Here's the next chap thanks for waiting!
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Nathaniel-Landon
Nathaniel finally woke up from his sudden collapse in the hospital. He had originally thought he would find himself in the hospital once again, but instead he found himself in an unfamiliar room. The room was simple and had several plants decorating the corners as well as sizeable bookcase filled with books. The room also appeared to have many antiques and souvenirs from all over the world. An Egyptian stone depicting early magicians was displayed prominently. There were also Native American totem poles and pieces of French artwork.
He passed by the bookshelf and found several history books and a few historical novels. Among them he found several volumes consisting of ancient Egyptian summoning procedures and glyphs. Also he found several historical text books that appeared to be original due to weathered edges and unmistakable age. Surprisingly there were history textbooks that were very new. The title was unfamiliar so he openeda page randomly. There he found accounts of events that transpired during the Lovelace incident up to the Nouda incident. These events featured him prominently, unlike the paper's tendency to discredit him.
He put the book away and was planning on going out to find the owner of these books, but two volumes caught his attention.
Essence of Apocrypha by John Mandrake.
List of Friendly Spirits by John Mandrake.
"Nathaniel you're up!" A female voice said gleefully behind him
"I thought you were dead again." An equally cheerful voice said "But this kid seems to be making a habit of proving me wrong."
Nathaniel turned to just in time to see Kitty hug him and Bartimeaus playfully punch him in the shoulder.
"It's good to see you too Kitty" He replied "but these books. I couldn't possibly have written these."
"Well I wrote them under your name you see" Kitty said sheepishly
"What? Why?"
"People listen to you so me and Rebecca wrote them together so that the world would listen to the things in the book. Sorry about that"
"Piper you say? How is she?" Nathaniel asked.
He had missed out for a few years and was obviously interested on how his former associates had changed in the recent years. In fact he was interested about all of London, but his associates came first.
"She's doing great. In fact I think she took your job as Information Minister." Kitty said brightly "She says she worked very closely with you during your time so she knows how you would operate. Which reminds me, I think we should tell her about your condition and sudden appearance."
"How many people know?"
"Landon West's friends, Thomas Crawley the new Head of Police and Me"
"Thomas Crawley, can this man be trusted?"
Kitty gave him a look and said "Of course. He's one of the most trustworthy people I've met. But why would you ask such a thing? Surely you can trust the peo-"
"No it's not that" he said cutting her off "How did both the Resistance and whatever's leading those creatures know we were in the hospital. I'm supposed to be dead and we were there under Landon's name. There was an information leak. You might want to look into that."
"How did you know there were people after you? You were asleep when that happened."
"We might have been asleep, but we were aware what was going on around us on a subconscious level."
"Why do you keep saying "we" instead of "I"?"
"Landon and I have met you see. We met on a mental link inside our mind. My hypothesis is that the link opening was created when Bartimaeus and I, er, fused. The trauma of having several metric tons of iron fall atop me was enough to send me to sleep, but the space Bartimaeus had left behind was not. I can assume that he left an imprint of my mind which allowed another consciousness to form in that space. Since it was he who left the imprint it would explain why Landon West has a personality akin to Bartimaeus. But more on the point it seems I can communicate with Landon in slightly the same way, but since his mind is not as, er, erratic as our djinn friend's we can only speak when the body is unconscious. Also we share control of the body as we both have equal claim on it. We can change at will you see. Observe."
With that Nathaniel froze for several moments then Nathaniel's straight confident posture was replaced by one of indifference and boredom, that was usually found in Landon West.
"Yo" said a voice that was both similar and different to the previous one "Hey Ms. Jones and demon boy, wait he said your name is Bartimaeus. Mind if I call you Bart because Bartimaeus seems too long?"
Then the body froze again and resumed its original position.
"Any questions?" said the tone that was owned by Nathaniel
"I missed Nat's witty and strangely charming bumbling actions, but this talking and hypothesizing, I did not miss." Bartimaeus said
"At least he's not raving about philosophy" Kitty said thoughtfully "He would use even bigger words and make even less sense."
