It was the next day and the air was filled with a lot of tension. The girls at first tried to find out what was wrong but the guys would get even more distant. They gave up and went to the beach. The silence was driving Scuba Steve crazy! No one would even look at each other!
Donny wouldn't leave the bedroom, Leo barricaded himself in the nursery/weight room, Raven stayed in the living room and Scuba Steve sat by the counter in the kitchen. No one knew where Ropo was, he hadn't come back after flying off.
'What do I do? Everyone has had trouble in the past and instead of helping we've made it worse…' Scuba Steve thought.
Just then Ropo walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. After getting some bacon he turned around, "Oh, hey Scuba Steve..." Scuba Steve perked up.
"Hey Ropo! Are you feeling better?" Ropo shook his head.
"No. I just came to get something to eat, I'm going to go hang out by the roof." Scuba Steve nodded, "Where is everyone actually?"
"Staying away from each other. Things only got worse once you left."
"That sucks." he mumbled and left Scuba Steve alone again. Scuba Steve dropped his head on the table and groaned.
'I got to do something! Anything!' he frowned and went through his memories.
'Ok, ok, Donny. What's bothering him? Like actually wrong with him?'
Scuba Steve pulled Donny up from the pool and helped him stand. He didn't expect for him to pull his arm away from him though, "Are you ok?"
"I'm. Fine. I don't need your help."
"I just figured… anyway you took it to far with Ropo back there."
"What?"
"You called him a Psycho and Jack a Wannabe. That was a bit harsh even for you."
"Ropo was getting on my nerves! Psycho and wannabe aren't such bad insults compared to other-"
"That's not the point though!"
"I don't care what your point is, no one is ever going to get it and neither will you!" Donny then stormed off and slammed the door shut behind him. Scuba Steve sighed...
'He's really defensive when it comes to getting help, it could be because he doesn't expect it, after having to deal with an evil stepfather alone with rarely anyone he knows getting involved…'
He rubbed his face and sighed.
'Raven and Leo on the other hand… I have no idea what happened…'
Scuba Steve winced at the door slam. He sighed and went to look for the other guys, only to find Raven just standing in front of the front door.
"Hey Raven! Raven. Dude, are you ok? Hellooo!" nothing, he just kept on staring at nothing.
"Raven talk to me. Are you getting a flashback? Raven say something!" Raven finally reacted by sniffling. Then he fell to his knees and started to sob.
"What did I DO?!" Scuba Steve was taken aback.
"W-what do you mean?! Raven, what happened? Where's Leo?!" Raven just kept on crying, a breeze was starting to pick and they both shivered.
"Dude come on, we got to get inside." Scuba Steve forced him up and into the house. The stairs would be too much of a hassle so he dragged him to the sofa and Raven just laid down, eventually falling asleep. Scuba Steve then went upstairs to see Donny and Leo already in bed and he went to sleep as well.
'Donny and Ropo fought, Raven and Leo fought, Donny and I had a fight…' he stood up and headed towards the bedroom, 'Since I am part of tis, I got to fix my part of the issue.' he stopped at the door and knocked, "It's Scuba Steve, I'm coming in!"
Donny wasn't in the room. It only took Scuba Steve a minute to spot him on the balcony, he was sitting on the edge and just looked out towards the beach. Donny turned and saw him. Scuba Steve waved.
"Um, hey."
"Hey." Scuba Steve sat near him and they kept on gazing.
"...You know," Donny looked at him, he couldn't think of what to say, "...I'm sorry that I said or did anything wrong to you yesterday." Donny stayed quiet and Scuba Steve continued.
"I saw a friend that could use some help. They may not have wanted it or needed it, but I didn't just want to stand there and do nothing. I want to help the people that are close to me because they mean a lot to me. All of you guys are my friends and I would do anything to help in bad times." Scuba Steve sighed, Donny knew that he was talking about him, "I know you had a hard time that we could have helped with, but it doesn't mean that we don't care about you. Now that we know what you told us, we want to do our best to make sure it doesn't happen again. I want to help you, I know you don't like the idea but… Can you at least give us a second chance?"
