Marc went to tell Jin about his dream.
"Do you think it's tight?"
"I tried to calculate approximately but obviously I'm not a machine. We don't have a huge amount of time in my opinion."
"Approximately how much?"
"In a range, between 6 and 8 weeks."
"That's not bad."
"I think it's short."
"What do you think will go down?"
"I have no idea. I don't know what's down there. I don't know their plan. I don't know anything."
"We'll get through this, master."
"You think so?"
"I'm sure of it."
"You are?"
"No."
The two looked into each other's eyes. Marc was desperate. He huffed.
"Honestly. I don't understand you."
Marc remembered that school was due to start again on the same day. His mother woke him up by shouting at him in the morning, even though his classes had already started. Marc jumped to his feet and got ready for school.
"I'm so late. I'm super late."
His first reflex was to run, which surprised him by finishing everything he had to do in less than a minute. Marc was amazed at his performance. He often forgot that he wasn't like the others. That he wasn't really human anymore. He looked down at his hands, pensive, remembering all he'd done to get to this point.
"Are...we going to be able to...stop it?"
Marc was well aware of that. They'd been too cocky. They had no chance of beating his monsters or preventing their descent. All they could do was wait. Wait for all this to happen before their eyes and hope they could save as many people as possible that day. They couldn't even be sure whether it was really a descent or just pure destruction of humanity. After all, there was surely one being in this world capable of such a feat. So why fight it?
"Marc, if you really don't want to go to school, I'm going to hit you."
"No, I'm fine. Thanks."
Marc sped off, leaving only a vague draft in his wake. His mother watched him speed away. Her face froze in shock.
"That child...since when does he go so fast?"
She leaned toward the door to see if he was still there.
"And what could be bothering him so much?"
She thought back to the conversation she'd had with him when he'd returned from running away.
"Maybe his stories were true?"
The wind was blowing hard and Marc arrived at school in less than another minute. Classes had already started and everyone watched him enter the classroom. Elie didn't know what to say.
"You're late, Mister Zeymond."
Marc didn't know what to say. He wasn't even sweating or out of breath because the trip had been too short. From the point of view of the class, he just seemed to have dried off and didn't feel guilty about it at all.
"I...I was...I overslept."
"It's really that, your..."
Suddenly, a ringtone sounded in Marc's pocket. His phone was vibrating to indicate a call from his mother. Marc picked up the phone.
"Surely you're not going to..."
"Hello."
The professor froze. His expression decomposed.
"Why did you run out of the house. Are you sick?"
"I'm at school right now, Mom."
"You really want to make your tardiness worse. You think this is how..."
The voice suddenly disappeared and resumed a few minutes later before the class itself came to its senses.
"What? What do you mean, you're at school?"
"I'm at school."
"Liar."
"I'm in class right now, in front of everyone. The teacher's here. You can ask him."
"Put him on."
Professor Gilbert still couldn't believe it. How could it be possible? In forty years of teaching, he'd never had such an affront.
"Good...Good morning, Mme Zeymond."
"That's impossible."
"Yes, it is possible. Your son is in class right now."
"You're lying."
"No, madame."
"I don't believe you. Say something only you would know."
"Is my date of birth enough for you?"
"Go ahead."
"June 18, 2103."
"Holy cow, you're old. But okay, Marc doesn't remember birthdays so that's fine. Have a nice day."
Marc's mother ended the call while the sound of the phone still echoed in the classroom. Professor Gilbert remained transfixed, his empty soul seemingly joining the heavens.
"Sir, can I have my phone."
"Yes...Yes, no problem."
The rest of the class was in the same state. Some were wondering.
"He...he ran all the way here."
"He interrupted Professor Gilbert."
"He's phoning his mother in class."
"I didn't know Marc was like that."
Everyone looked at him in amazement. Marc felt the pressure of the stares on him. Drops of sweat began to fall from his forehead. Silently, he returned to his seat while no one moved an inch.
"You may continue, sir. Please, sir. I have a feeling I'm being watched."
That day, Mister Gilbert didn't say another word all day.
At recess, the group of friends gathered in the playground, as had been their custom since that day. The first thing they did was yell at Marc.
"Why did you get here so late? You weren't answering my calls."
"I was asleep. Sorry."
"You know it annoys me when you answer with that blasé face. You amaze me that people think you're depressed."
"At the same time, they're not really wrong."
"What?"
