Her head shot up as a shadow passed by her window. She slid off her bed and looked out into the open space, seeing nothing in the darkness outside. She glanced around before drawing the curtains slightly and returning to her place. Something moved again and the teenage girl slowly reached for the Swiss Army knife that happened to be on her nightstand, already regretting not closing the window.

    "Is someone there?" she asked cautiously, hiding the fear that had crept into her heart.

    "No one that you should be worried about," a boy's voice assure and a figure poked his head through the open window. She blinked, mildly surprised as his hooded, upside-down face smiled warmly. Mary recognized him as one of the town's unofficial protectors- the boy that went by the name Sorcerer.

    "Oh, Sorcerer, what... brings you here? To my house?" the girl asked.

    "I happened to see your light on and decided to stop by. Mind if I come in?" the masked boy asked. Mary shrugged.

"If you want. Just don't wake my mom, alright?"

The boy grinned and laughed. "Yeah, that would be awkward." Sorcerer stood by the window while the normal girl looked basically anywhere but the mysterious local hero.

"Is there something you need, Sorcerer?" Mary finally asked. Why else would a famous, powerful person visit her while she was reading?

The boy shrugged. "Nah, except for some company."

"Really?" Mary asked suspiciously.

Sorcerer looked at her with his calm, resolute, chocolate brown eyes.

"Seriously. Am I not allowed to see why someone is still up when it's nearly two in the morning?" he questioned with a lighthearted smirk.

"Is that really the time?" Mary reached for her phone and saw that the time was indeed three minutes until two AM. "Well, shoot."

Sorcerer chuckled. "You should probably get some sleep. I'll leave you be." He suddenly was outside the window on the roof despite being in Mary's room only a second before. She jumped before scowling, realizing what he had done.

"Darn you and your magic ability."

He chuckled once more. "What's your name?" he asked, the question catching Mary off guard.

"Marilyn Halsala," the girl answered, "But everyone calls me Mary." She did not ask his name; the news asked after every fight or skirmish and the answer was never given.

Sorcerer nodded. "See you around then, Mary!"
The girl waved goodbye and turned off her lamp as the cloaked figure took his leave.

What in the world just happened? Mary stared at the ceiling with more than a few questions circling in her mind and even further from sleep than she had been before.

The local hero came back the next night, and the night after that, and the night after that. He showed up at her window before midnight and left normally only an hour or so later. Mary, despite her questions about his sudden interest in her, enjoyed every moment of their times together watching stupid videos online or rambling about what just happened in her book before he showed up, or his thoughts on the most recent conflict he was involved in. Sorcerer seemed genuinely interested in her, much to Mary's surprise. She would think that someone who has mysterious magic powers would stick to the other interesting people who had similar abilities. Not everyone had something special, and if you did, you were often called blessed by nature- better than the people who were not so.

But Mary refused to ask the question that had been bugging her and possibly ruin their blossoming friendship. Whether Sorcerer decided to talk to her by chance or if he had some greater plan with her, Mary decided that she would be grateful for a real friend nonetheless. She had guessed from his slang and body language that he must be around her age, which explained so much about why he did some of the things he did in the fights that were so often broadcast on the current events in social studies class.

"Hey Mary!" The cloaked figure slipped through her window she almost always had open.

The girl looked up from her book and immediately put it away, giving her full attention to the newcomer. "Hi, Sorcerer."

He frowned, tilting his head to the side. "Hm..."

Mary did a similar action. "'Hm' what? What are you thinking about?" then she gasped. "Sorcerer, thinking? What miracle is this?" she exclaimed.

The masked boy laughed. "I think a lot more than some of the others do, thank you very much! Have you not seem some of Sam- uh, hothead's- ugh, my partner's plans?" he groaned at his very confusing statement. "That could have come out much better..."

Mary giggled at his rather embarrassed expression. "Paladin's? Fair point," she agreed to what Sorcerer had been trying to say.

Paladin, Sorcerer's main crime-fighting partner, was well-known for her spontaneous and often unhelpful actions that made a situation more complicated than it already was.

Sorcerer leaned his head back towards the ceiling. "That's such a stupid superhero name but she refuses to admit it!" he complained.

"To be fair, Sorcerer isn't much better," the girl noted. Sorcerer held up his hands to show off a mesmerizing silver mist contained between his fingers.

"I have magic, it makes sense! She knows how to wield a bunch of weird weapons- how does that translate to 'Paladin?'" He shook his head and his hood flew off, revealing a mess of fine black hair.

Mary squeaked and covered her eyes. "Are you crazy? I'm gonna find out your identity! And then the paparazzi will never leave me alone!" she cried, "Put your hood back up, quick!"