"I'm sorry that I yelled at you yesterday. I was just so mad and wanted to take it out on someone. You didn't do anything wrong, it was nice that you helped me, really. I'm going to have to think about the second chance before I decide on it, but I will consider it. The reason is that I just can't shake the feeling away just like that." he snapped his fingers, "I have to really see that you all would have each other's backs and then I can believe you."
"I forgive you. You were mad and things got intense. I'm glad that it's at least something that isn't a straight up nope." he popped the 'p' and Donny smiled, "...but, those aren't the only fights that happened last night, Raven and Leo won't talk to each other at all." Donny frowned in concern.
"Why? What happened?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."
"I'll go with you." Donny and Scuba Steve both stood up but Scuba Steve shook his head.
"No, I actually got a different favor to ask you." Donny raised an eyebrow, "I want you to go and at least talk to Ropo. I know what you're thinking but it would probably be the best idea instead of just waiting for the confrontation in a worse situation."
"Where is he?"
"He said something about hanging out on the roof, I can take you to the secret passage." Donny's eyes widened.
"You do realise that if he punches me off the roof that I will be severely injured right?" Scuba Steve waved his hands.
"I don't think he would go that far! In my opinion, the logical thing right now is for you to go see him. You both got hurt, emotionally and physically, but… knowing him, he would look for the solution first and try to get it over with, he just needs to calm down enough to do it. If you do it first though, things might work out for the better."
"Ok. Show me this secret passage that you're talking about." Scuba Steve nodded and led him to the hidden wall. He opened it up and wished him good luck.
Scuba Steve walked down to the living room and saw Raven sitting on the couch with his head on his hands.
"Raven, are you ok?" Raven shook his head, "Do you want to talk about it? It could help."
"What exactly happened last week? Tell me everything!" Scuba Steve sat down and listed off the things that happened.
"Daisy went psycho and tried to kill us. Then one night we lost you, Leo and Donny. We had no idea what happened to you guys. Later on, Donny did abandon us, he left on a boat with all the fuel on the island. There was a scientist who created Daisy and said to try and make her good again. You turned into a cyborg and even had a robot baby with Daisy!" Raven nodded, signaling that he did remember that, "We tried to capture and fix you, but you were too swift. That's when the zombie stuff happened. We don't know how but we found Leo dead in the small house, and buried him. I was putting more flowers in the grave when he was zombified and bit me. I turned into a zombie for a day according to the girls and Ropo, and then went back to normal. Actually, Miley and Donny became zombies as well. Then we did some kind of ritual and turned the island back to normal. A few days later the doctor told us that they found you and Leo and turned you back to normal. We don't know where Daisy or the baby robot went."
"They're still on the loose?!"
"We don't know. They might still be out there, but they might have also died with water contact." Scuba Steve paused, "What's wrong?"
"Leo said that it was my fault that he died and became a zombie."
"What?!" Raven sighed.
"I had no idea what he was talking about and it was scaring me! He just kept on being so vague about it and I tried to ask him what I did but then I got way too frustrated and yelled at him! I called his speech horrible and messed up-I know why his speech is like that-I shouldn't have said that-I was going to say sorry but-I just-I didn't know-I-I-" Scuba Steve grabbed his shoulders and looked at him in the eye.
"Raven breathe!" Raven's breathing slowed down normality, "Calm down. You're going to faint if you don't get enough air. I got the gist of it at least. Leo said that it was your fault he died? Ok and you accidentally hurt his feelings right? Right, listen, it was an accidental slip of the tongue, you didn't mean it. He said that it was your fault, but he didn't say that you yourself did it."
"Scuba Steve ever since the fight I managed to get nearly every memory back from the moment he was talking about and it was horrible!" Scuba Steve sat back down.
"Talk to me about it. Tell me what happened and I will listen." Raven nodded.
"Ok, so after we got split up, me and Leo went to the small house like you said…"
Donny sighed and climbed up the hidden stairs. The cool breeze and warm sun greeted him once he reached the rooftop. He looked around and found who he was looking for. Ropo was sitting on a beach seat looking over the beach. Donny quietly walked over to the side of the house that had the pool right below, just in case. He cleared his throat.
