"What to do with you...hmmm...Perhaps you could be my robot boyfriend...Would you like some microchips...to be like me…!?" Daisy laughed. Raven was too drowsy with anestesia to do anything, he couldn't fight back, couldn't get away…
"Ahh!" he woke up and quickly sat up, getting a bad dizzy spell. Raven leaned against the wall to steady himself, taking deep breaths, "It's ok, it's ok, you're not a robot anymore, you're not evil and you're not in love with Daisy, everything is ok…" he told himself in a quiet whisper. Still too startled from the bad dream or memory or nightmare or whatever it was, Raven took a look around the room.
They were all still on Love Island, competing and such. Although recently crazy events happened, and everyone was allowed a break to recover. Now everything was back to normal. Raven was not a robot, Leo was alive and Donny came back. Raven made sure that he didn't accidentally wake anyone up from his shout and quietly exited the room.
He went to the kitchen to get something to eat, anything really. Right before he opened the fridge door, he took a good look at his own reflection.
'Two sky blue eyes, not so pale skin, beach shorts, white cap and a shark tooth chain, or shark tooth whistle according to the other guys. No robot eye, no microchips and no other robot parts.' he opened the fridge and grabbed a sandwich with determination 'I am NOT a robot.' Raven sat down and started to eat quietly. Mostly calmed down at this point.
Leo was getting really curious now and even a little worried. He woke up to the shout of his best friend but pretended to keep sleeping, figuring it was just a bad dream. He couldn't quite hear what Raven was whispering to himself though and when he left the room for about 10 minutes, Leo finally decided to get up. He quietly left the room, leaving Scuba Steve, Little Donny and Ropo still asleep. He noticed that the kitchen lights were on and sneaked a peek, noting that Raven was finishing washing a plate. "Raven?"
Raven jumped and nearly let go of the dry plate, but quickly regained his grip before it could fall to the floor, 'That was close!' he put the plate away and turned around, "Little Leo!?" he whisper shouted, "What are you doing? I thought you were asleep and you almost made me make a mess! Did I wake you up?"
"Sorry!" Leo whisper shouted back, finally entering the room and sitting down, "Yeah you did wake me up, but I'm not mad if that's what you're wondering… Raven… what are you doing up so late?"
Raven sat across the table from Leo, he sighed "I just can't sleep is all, got really hungry."
Leo frowned, "Dude, something else is bothering you… I can tell." his voice turned from mild annoyance to concern "What's wrong?"
Raven sighed, something was bothering him, but Leo's gone through things as bad as him. "I… got a nightmare, I think it's supposed to be a recovered memory? Daisy was turning me into a robot…"
"You're not a cyborg anymore. You are completely human and will recover fully." Leo reminded him, "We went through a lot man... we just gotta take it day by day."
"Yeah, but it's still so annoying and freaky! You just got to deal with your voice and even that is nearly fully recovered. I on the other hand have to deal with amnesia, tons of flashbacks coming out of nowhere and I can't even tell what they mean!" he shouted.
"One, lower your voice. Two, the doctor said that we went through a long operation back to normality... Three, it's not my voice, it's how fast I process and react to my environment." Leo explained, "At Least you have cool super senses. I'm as slow as a snail."
"It might sound cool but it still doesn't justify-!" Raven suddenly stopped and looked past Leo towards the hallway.
"Raven?"
"I heard some noise, coming from upstairs. I think we should check it out."
Leo got quiet and listened carefully, a moment later he heard a thud. "That didn't sound good..."
Little Donny and Scuba Steve didn't know what to do aside from trying to wake him up. Of course being woken up in the middle of the night made their thought process fuzzy, and they completely forgot about his strength until the last minute. It happened right after Leo left…
Ropo kept turning and turning, not able to get comfortable and even started to sleep talk. Scuba Steve tried to ignore it, he knew that everyone was still a little jumpy after the past events, but then Little Donny woke up and went to check on him.