There was a momentary pause before Sorcerer chuckled, and he was pulling her hands gently away from her face. "I think I'm alright," he said.

Mary opened one eye to see that his brown eyes were surrounded by a dark purple mask like what one would wear to a masquerade. His pitch black hair swept loosely over the mask, making him look almost normal if it weren't for the Dungeons and Dragons-inspired superhero outfit.

"Oh," Mary breathed. She wasn't sure what else to say or how to respond to the dozens of conflicting emotions that just bubbled into existence.

Sorcerer chuckled. "Yeah," he smiled softly before his eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! Okay so, speaking of stupid superhero aliases," Mary resisted the urge to laugh at the statement, "Sorcerer is a really weird thing for you to be calling me."

The girl jolted to attention. "Excuse me, you better not be trying to tell me your real name because if so then I'm going to have to turn you down-"

He looked surprised as well. "No! That's a bad idea in general. Not that I don't trust you-"

Wait, what?

"But then if you knew my identity it would put you in danger, and that's a bad idea. Even as a superhero, I don't think your mom would be too happy with either of us," Sorcerer joked. Mary's mother was rather strict and would not react well to finding out about her daughter's nocturnal endeavors with the local male crime-fighter.

Mary nodded approvingly. "True that."

"But I was thinking that maybe you could call me something else besides Sorcerer?"
The girl felt a jolt of surprise go through her. Not only did the hero trust her enough to know this much about himself, but to let her give him a nickname?

Who would have guessed I'd be best friends with a superhero in general? Friendship and fate were a strange thing.

Mary frowned and hummed in thought. What would she call him that was only him?

"What about Moon?" she suggested finally.

He tilted his head. "Moon?"

Mary averted her eyes shyly. "Yeah. Your magic is silver like the moon and your outfit reminds me of the night sky," she explained.

She looked back to see him smiling. "Yeah, sure! I like it! Moon it is!" Moon exclaimed.

"Marilyn? Are you talking to someone? Why are you up?" A woman's voice asked from the other side of Mary's closed door.

Sorcerer disappeared, and Mary panicked and grabbed the cup beside her bed as her mother barged in.

"Mom! I was just, getting some water. That's all," the girl lied easily. The woman looked somewhat unconvinced as she glanced down at the book on the floor before sighing.

"Get some water and go back to sleep. And close your window! How many times have I told you to do so? Someone is going to come in and cause trouble because of your forgetfulness!" with that Mary's mother closed the door part way and left her daughter to herself.

"Yes, Mom..." Mary sighed and walked over to the window. "Sorc- Moon?" she called. The boy's masked face suddenly appeared upside down in front of her's.

"I should go," he said immediately in a remorseful tone.

Mary shrugged. "Don't mind her. She just doesn't understand. But see you later?" she asked. Sorcerer smiled and nodded, a warm glow in his eyes.

"You bet!" Mary's heart skipped a beat as he disappeared in the blink of an eye. His eyes, just for a moment, held an emotion she had only read about. The girl shook her head.

I'm going crazy. I should go to bed and wake up with a clear mind. No way would a magicked hero be falling for me!

Weeks turned into months where Sorcerer would visit Mary at least for a little while most nights, depending on how long he could stay out with his obligations with and without the life of a superhero. He had once decided to startle Mary by teleporting into her room, grabbing her, then teleporting them onto the roof so that they could look at the stars that were visible in the night sky.

"Sorry that I can't take you out farther. If we were to go out into the woods there's a lot less light pollution and you can see so much more..." he had sighed.

Mary had said that this was already amazing, and they had stared up at the stars for a good while before Sorcerer had to leave. This was the first of other little things the boy had shown the girl, each one different than the last but just as enchanting. He had even shown up the night she was preparing to go to her school's homecoming alone, and he had disappeared and come back minutes later dressed in adequately-formal wear, still with his mysterious mask. Mary had been surprised, to say the least, and even more so when he actually took her to the dance, where they had a blast and showed off in front of the popular kids who had been teasing Mary only hours earlier for not having a date. Not only had Moon got the drama queens and kings off Mary's case, but the civilian girl was convinced he had made them jealous as well without them even knowing who he really was. All the while Mary was slowly becoming convinced the mysterious boy was trying to be more than a friend to her and she might be starting to fall for his kindness and charm as well, despite not knowing him behind the mask.

The day started out as any normal day, but today was the day that Mary's life changed forever.

A tremor shook Mary's school. There was a multitude of screams as she and the other kids immediately hit the floor of the hallway, as it was during passing period and everyone was heading to their next class.

"What's going on?!" someone cried in a panicked voice.

I think that's something we'd all like to know! Mary was tempted to snap even though it was really not the time.