"Ropo." Ropo looked around and finally made eye contact with Donny. He didn't say a word and his face showed many motions boiling up inside him. Donny sighed.
"I want to talk. We need to talk about last night and-" Donny flinched as Ropo suddenly stood and finally spoke.
"Yeah? What do you want to say after that fight?" Donny winced and looked away, breathing in and out.
"It was wrong of me to insult you and Jack. I went too far on that part. I'm sorry." Ropo started to walk over to him but saw that Donny didn't move an inch, he was trembling. He stopped and saw that his right eye was slightly swollen. Ropo flew down towards the pool, grabbed another chair and flew up back to the rooftop, placing it near his chair and sat down.
"Dude come over here, I'm not going to hurt you." Donny slowly walked over and sat down. He looked over at Ropo and saw him frowning, he frowned and looked away as well. "I'm sorry for calling you a lunatic psycho. You weren't in control when it all happened and Jack has the right to be in the Little Club as much as everyone else."
"That really stung you know? The insults…"
"I know, and I'm really sorry."
They just sat quietly for a while when eventually Ropo sighed.
"Donny, did I do that?" he asked referring to his eye. Donny only nodded. "I'm sorry about that, didn't mean to punch you. I just… got so mad and… being a hero punching things is like… the first thought…? Does that make sense?"
"Yeah, I guess it does. Ropo, I didn't mean to push your help away like that."
"I just want to know the reasons why!" Ropo sat up exclaiming, "Why did I hurt you just by saying that I would have your back?!"
"When Jonathan took over, no matter what happened, no one came and backed us up. We were on our own and fix everything all by ourselves. Being the oldest of the three, I had to look out for Leah and Hugo, I had to be strong. I wanted to just lay down and quit but had to keep on going. I had to grind into my head that I was strong enough to never need help ever again."
"Dude... I… honestly don't know what to say…" Ropo said concerned, "You had to be tough in one of the worst moments in your life and… I understand what you are saying."
Donny nodded, "When you guys kept on saying that you'd help, I got mad because no one helped in the first place. I… I was protecting myself from the possible betrayal and break of the promise of being helped. I can't tell if you are all being serious or are just saying it just because…"
"Donny, I will always do my best to help my friends no matter what. When you guys turned evil because of me, I felt so guilty! I wanted to help all of you as fast as possible! When I heard of what Jonathan did to you, I wanted to fly off the island just to find him and punch him in the face!"
"You really want to have my back, don't you?" Ropo nodded in determination, Donny smiled but then sighed.
"I'm sorry for pushing you guys away, for insulting you and Jack and for abandoning you guys."
"I'm now understanding why you did it though… you couldn't repeat the experience that you went through."
"I was being selfish I know, but-" Donny started.
"I get it. It isn't the nicest reason but I get why you did it and had it been me in your shoes, I'd probably do the same." Donny looked up.
"Really?" Ropo nodded.
"Really."
"Thanks Ropo."
"No problem man."
Raven stood by the weight/nursery room as Scuba Steve knocked on the door. He nudged the doorknob and noticed that I was unlocked and so stepped inside with Raven lingering behind. The room was dark aside from the light coming in from the windows. Leo was sitting in a corner looking away from them. Scuba Steve cleared his throat and Leo looked up. Raven anxiously waited behind Scuba Steve as he sighed.
"Leo, we need to talk about yesterday, regarding to what happened last week."
"Yeah? What about?" Leo's reply was muffled as he placed his head on his arms, folded his knees and looked away.
"Little Leo, I am so so so so so sooo sorry about what I said yesterday!" Raven blurted out. "I didn't mean it! I am so sorry, I regret it so much and I just want to help you and explain everything and my stupid brain-!"
"Raven calm down! Remember what we talked about, breathe!" Scuba Steve exclaimed. Raven started to calm down and breathe again. Leo looked up and saw that Raven really did look guilty.
"Leo, can we talk?" Raven asked. Leo sighed and nodded. Raven and Scuba Steve sat down and glanced at each other. Scuba Steve nudged him and Raven started off again.
"I really am sorry about yesterday. I honestly didn't mean it and accidentally blurted it out."