"Ropo? Wake up." Donny whispered, but Ropo only turned away from him and started to sleep talk louder.
"No no no… Jack run… I can't control it… it's taking over…"
"What on earth is he having a nightmare about?" Scuba Steve asked as he sat up, "And where's Raven and Leo?"
"I don't know." was Donny's response, "Ropo wake up." He tried to shake his shoulder but to no avail.
"No fear… no nothing..."
"HAHAHA...any last words Jack, before you join the .EXE Army and take over the world?!" asked, Scuba and Little on either side of him. Jack was trapped, surrounded by everyone in the Little Club, "You can't turn me! I'm immune remember?!" pulled out a sword, "Then I guess we'll have to get rid you another way! I can't let you ruin my plans!" he got closer and closer to his best friend, Jack couldn't move due to the others holding him down. started to laugh, sensing his fear. Ropo tried all his might to regain control, the .EXE virus made it feel as if he was being possessed, 'RUN JACK! RUN! NO!'..."
Ropo was getting frantic now, thrashing everywhere he could. "Run Jack! Run! No!" Scuba Steve bolted to his side and tried to prevent him from falling off the bed, "Wake up Ropo! It's just a dream!" He started to shake him as hard as he could with Donny doing the same. 'I got an idea!' Scuba Steve searched around the house for a water bucket and came back to the room as quick as he left.
was struggling due to Scuba and Little holding him back and shaking him, Jack having his eyes shut tight ready for the impact. heard water and looked up to see massive amounts of cure flooding from above, "NO!"
Ropo suddenly sat up as he coughed out some water, filled with adrenaline and hero instincts on high alert. He wasn't able to see due to water in his eyes and thought that he was still with the .EXE's and so got ready to fight. Donny noticed his fist balling up and knew what was about to happen. He also realized that Scuba Steve was in the way.
"Watch out Scuba Steve!" Donny shouted.
Scuba Steve just managed to turn and take a step back before Ropo's fist connected with his jaw. He winced as he landed with a thud on the floor, but luckily avoided any major injuries.
Ropo rubbed the water from his eyes so he could see, snapping back to reality and noticed Little Donny checking on Scuba Steve who was on the floor.
"What's going on?!" Donny looked up to Ropo's question and answered.
"We forgot about your powers and Scuba Steve was too close to you. We were trying to wake you up from a bad dream." Scuba Steve stood up rubbing his mouth.
"Ugh, that really hurt…" Ropo got out of bed and revised him.
"Oh man, I'm super sorry Scuba Steve, I didn't mean to punch you…"
Scuba Steve noticed that Ropo was really guilty and tried to hide his pain, "Don't worry about it, it doesn't hurt that bad."
"Wait what happened?" Leo asked as he and Raven entered the room.
"Ropo was having a nightmare and we couldn't wake him up. So Scuba Steve here had the idea of throwing water at him."
"So Ropo punched you?" Raven asked Scuba Steve in disbelief.
"It was an accident! They woke me up in the middle of an action... I'm really sorry Scuba Steve…"
"Again, I'm fine…" Scuba Steve said
"You're still going to need ice for that," Raven said, "Let's head over to the kitchen and get an ice pack."
"Ropo, what kind of nightmare were you having if you don't mind me asking?" Scuba Steve asked. The guys were all sitting outside at the pool spread out.
"Remember a while back when the .EXE Virus was set free?" everyone nodded, "I had a nightmare of everyone being taken over by the virus and only Jack was normal. He's immune to it, so… I was going to kill him..."
Everyone was surprised at the intensity of Ropo's dream. Sure he may be a superhero half of his daily life, but he wasn't even a full adult yet.
"Ropo, I know how you feel…" Raven replied, "You just gotta remember that it never happened, sure the worst case scenario was Jack turning evil but he was never dead, none of us were. In fact Jack is one of the only people I know that always got away from death, even if it's at the last moment."
