluelessly.

"I was fighting with Han and Yeona. Where are they?"

"Who?"

Alex again asks as if he has no knowledge of those two names.

"Huh!? You don't know them? The people who came to kill us-"

Before Marie could complete her sentence, she recalls that Alex collapsed from Serena's attack, so he doesn't know who Han and Yeona are.

"Ohh, yes, yes, you died before they came. So you might not know."

"Umm..yeah..I guess so," replied Alex, smiling innocently.

"But then why am I alive? They came to kill me, so after winning, they possibly couldn't have left me alive." says Marie, thinking hard over it.

Alex's gaze settled on Marie with a piercing intensity, his eyes observing every detail of her struggling form.

His gaze lingered on her eyes, her parted lips, and the graceful curve of her neck. And as he looked, his own eyes underwent a subtle transformation, softening into a gaze that was almost...guilty.

"What are you thinking over, Marie?" asks Alex.

"Umm....ummm..."

Marie is still running her head, completely unaware that Alex asked her something.

~Ahh- she never pays attention to me.

Alex said it in his mind.

"Ohh Yes. In what condition was I when you saw me here?" asked Marie.

"Ohh that."

"Yes Yes."

"You were lying there when I met you."

Alex then points his finger towards the Marie's knife and says it

"You were completely unconscious and your clothes were torned in a miserable way so I had to put my jacket on you." said Alex.

Marie again looks at his Jacket.

"Yeah, Yeona's beeds blasted very close to me so it must've torned because of that."

"Yeah...." says Alex, lowering his head a little.

"And then they left without checking if I am dead or alive?" asks Marie to herself.

"I don't know about that because when I saw you here. No one was present so yeah that must be the case."

Marie had a hard time accepting that as a fact but she had no other possible explanation so she gives in.

"Sighh* Right. That must be the case"

"Yes"

"So my luck and their ignorance saved my life today." says Marie.

"Indeed, you'll always have a great luck by your side. Don't worry." says Alex gazing into Marie's eyes.

Their eyes locked in a silent understanding, the tension between them palpable as the seconds ticked by. Twenty long, heavy seconds passed, the only sound the ragged rhythm of their breathing. And then, without warning, Marie's hand shot out, her fingers closing around Alex's cheeks. She pulled his face close, her eyes blazing with a fierce intensity

"Stop staring." says Marie.

"Yes, Yes, Sorry. It's just you were looking too beautiful all of a sudden."

"You do realize that, I am in a completely battered state."

"Yes, but still you are cute. Ouch* it hurts Marie. Let me go."

With a sudden release, Marie's grip on Alex's cheeks relaxed, and she pushed herself up to stand, her movements fluid and deliberate. She smoothed her hands over her thighs, brushing off the dirt and debris; she straightened her rumpled dress; and she graced her hair out properly.

It was a gesture of quiet dignity, a reclaiming of her composure.

"Umm...what happened, Marie?" asks Alex.

"Let's go," replied Marie.

She starts walking ahead.

"Where are we going?" asks Alex, following up.

"This isn't over yet."

Marie turns her face towards Alex.

"The tournament isn't over, and Eleanor is still out there fighting."

"...."

*Steps* Steps*

Marie walks ahead, and Alex looks at her back, and after a small pause, he walks behind her as well.

"Right."