"It's ok… even though that really stabbed me in the heart, I forgive you. That's why we have each other's backs right?" Leo replied sadly and Raven winced.
"About that." Scuba Steve started, "Raven has some explaining to do regarding on what happened that night. You might want to hear it." Leo nodded and Raven took a deep breath.
"Ok, so you know that we were trapped in the house and Daisy was coming in. We were panicking and I saw the balcony. I tried to convince you to jump out with me but I guessed you were too freaked out. That's when you told me to go on without you." Leo's eyes widened.
"Wait what? I told you that?" he looked down, "I… don't remember that…" Scuba Steve frowned.
"Did you remember exactly everything Leo? You could have suffered memory loss as well."
"Doc said that it was a possibility…" Leo replied looking up. "Keep going Raven."
"Well, that's when I refused, until you physically started to push me out to the balcony. Daisy popped up and I finally jumped, I told you to jump too but you went back and started to taunt her!" Raven shook his head, "I didn't realize what you did until I looked back and didn't see you, so I hid nearby where I could still see the house. Hoping that you would come out any second. That's when Daisy walked out, she had blood on her hands and… and I…" Raven wiped his eyes and sniffed. Leo scooted over and placed a hand on his shoulder, Scuba Steve taking the other one and both squeezed in reasurrence.
"Hey… it's ok. At least one of us had to make it out alive and… I don't hate you." Raven breathed in and sighed.
"... I wanted to run back into the house and look for you. I wanted to attack Daisy and demand answers. I wanted to keep running and get away while I still could. I didn't know what to do! When I turned around, Daisy was behind me. She told me how she killed you, laughing and smiling evilly, and I froze…" he started to tear up again "I… couldn't move and didn't want to believe her. That was when she grabbed me and I was dragged away…"
"You actually… stayed back for me?" Leo whispered.
"Of course I did! Leo you are my best friend and I will always have your back!" Raven replied, "Even if… even if I failed you that one time, I will always have your back…"
Leo stared at him silently his face unreadable 'He stayed back because he was worried. I thought that he completely left me behind to fend for myself. He wasn't hiding from me, he wàs hiding from Daisy!' he felt his own eyes get wet and realised that he was crying again, Raven was too. Leo embraced him in a hug and Raven didn't hesitate to return it.
He was surprised that Raven actually tried to wait for him to catch up had he had the chance to do so. Leo figured that with all the competitions and dates, it would have made their friendship harder to keep like everyone else. He now realised that that wasn't the case.
"Raven," Leo's muffled voice sounded, "I am so so so sorry. I thought… I thought that you abandoned me back then and there to die and… with all the side effects of the operations-I just felt like something was missing from the picture-I just knew I couldn't believe it… You didn't remember it so I figured… I am so sorry!"
"I'm sorry too Little Leo!" Raven replied, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings and I still regret it. I didn't remember until after the fight and I- I didn't know how to talk to you about it. I was putting the pieces together and found out what you meant so… I was- that was scary!"
They held onto each other until both have calmed down. Taking in a deep breath they eventually separated from each other and wiped away their remaining tears. Scuba Steve glanced around eventually speaking up.
"So, are you two ok now? Friendship is back in order?" Raven and Leo looked at each other, smiled looked at Scuba Steve and nodded.
"Yeah, we're good/ok now." Scuba Steve smiled back.
The three of them entered the kitchen to see Ropo and Donny sitting by the counter, Donny holding a small ice pack over his right eye. He noticed them and waved.
"Hey guys! Everything ok?" Raven and Leo nodded smiling.
"Everything is back to… mostly normal." Leo replied, snickering to himself, "I'm still a little slow but, we worked everything out. What about you two?"
"We didn't get into another fight and actually talked, so everything went well." Ropo replied smiling. "I gave Donny an ice pack for his eye, thankfully it wasn't as bad as the first time."
"That's good to hear. It's much better like this you know? No arguments nor fighting and still being friends." Scuba Steve replied as the three of them sat down as well.
They all smiled and started to make conversations and jokes again, laughing away the bad memories and dreams. The girls eventually came back inside and were happy to hear that whatever problems that they had had been resolved.