Ropo considered that, "That's a good point Raven, but that's only part of the nightmare that freaks me out."
"What's the other part?" Donny asked.
"What freaks me out is that I was the one who started the whole mess." Ropo replied, "I'm a superhero against evil, a good guy. Then out of the blue, I turned evil."
"Other superheroes went through that as well though… right?" Leo asked.
"Yeah, but those are very few superheroes and rarely happens." Ropo sighed, "I just hate being an .EXE, I actually spread the virus more than anyone else. Honestly, if I hadn't been late and met up with Jack on time for the movies, we wouldn't have had to go into the neighbor's house."
"The neighbor was crazy for even making the virus in the first place. If he didn't get you guys first… he would have gotten someone else and it would have eventually reached you either way." Leo replied, "It was the virus that was evil and controlling everyone, nobody wanted to be evil in the first place."
"I guess that's true, the neighbor was the one who created the virus, not us." Ropo thought out loud, "It just infected us first and like any other infection it had to spread… We were trying to stop it too…"
"See? It wasn't your fault. Besides, we all went back to normal. No red eyes or sharp teeth, everyone becoming good again." Ropo gave Scuba Steve a thankful smile "Speaking of nightmares, when we woke up, you two weren't in the room, where were you?" Scuba Steve asked Leo and Raven.
"I also had a nightmare, about turning into a robot, so I went to the kitchen to relax. Leo later came in and we just started talking." Raven said, "It's scary when you can't control your own body and mind, kind of how you felt Ropo."
"Well… I already told you that the both of us are going to be ok… Doc said we'll make a full recovery by the end of the week."
"Yeah, I know. I was there when he said it. It's still bothersome when I get memories back though, especially as dreams..." Leo didn't pay attention as he was having his own thoughts.
'Still, it must feel nice not knowing the bad stuff that you did last week. You just have to know enough to get a general idea of what happened…'
"...Leo? Hello?" Little Leo snapped back into reality as everyone was circled around him worried, "Huh? What's up?"
"You weren't saying anything and we kept trying to get your attention." Scuba Steve explained.
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about stuff."
"Like what exactly?"
"Well… it's nothing."
"Dude, come on, tell us!" Ropo pried.
"I was thinking about the crazy stuff that happened… still trying to get in my head that I died and actually came back to life." Leo half lied and went deep in thought again.
'Why did you just leave me like that, Raven? Did you not notice me get left behind or did you want Daisy to be distracted?' he frowned but realized that the others were talking at that moment and so listened.
"Leah and I both died too-"
"Wait what?! You too? Did everyone die at some point?" Leo did not expect what Ropo said next "You three weren't the only ones though, Jack and I died as well."
"Really?! It must've been at different times then, we never saw you up in heaven. You didn't go down-?"
"No! No no no, of course not! Jack and I were definitely angels." Ropo interrupted. Raven cleared his throat. "Oh right. Little Leo, don't worry too much about it. The best thing to do is to just take advantage of this second chance and keep going. There is a reason on why you made it back, whether you know it or still have to know why."
"I'll try. Thanks you guys. If you don't mind me asking, how did you all die?"
"Well… Jack and I became temporary cops to help out the police force during a tough time but he didn't put on his bullet-proof vest. Later there was a hostage situation and Jack's recklessness led to him getting shot in the chest. The doc couldn't save him and a few days later I got stung by an extremely poisonous bug." Ropo explained, "It turned out that Jack was supposed to survive and it all led to us both doing missions in return for our second chance."
"Wow, no wonder you were freaking out earlier in your dream." Donny commented, "As for me and Leah, well...we had an evil step father who took over our family for a while and turned us into slaves. He one day poisoned us. After so many events we managed to come back and defeat him…"
"You OK?" Raven asked.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, I just really hate thinking about those memories. They are really bad, but at least we had each other."
Scuba Steve frowned. "How is it that none of us knew though?"
