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If Marie was being honest with herself, she was beginning to have mixed feelings on islands. After a grand total of eight deaths on Endura, the last of which she expected to be permanent, she was beginning to associate tropical island "paradises" with trips to the revival center.
As Marie swatted away mosquitos, she began to regret asking Munira to drop her off on the far side of Faraday's island. Would the surprise even be worth it if she somehow got lost on this tiny island? She sighed as she trudged through the thick tropical jungle. This walk was taking much longer than expected. Marie wondered if she would ever find Faraday's hut.
Fortunately, she found a clearing after a few more minutes of walking. Even better, this clearing was where a small hut was located. Marie smiled in relief. She made her way to the hut and knocked on the door. No response. Marie sighed in frustration.
Her mind thought of ideas for what to do next. For a second, she considered simply going inside. Marie quickly shot down that idea. What was she, seventeen? She had no desire to repeat her more embarrassing past memories. She noticed a table and two chairs near the front door, so she decided to just sit there and wait for Faraday to (hopefully) come back.
The chairs were situated in a spot with a lovely ocean view. Marie closed her eyes for a second and took in the cool sea breeze blowing gently against her face. She opened her eyes and began staring at the ocean. She quickly became lost in her thoughts, and completely lost all track of time. She almost didn't notice the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Marie?" a man's voice said softly.
Marie turned her head to the source of the voice. There he was, the man she waited four years to see again. Scythe Michael Faraday looked at Marie with hopeful eyes. Marie gave him an awkward half smile. She stood up, and tried not to make it incredibly obvious that her heart rate was rapidly accelerating.
"Michael."
"Is it really you?" Michael asked as he took a few steps towards her.
"It is," she replied as she walked towards him.
"It can't be. You died on Endura. Anastasia told me before she left with Rowan on the rockets."
Marie stopped and adopted a more somber expression at the mention of her "self-gleaning" and Anastasia.
"I was supposed to. It turns out though, that my body was salvaged and placed in a cryogenic chamber until they could find out what to do with me. I was finally revived in an underground revival center around the time Anastasia began challenging that lunatic Goddard. I've had to lay low and track you down for about a year. It wasn't easy, Michael, and I'm sorry about that."
Michael froze for a second as he took in what Marie said. He then walked to Marie, closing the space between them. He wrapped his arms around her, and she returned the embrace. She felt his silent tears dampening her shoulder. Marie would be lying if she said she hadn't shed a few of her own.
"Marie, I cannot tell you how much I've missed you and how alone I've felt these past four years without you."
Marie pulled back from the embrace and wiped her eyes.
"Munira told me a little about that on the boat ride over here. She also showed me some interesting journal entries of yours."
"Wait...she stole my journals?"
"Well, you were a scythe before that failsafe took over."
"I didn't think anyone would read them!"
"I did, Michael. Apparently, so did Munira."
Michael groaned in exasperation
"Marie, my dear, can we please have a moment without dragging Munira reading my journals into this?"
"If you want to," Marie replied.
"Anyways, before I was interrupted by that mention of Munira, I just wanted to say that I cannot be separated from you again. Frankly, I don't care that this is probably some horrific nightmare. If it is, well-"
"This isn't a dream," Marie interrupted.
"How can you be sure about that?"
"Because then I wouldn't be able to do this."
Before Michael could respond, Marie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. His arms lowered so they were around her waist, and he returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm. They broke apart at the same time, when they finally needed air.
"Marie, that was amazing," he told her when he could finally form coherent words.
"You weren't so bad yourself," she replied as she flashed him a sly grin.
Michael chuckled. Then, he suddenly raised his eyebrows as if he remembered something important that he had forgotten.
"The sun will set soon. Would you like to watch it with me on the beach?"
Marie smiled.
"I'd like nothing more," she replied.
Michael offered his hand to her, which she took. She loved being able to hold Michael's hand without worrying about the scythedom separating them. As the pair slowly made their way to the beach, Marie thought that maybe islands weren't so bad after all.