Drowning out the laughter of Landon at the back of his head Nathaniel prepared to say witty retort, but was stopped by a loud banging on the door which was followed by an enthusiastic blonde ,who Nathiel knew as Owen, bursting through the door gleefully.
"Barty my friend how's it going?" Owen said happily "You never finished your story!"
"Did you make me remove the magic in the locks just so you could talk with the demon?" demanded the girl named Renee
"Well they weren't answering the door so I believe this was the only answer" said Sean
"Hey you guys." said Landon temporarily taking over to greet his friends
"Landon you're back to normal?" Sean asked surprised
"Just for now, me and Na- Johnny have this deal going on." Landon said happily
"What?" everyone asked at the same time.
"Allow me to explain" said Nathaniel "Me and Landon have decided to share this body on a day by day turn basis."
"What about birthdays?" Elise asked quizzically
"We don't" Nathaniel began
"have one" Landon finished "Today it's John's turn so be nice alright"
"Are there any other questions?" Nathaniel asked
"Nah we're good" Bartimaeus said lazily
Then Crawley spoke up.
"Now that that's settled let's talk about the other problems at hand." He said "The Resistance has made several attacks on many magicians. While the golem creatures also started attacking previously unknown Resistance bases. It's almost as if we're caught in the middle of a magical gang war. We need you six to-"
"Wait a minute what makes you think we're gonna have to fight too?" Renee demanded "We paid our part of the bargain so-"
"We're helping them." Landon said "It's our fault we should never have started the Resistance in the first place. We have a duty to end it now."
"You want to help them? Have you forgotten what they're trying to do to the orphanage?"
"If that's the only concern I'm sure Kitty can handle that cancel the whole project. John told me we she could cancel it if they wanted to."
"And you trust him he's-"
"Me."
"No Landon" Renee said "You're not him. No matter how hard you two try to convince yourselves you're the same person you're not. I know the real reason why you want to help them. You want to fight don't you? Not to help, but just for the sake of fighting. Long ago you avoided it because you know I can't bear to endure what happened before, but now you have a good excuse to fight."
Landon walked closer to Renee and hugged her tightly. She felt his chest thump rapidly with the beats of his heart. Whether it was fear or excitement for the coming bloodbaths she wasn't sure."
"It's not gonna happen again I promise." Landon said "Maybe I am doing this for myself, but please let me be selfish just this once."
Renee pushed him away and smiled sadly. "I suppose I have no choice" she said sadly "I'll look after the orphanage while everyone's gone. I don't want to fight me anymore than I already have."
"What about you guys?" Landon asked the other members
"Hey you have a point we have to take care of those Resistance terrorists" Sean said
"If Sean's going I'm going." Chelsea said
"It might be fun" Elise said happily
"You know me" Owen said with a grin
"Well then I'll be off" Renee said "It's best I don't know anything if ever get captured."
With that she walked out of the room without another word.
Sean patted Landon on the shoulder as her reverted back into Nathaniel.
"As I was saying" Crawley spoke up, trying his best to remain as professional as possible "We need you five to try to find the bases and infiltrate and capture them with help from our force before the golems strike. Kitty, Mr. Mandrake and Bartimaeus will do investigation on the golem-demon creatures. Since Mr. Mandrake and Landon are sharing I suppose we can alternate the days."
Crawley went on but Nathaniel barely listened. The voice in his head was speaking to him and it wasn't a sign of insanity that caused this.
Our love lives are shot aren't they?
I have informed you that my love life or lack of one thereof is not going to be a concern.
Natty I know how Kitty stares at you and how you glance at her. I've never seen a more teenage pair of adults.
That doesn't matter. I'll find a way to fix this I assure you.
How by getting rid of me?
I would never destroy the mind of something apart of me! I'll fix it in such a way that both of us will be able to maintain normalcy while being separate and sentient.
You work on that.
I shall and as soon as I take care of that you can rejoin Renee and you'll never have to fight again.
I'm not sure I'd like that last one. I haven't had a fight worth having since the one in our mind for years. I ashamed to say it, but looks like the only one who could give me a thrilling battle was me.
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A/N: whoa! Wat took me so long! School thats wat! The chapters might take a long time to upload but remember I will never abandon this series!
PS don't hate on Renee she has her reasons.