Castaways

Pairings: Mostly Noah/Courtney and all of the canon pairings at the end of TDWT.

Warning: Violence and Character Deaths. This story is pretty dark, especially in the beginning.

Summary: After the end of Total Drama World Tour, some of the contestants wash up on a deserted island. Will they be able to get together and survive?

a/n Sorry that too so long. I was travelling a lot.

Part Two

Almost there…Almost there…

Courtney repeated the affirmations that she learned at leadership camp: I am a fast swimmer. I am strong. I will survive. Her arms were hurting. I am strong. I am strong.

She was in a numb daze, but it was okay because she was still swimming. She could do this all day.

But you might have to do this longer, an insidious thought suggested. She refused to go down that mental route.

Someone had to survive, and if it was anyone, it was going to be her.

The calm state that she had put herself in was suddenly pierced by a loud cry.

She stopped, looking around frantically. She heard splashing around just ahead of her. She looked around for the source of the sound. The world was spinning, but she wasn't tired.

It's just the water in my ears, she decided.

She saw movement at the corner of her eye.

Cody and Sierra. The bald head was immediately recognizable and Cody was yelling something in his cracked, boyish voice.

"We're out of danger, Sierra!" he cried, his voice contrasting sharply from the hopeful statement.

Courtney could see why. Sierra was foundering and Cody was trying his best to hold her up. He wasn't doing much good though. Sierra was so much bigger than him and Cody wasn't someone who could be counted on for strength.

"Cody?" Courtney asked, causing the boy to whip his head around to see who it was.

The moment he recognized Courtney, a hopeful look formed on his face. She could practically hear his thoughts. Courtney would know what to do. She was the always confident CIT. It would be okay if he just followed her orders.

Her stomach churned. What did she know? What did Cody expect her to do? She was stronger than Cody, but how long would they be able to lug Sierra around in the water like this?

"Courtney?" Sierra asked dazedly. She was almost out of strength. Suddenly Courtney was struck by the unfairness of it all. Sierra was strong. She was much stronger than Cody. She probably would have been outswimming Courtney herself if it wasn't for the injuries she had before. In fact, she had been outswimming Courtney, considering how far ahead she was before she started foundering and she was probably lugging around Cody too.

"We have to help Sierra…" Cody begged her.

Sierra didn't have the same hopeful look as Cody. She almost looked like she wanted to give up. In the forbidden part of her mind, Courtney wondered if she would soon be fighting that mental battle herself. Would she ever get so tired that she would consider giving up on survival?

This was going to make things much harder but she just couldn't give up. The CIT part of her just wouldn't let it happen and the hopeful look on Cody's face couldn't be denied. She couldn't fail him. She just couldn't.

"Sierra, lean on me. We'll take turns holding her."

Cody nodded.

"We'll be okay, Sierra," he told her quietly. "You just need a rest, right?"

Sierra was leaning against Courtney. She could hear the tiny groan of pain that Sierra would never let Cody hear.

"Where are you hurting?" Courtney asked quietly.

"I just need rest. That's what Cody says, right?"

It was a lie, but somehow that comforted her.

Sierra was still fighting for Cody's sake. That had to mean something.

Noah and Owen didn't talk for awhile. By now, they had cleared most of the falling rocks and were just swimming around to find the others.

Sadie had swam far up ahead and they hadn't seen her since.

"We should have went after her." Owen said in a teary voice.

"And then what?" Noah asked.

"We could have tried."

"We did try" Noah said tiredly. Why wouldn't he stop and just leave it alone. Sadie was acting like a lunatic. There was nothing they could have done. "She pushed us away." He added almost as an afterthought.

Finally, Owen did leave it alone. Instead, he slowed down his pace so that he was swimming behind Noah instead of beside him.

Before Noah could ask him what he was doing, he could hear the small sobs behind him.

Noah didn't look back. In a way, Owen was trying to get some privacy. The least he could do was respect that.

He increased his efforts on looking for the others.

He could see some dots in the distance. Maybe Eva was up ahead with Izzy. Those two were pretty strong. Izzy probably wasn't even the least bit tired. Courtney looked like she was swimming at a good pace. She had hung back a little in the beginning, but she probably wised up when the rocks really started to rain down on them. Sierra was injured, but she had sped past him and Owen with Cody. Maybe her injury didn't affect her ability to swim. Good. Cody had a better chance with Sierra than without. He hadn't seen Alejandro or Heather. Alejandro probably had the worst injuries out of all of them, he realized grimly. A few hours ago, Noah had hated Alejandro. He had cheered with the others when Heather had sent him down the volcano after their kiss. (Although he had winced at Heather kneeing him in the nuts. Ouch) Now, he just thought of Alejandro with dread. The chances of his survival were very low. Yes, a few hours ago, Alejandro was the most evil thing in his life. Now when he thought of Katie and Sadie and how trapped they were, Alejandro's games and tricks were nothing.

Owen didn't cry long. It was just a couple of minutes before Owen stopped sniffling and made his way back to Noah's side. The smaller boy pretended not to notice Owen's red eyes. All he could do was give his chubby buddy a soft pat on the back.

Owen gave him a small smile, understanding. It was the closest Noah had ever come to initiating a hug.

"Did you see anything?" he asked.

"The people up ahead are slowing down. We're catching up." Noah hoped that didn't mean people were starting to drown from exhaustion.

"Actually…could we rest?" Owen asked sheepishly. They hadn't stopped even when they made it past the range of the volcano's debris.

Noah nodded. "Just a little bit."

The large boy leaned back, relaxing his body so that he could float. Noah envied him. He sunk like a rock when he tried to float. He would give Owen five minutes, then they would start swimming again.

At least, that was the plan, before they heard a familiar scream.

Owen sat up quickly, ready for action. "Sadie!" he gasped, starting towards the sound.

Noah grabbed his arm. He had an idea what it was and if his hunch was true, then he couldn't let Owen just swim into danger.

"What are you doing?" Owen asked angrily. "We have to hurry!"

"It's sharks!" Noah shouted, causing Owen to stop.

"What?"

"Blood attracts sharks."

"You mean when Sadie dragged Katie around-" Owen realized.

Noah nodded. "Yeah. That wasn't a good move."

Owen glared at him. "We still have to try."

"We just have to be careful." Noah pointed out.

They swam towards the screaming with Owen leading the way.

It took a few minutes before the screaming abruptly stopped.

Noah and Owen exchanged looks, their faces pale at the implications.

"Sadie!" Owen cried out, finally getting sight of her. She wasn't moving.

Noah's squeezed Owen's arm when he saw the first shark fin. When they got closer, they could see blood in the water.

"Let's go." Noah whispered.

"Wait. Let me see," Owen said thickly.

Then they saw the mass of sharks gathered around the area with the most blood. Owen turned away, shuddering.

"Sadie," he gasped.

Noah pulled on his arm. "You'll be killed. There's nothing we can do for her now."

"There's never anything we can do!" Owen cried in frustration, swimming ahead past Noah.

Noah closed his eyes, trying to hold in his tears.

He couldn't cry. Owen was looking to him. He had to be strong until they reunited with everyone else in the show and they would do it soon.

END OF PART TWO