The lights cut out and the announcement light flashed.

"Attention students and staff, this is a lockdown. I repeat, this is a lockdown. Please take shelter in the nearest classroom and undergo the appropriate procedures-" the office lady's voice crackled and there was a scream in the background, then a microphone screech as someone else took control of the speaker system.

"You have five minutes to hand over the girl that Sorcerer visits every night, or face the wrath of the Blessed. You know who you are. Choose wisely."

Mary's breath hitched as she heard the ransom. The Blessed was the main organization that Sorcerer and the other heroes fought against. They, like Sorcerer and his allies, had powers gifted by chance and fate but used their unique abilities to do harm under the mantra that they were chosen by destiny to exterminate the unworthy.

"Oh, god," Marilyn breathed. The other students were glancing wearily at one another. She knew exactly who it was that the Blessed wanted. There was no way any good would come to her if she turned herself in; nothing good could come of not doing so either.

Mary saw a girl holding her wrist up to her mouth and was speaking into her watch (what looked slightly like a FitBit? But modified) with a fierce expression on her face. The girl then ducked into the bathroom and a few moments later a different female, the same height and appearance and had the same determination but with two katana sheaths and magnificent, shining armor strapped to her limbs, burst out.

"Everyone stay calm!" she yelled. The frenzied students all turned to the newcomer and immediately quieted.

Paladin.

Mary honestly was not surprised the reckless superheroine went to her school. If Sorcerer was her age, then why wouldn't his partner in crime-fighting be so as well?

"If anyone knows who was just referenced, please inform me right away. Whatever you do, DO NOT turn yourself in! We will handle this without any need for ransoms, alright?" The other students in the hall seemed to immediately agree. Mary glanced at the clock.

"We have three minutes..." Five minutes was in no way enough time for the vigilantes to take care of the issue.

Paladin seemed to note the time as well with a scowl. "You have a better idea, girlie?" she demanded from Mary. The civilian girl held her hands up in a surrender gesture.

Another minute ticked by on the clock.

Paladin spoke into her wristband again. "Where are you?!"

"Take care of this yourself! I'm not going to make it!"

Mary's heart skipped a beat as she recognized Moon's voice, slightly distorted by the transmission.

"Just don't let Mary do anything stupid! We don't know what..." Paladin turned away just enough so that Marilyn couldn't hear the rest of his reply.

"This is what you get for associating with a civilian. You're homeschooled for a reason," Paladin grumbled before scanning the crowd and taking action.

Less than a minute.

I need to do something!

Mary took off towards the office. Kids watched as she tore through the hallway in a panic to not have misfortune befall her classmates. Paladin called out after her but Mary ignored it. There are way too many kids for her alone to protect everyone at once!

The best thing Mary could think of was for her to delay the attack until more help could arrive. She arrived at the office and only hesitated once she was already through the door and in the dark, empty room.

I'm done for, Marilyn thought to herself as she realized the trap she had just walked into.

"I'm the girl you want! Don't hurt anyone!" she announced. She surprised herself with the firmness of her voice that didn't betray the fear she suddenly felt.

Someone gripped her arms from behind.

"Wise choice, girl," a low voice rumbled. Mary glanced over her shoulder to see a tall, strong brute restraining her. "You're brave, I'll give you that."

    Mary saw Paladin ram her shoulder against the door while shouting something that was muffled by the barrier. The brute looked to where the civilian girl stared and grinned evilly.

"You're not getting her this time! Was this planned, girl? Did you think your Sorcerer friend was going to save you? Too late! Why don't you say something to your boyfriend while you're at it? I'm sure he's close enough to hear your pleads to be saved," the brute sneered and teleported them to the other side of the office desk. The button to activate the speaker system pressed itself as the brute leaned in to talk into the microphone.

    Paladin was trying to break into the office, but it seemed someone had done something to the walls to make them immune to her onslaught of various weapons and martial arts moves.

    "Attention, students and staff, I have a special guest here that would like to say something. C'mon girl, what is it you have to say?" Mary's captor said in a toxically sweet voice.

    Marilyn stayed silent. If she had been in this situation before she had met Sorcerer, she would have been terrified- sobbing, shaking, doing exactly what the enemy wanted in a vain attempt to keep herself from harm. If she hadn't met Sorcerer, she probably wouldn't even be in this situation in the first place. But she had met the kind, quirky, brave boy, and something had been instilled in Mary to make her so that she wasn't as weak as they wanted her to be.

    "Speak up, girl," the brute growled. He squeezed her arms tighter so that they started to turn slightly blue.

    Marilyn took a deep breath.

    "I trust you, Moon."

    And that was Marilyn's last moment of freedom for a long time.

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Max word count: 3000

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