Shall Be Whole: The Two Made One

As Althea collapsed on the ground her control over the water faded. The water drenched Darkshadow as it fell into a puddle. Darkshadow gasped for air. He clutched the stone. "YESSS!" He shouted in triumph.

Which was brief. A second later an arrow pierced his heart. He looked down in surprise and saw Xi standing before him with a bow. He said not a word as he fell to his knees and died.

"Thank god we found you!" Stormshadow burst into view. Stormshadow grabbed the stone and placed it in Todd's hand. Instantly Todd felt better. "Just accept the stone into your body and you will be all right."

"Forget me!" Todd said looking over. "What about Althea?"

Xi held Althea's head in his lap. "I don't think Lifeline will get here in time," Xi said softly.

"NOO!" Todd went to her side, still holding the stone. "Can't this stone thing heal her too?"

"I don't think so," Stormshadow said softly. "If she takes it, you will die."

"Then I want her to live!" Todd snapped.

"I don't," Althea said softly. "Not if I caused you to…" She slipped into unconsciousness.

"NOOOOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO BE ALONE!" Todd screamed as he broke the stone in half with his hands.

The entire clearing was bathed in light as it broke. Todd placed one half of the stone on Althea's chest as the other half melted into his own. He kissed her forehead. "Don't leave me," He whispered.

The second half of the stone melted into Althea's body. The light grew brighter, so bright it hurt Todd's eyes even when closed. He felt like he was falling. Althea! His mind screamed.

Stop whining, I'm right here…

Althea! How…?

Don't know. Doesn't matter. You really didn't think you were going to be rid of me that easily did you? Face it, you're stuck with me.

Forever?

Forever.

Promise?

Promise.

I promise…Was the last thought they had before slipping deeper into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile back in the real world the light had disappeared just before the other Joes reached them. "What the heck happened?" Lifeline looked at them.

"What was that light show all about?" Shipwreck asked. "Althea!" He saw them collapsed on the ground in each other's arms.

"Todd!" Roadblock shouted. Both parents nearly shoved each other out of the way to get to their children. "What happened?"

"Althea has one half of the Destiny Stone now," Xi said. "Toad broke it in order to save her life."

"Her life...?" Shipwreck paled. "Darkshadow!"

"Will cause no more damage," Xi said simply. They saw his body crumpled on the ground.

"Bastard's just lucky you got to him before we did," Roadblock snarled. "Will they be all right?"

Lifeline looked them over. "From what I can tell. They just need to rest."

"Well," Hawk said. "The important thing is that the kids are safe. And with the stone broken in two pieces it's a sure bet that the Destiny Stone's power won't cause too much trouble in the future."

"Actually I think Toad just made the stone even stronger," Stormshadow said.

"How could he do that? You said he broke it in half?" Shipwreck asked.

"The Destiny Stone has the ability to heal itself, power wise anyway," Stormshadow explained. "Which means that the two halves will become equally strong in time. Plus since both halves are connected, it means that Toad and Althea are connected. Think about it, two wills controlling two equally strong mystical stones. And both of them are mutants."

"Okay if you're saying what I think you're gonna say," Shipwreck gulped. "I think I can guess. Instead of one ultimate mutant warrior, we're stuck with two."

"Oh well that's just great!" Hawk kicked a nearby rock. "Just perfect."

"They can't remember any of this," Stormshadow said. "They're not ready to handle it."

"They can't handle this?" Hawk groaned. "What about me? I'm just supposed to be the commanding officer of an anti-terrorist unit. I'm starting to feel like the head of the X-Files! I mean I already have the spaceship on the base and the mutant kids but now mystic rocks and ultimate warriors? I need a vacation."

"Lifeline," Roadblock said. "We need to ask a favor."

"If it is what I think it is I don't wanna do it," Lifeline said.

"Lifeline we know that when you heal a person you have the power to enter into their minds," Stormshadow said. (*) "You can cloud their memories just enough for them to forget this."

"I don't like doing that," Lifeline grumbled.

"We know you don't," Hawk said. "But in this case I think it's best you do. We're not asking you to erase their memories, just cloud them up a bit. We are going to tell them when they get old enough to handle this power…whatever it is."

"Please Lifeline," Stormshadow asked. "Just this once. For their sake."

"All right," Lifeline reluctantly agreed. His hands began to faintly glow as he touched their foreheads, putting his energies to work.

(*) As seen in a GI Joe Fic: True Confessions of a Medic. (Shameless promotion)

By the way: Any Sergeant Snuffles fans might want to check out the Joe fics General Meeting, and General Hawk Calls a Meeting. (More shameless promotion.)