"Just kidding. It was a joke."
Elie grabbed Marc by the collar and shook him in all directions.
"You should stop making jokes like that, Marc. I'm really worried about you, you know?"
"You say that, but you're about to kill me."
Marc wasn't really in pain. His brain was moving around a lot in his skull, but he didn't really feel dizzy. He looked at Elie angrily and remembered how much she didn't want to lose him.
"And you, are you all right? You hardly showed any comforting signs the last time we saw each other. Despite that, you came to school."
Elie was surprised by the question.
"I'm fine. It was just some not-so-reassuring memories."
"But what could have scared you so much about that vision?"
"Marc."
Nathanaël stared at Marc, and he knew why. There was no point in reminding her of what she saw.
"Don't think too much and rest."
"You fool. If I came to school it was to see you for the day. That's all."
"Really?"
Marc really couldn't read the mood. Jin and Nathanaël had noticed.
"Is this your research group?"
Chris chimed in. He'd spent the week looking for clues, staying with Marc and learning to fight, but nothing about the other world was moving forward. Nothing was changing as far as the investigation was concerned. He was truly disappointed. He'd seen the strength and power of this group, but he'd also seen the gap in strength between the two. He'd been looking forward to finding that other world and defeating Marc, but for some time he'd been noticing that the group was slacking off. There was nothing left.
"Are you kidding me?"
"What do you want, Chris?"
"What about the other world? And this descent. Maybe this famous hourglass means we're all going to die and you're standing there laughing at Marc's inability to read the mood."
"What inability?"
"You've got to be kidding me. I followed you to get stronger and to find out the truth. To see if you weren't just a bunch of crazies chasing a nonexistent vision. But after all that, I can tell you that in my eyes, you're just a bunch of sickos. Apart from your strength, which is suspect, I can't think of anything else."
The group fell silent for a long moment. Chris thought that maybe he really was right. That they were just brainless gorillas until Marc stepped forward.
"Say, Chris?"
Air pressure increased. Some students began to find it hard to breathe. Chris realized it too. Something wasn't right. Something out of the ordinary. Suddenly, his eyes opened. Before him loomed a dark black aura. A darkness like no other. Marc was advancing dangerously towards him with the aura behind his back. Nathanaël sensed the danger.
"Marc."
"I know."
His steps seemed heavy and Chris began to sweat. Marc caught Chris by the collar as he fell and looked into his eyes. Chris noticed that same darkness at the level of those eyes.
"We don't give a sh.t what your eyes see."
Marc released him before calming down. Chris had turned pale. Jin took a deep breath. Elie was still watching the birds. Nathanaël thought Chris had just escaped a dangerous situation.
"Let's get back to class. It'll be ringing soon."
They all returned to class, leaving a stunned Chris behind.
Marc sat down in his usual place for chemistry class. He didn't really feel like participating that day. His favorite teacher continued to teach in the way Marc liked best. Elie saw Marc's lack of attention.
"Are you troubled by this return to everyday life?"
Marc snapped back to reality. He saw Elie staring at him. She didn't look as troubled as he did, even though she'd probably been through worse.
"Hadn't you? I mean...after everything we've been through...I thought it was normal to wonder if we could be here."
Elie refocused on the course and thought about Marc's question.
"It's true. After all...we might all be dead by the end of the allotted time."
Elie continued to stare at the blackboard, which was full of chemical formulas. She didn't answer at first, but after a good five minutes, words began to come out.
"Shouldn't we make the most of it, then?"
Marc was surprised by Elie's answer. He began to stare at her again. Her relaxed, peaceful air with the sunbeam lightly tapping her eyes made her look more beautiful than usual. Marc didn't know what to say.
"Do you think so? Shouldn't we be looking for a way to stop this?"
There was another long silence before Elie answered.
"And what else can we do but wait and hope we can save as many people as possible that day?"
Marc had already thought about this, and had come to the same conclusion. A helplessness so great it couldn't be described.
"But that day..."
Marc looked again at Elie. This time they both looked into each other's eyes.
"'You'll protect me and I'll protect you, won't you?"
Marc opened his eyes. He was troubled by Elie's words. A strange feeling struck his heart. He didn't understand what was happening to him. Nevertheless, he quickly regained his impassive air and smiled. An honest smile that Elie rarely saw.
"At least we'll try."
They both refocused on the class. The chemistry teacher had noticed and was delighted.