One at Last

'What's the deal?' Brendan's expression and tone became guarded.

'Isn't it obvious? Sixty-forty of course.'

'This isn't the right time to be irrational. The Finch holds our fate in the palm of her hand.'

'I know,' he spoke with not much concern whatsoever.

Brendan ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, 'Fifty-fifty is a fair deal!'

'Only one of us thinks that,' Marauder argued.

'Look, let's stop arguing. If we don't come to a decision we could both die.'

'Even if we do unite, we could still die. You have forgotten that the Finch has broken too many prophecies in the past.'

'I'm confident that she can't break this one.'

'What makes you so sure?'

'I have faith…she is too boastful and that can make her careless. If we don't waste time talking but work together then we might just stand a chance of winning this. Isn't that what you told me before, Marauder?'

They both stood in silence.

Brendan cleared his throat and extended his right hand, 'Well..? Fifty-fifty?' he tried persuading him.

Marauder looked down at his hand and he shook his head, a smirk on his face. He said, 'You're both confident and brave, not to mention stubborn. You're willing to fight to the last breath. Your mission is clearly different, but our destiny is one.'

'What…what are you saying?' His hand was still outstretched.

'What I'm saying is that you have a lot to live for. All my life I have been living inside you, watching your actions. You are forgiving and bold and I have seen you look deep into the eyes of the devil and color them with roses. You have a girlfriend, two good friends and a good life. If you had agreed to the sixty-forty deal then I wouldn't be here right now. I have no feud with the Finch. But like I said, our destiny is one.'

'So what you're technically saying is…'

'That you can keep total control of your body and mind.'

'You mean one-hundred percent control?'

'Isn't that what the word "total" means?'

'Thanks, man! I knew you would come to reason,' he tried to hug him.

Marauder backed away, 'Hey! I wouldn't do that if I were you.'

'Why..? Are you short-tempered?' He grinned, his arms still wide open.

'If you hug me then our union will become unstable just like the Flicker and Black Ice's…you shouldn't rush this at all.'

'Oh..,' he dropped his arms and scratched his head, 'sorry,' he apologized, feeling embarrassed.

'Now..,' Marauder's tone became more serious, '…the time has come. You should also understand two last things before this union. If we unite, you will be forced to adopt feelings that you did not have before: ruthlessness, grudge bearing and even greed for power, just to name a few. You might not even feel love again.'

'What! Are you telling me that my feelings for Samantha are going to vanish all of a sudden?'

'There's a probability.'

He gritted his teeth, 'Before our union I need to know one last thing…'

'What?'

'The Felines; where are they now and how powerful are they?' he asked him.

'My wisdom has a limit. I do not know anything about them so you'll have to find out for yourself. The journey to find the answers that lie deep inside you is far from over. So much evil lurks on this island and right now you are the only one who can stop it. Your journey is perilous and far from over.'

'So…after our union where will you go?'

Marauder said, 'I will spread throughout your cells to become a part of you, or in other words, we will never meet again. I will be just a mere whisper in your head. I'll only be dead until when you don't need me to be and when the other side of our coin of destiny makes known the time to put history and prophecy to rest. Only time will expose the Marshal of this madness.'

'What?'

'We're running out of time…stretch out your hand.'

Brendan did as instructed.

Marauder slowly placed his hand with Brendan's as if intending to shake it.

'What's with the slow speed?' Brendan asked him.

'If I were to move faster than this then our union would become a complete disaster. This process needs patience…Which reminds me; you're going to feel wobbly afterwards but you'll cool down eventually.' Marauder began to reduce size, shrinking and shrinking way below Brendan's height.

Brendan could feel something warm flowing inside him like the warmth one feels when he sits in a hot bath on a cold day. 'Wait!' he panicked, 'I changed my mind- I'm not ready yet!'

'Just surrender to yourself. Believe in yourself,' Marauder said as he disappeared into his body.

The warmth was now all over his body like white on rice. As he examined his glowing arms, he thought his entire body was going to explode with all the warmth inside him.

Brendan came back to reality just as the Finch's hand fell on the back of his head, the black smoke spiraling around his head. The pain was excruciating but Brendan did not move.

She kicked him in the face and like a punctured soccer ball, tumbled along the gravel with intense speed towards the wall of a lone café. The walls were only cracked on impact.

Suddenly, Brendan began to experience a headache. He could hear whispers, loud voices and shouts in his head.