"He probably intercepted any kind of SOS that we tried to send out, plus it was more of family problems rather than usual problems."
"That still doesn't mean that we can't help. When LK and LC had to deal with Ramona, some of us got involved." Ropo said.
"Yeah but Ramona chose to mess with you guys, Jonathan just wanted to take over the kingdom. He even turned our family against each other! He was really evil."
"Well, if you are ever in trouble, I will try to help you."
"I told you that we couldn't get any help! Besides Leah was with me and we sticked together through the whole thing."
"Donny, you don't have to deal with this kind of stuff all on your own-"
"So who helped you when you turned into an .EXE lunatic?!" Donny exclaimed as he stood up.
"... I… it's complicated but Jack-"
"Jack." Donny repeated, "Not Raven, not Donut, not Scuba Steve or even me. It was Jack who helped you."
"What's your point?" Ropo angrily yet calmly asked.
"My point is that Jack isn't in the Little Club. Therefore, no one in the Little Club helped you out and here you're saying that we do have each other's backs."
"Hey! Jack has met at least half of the guys and went on adventures with them! He's in the Little Club as much as you are!" Ropo defended, "I didn't even know about your situation so how was I supposed to help?!"
"Exactly my point!" Donny shouted back.
"Both of you should stop before-"
"Look, now that I know what you went through, I am going to make sure that it doesn't happen again. You didn't have to talk bad about others who didn't know either!" Ropo cut Raven off. Donny didn't listen to him though.
"I was just proving a point. I don't need anyone's help… especially from attention wannabe's and evil psychos…"
WHACK!
SPLASH!
Raven, Leo and Scuba Steve jumped as Ropo punched Little Donny, who landed into the pool. Ropo was being held back by the three of them telling him that it wasn't worth it. Donny swam up to the surface with his right eye shut tight.
"Attention wannabe's and lunatic psychos?! News flash Donny! I was infected by a virus and had zero control over myself! Jack is my best friend and has had my back countless times, even putting his life on the line in the process! You know what you did a week ago?! You abandoned us! You left us to deal with cyborgs and zombies and I still tried to tell you that I would have your back! You cheesehead jerk!" he then pushed everyone off of him and flew away.
Donny was helped back up by Scuba Steve while Raven and Leo tried to catch up with Ropo.
"I think we lost him." Raven sighed as they stopped at the front of the house, "Man, did Donny really abandon us?"
"Ropo got really mad back there... I think he just needs time to cool off…"
"Yeah, you know, we could use this to get rid of those two from the competition for starting another fight." He stated, "On the other hand, though, this is some heavy stuff."
"Tell me about it! Everyone is just bashing at each other-"
"We won't get like that though! We're bros 'til the end and always have each other's backs am I right?"
"..."
Raven waited for Leo to respond, but he just looked away. Raven figured that it was just the recovery after effects and decided to ask again.
"Hey Little leo, I'm not sure that you heard me but am I right that we'll always have each other's backs?"
"I heard you the first time..."
"Ok, so what do you think?"
"... I don't know… I always had your back, but you…"
"What are you talking about? I always help you out don't I?"
"You did, it's just... " Leo paused again.
"Leo what's going on?"
"You don't remember… but I died because of you…"
"What?! What do- what does that mean?!"
"You'll figure it out eventually!" Leo yelled,"What you did last week… it's just, I can't believe it myself..."
"Leo, you aren't making any sense! I don't get what you're talking about!"
"I don't want it to make sense... It just… I can't-"
"Leo, stop it with your messed up speech and just spit it out!" Raven's quickly covered his mouth with his hands at his own outburst. Leo's eyes widened with hurt and sadness.
"You think that I'm doing this… because I want to?!" Raven started to feel guilty, "I can't talk right because I was… a zombie! I can't trust you with my life!" Leo stormed off into the house, leaving Raven all alone speechless. He could barely hear the shouts of Scuba Steve and Donny along with a far off door slamming shut.
