-6 Years later-

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO THIS..." Courtney screamed, enraged. In a flash, the mochoa teen charged at Gwen, and was held back only by Sierra, and she kicked and screamed, her fists balled. "LET ME GO!" she shouted.

"Duncan?" Cody looked down at the ground, feeling his heart break. "Duncan!?" He repeated once more, the name causing his heart to drop even more. "I can't believe it." he muttered.

"Somebody say my name?"

Speaking of the devil himself, Duncan came walking up next to Cody, who chuckled upon seeing his costume. "What's with the outfit?"

Without hesitation, Cody's fist connected with his eye, sending him spiraling to the ground into an unconscious heap.

His mind didn't even register the fact that he had just knocked out Duncan with a fist to the face, as he was struggling to not pass out himself. How could this happen? Why did this happen? Every single time, when he least expected it, something horrible happened to him...

He felt his optimism and confidence begin to reside slightly, and he felt his old self underneath it, as cold and dead as it had always been, the side of him which he had buried long ago underneath a pile of optimism.

He felt naseous.

Tyler began to charge, eager to finish the challenge and take the win for his team, and he was suddenly snapped out of his depressed haze and back into reality when he saw what was happening: Tyler was going to win, and when he won, his team would no doubt vote out Gwen.

Cody pushed all doubts out of his mind and felt adrenaline surge through his veins as he prepared to run as fast as he could, when Courtney, who was now a little calmer, saw this.

"No. Stay put, Cody." Courtney commnaded, much to Sierra's confusion.

"But wouldn't that make us lose..." She looked at Courtney, eyeing her suspiciously before a light bulb went off in her head. "Oh... Yeah, stay put honey."

Courtney coldly looked over to Gwen. "You are OUT!"

Heather chimed in. "She's got my vote."

Cody watched this exchange and shook his head, conflicted as to what to do, knowing that every second spent thinking about this was a second Tyler was getting closer to the finish line, and that meant closer to Gwen being voted off. But strangely, that didn't bother him anymore, and it made him feel afraid slightly.

"To Hell with it..." He muttered, as he broke into a mad dash, and he almost immediately began to feel winded. Cody was never much for running or exercise of any kind, and now he had to catch up to an athlete. Albeit an unlucky one.

Speaking of unlucky, Tyler apparently mis stepped and tripped, falling into the dirt, his face connecting hard with the ground with an "oof".

Cody picked up the pace and charged past him, and then began to flap his "wings" as hard as he could, faster and faster, until every fiber in his body began to ache with exhaustion, and it looked as if his wings were falling off as the wax was melting in the Sun, but somehow he managed to grab the medal right as his wings came apart and he went falling to the ground.

"NO!" He heard Courtney shout. "DAMN YOU, CODY!"

"Yes, good on you Cody!" Chris showed up out of nowhere. "Looks like Team Amazon wins the tie-breaker! And that means Team I am really really really super hot is going to the elimination ceremony."

Cody phased out again, both from exhaustionand shock, and he layed there.

She kissed Duncan.

Courtney's cries could be heard all the way from the confessional to First Class.

Cody rubbed the arm he used to knock out Duncan with a blank expression on his face as he struggled with the strange feelings he was having. He couldn't feel what he was before. He couldn't feel his optimism. It was like his shell really HAD been broken. It had been stepped on before, granted, but now it seemed to just be gone entirely and he felt himself. His true self. And it frightened him.

Sierra sat next to him, gushing at him over how he knocked out Duncan, unaware of the inner turmoil he was feeling. For once, Cody payed her no mind as he continued to rack his brain on all of the things he was feeling.

What was he now? Everyone had grown to know Cody, but not this Cody. The Cody everyone knew was the one with a smile despite all odds, the one who was always optimistic despite the world beating him down, but he felt like he couldn't do that anymore. Now, he didn't know how to act. Without optimism and a smile, what was he?

How did this happen? When Gwen chose Trent over him, it never did this to him. It made him feel bad a little, sure, but it never destroyed him like this.

But then there was that... Destroyed him? It was weird. Very weird. Cody felt different, but he didn't feel destroyed... It was like he felt more whole... Without his shell there, it felt like he could finally see the world without any tinted goggles. It was frightening. He finally had to see the world for the horrible place it was. There was no hiding or denial for him anymore.

He shook his head, how he wished he could go back to living in his shell.

But he knew, there was no going back.

He didn't feel destroyed or broken, but he felt... Cold. Colder. He felt like he was seeing the world for what it was... Did that mean he was ready to face it? What did that mean?

And then... He remembered how he punched Duncan, finally it registered.

He felt... Pride in his chest. How good it had felt to punch him and see him go crumpling to the ground. Victory.

What was he becoming? He was taking pride in hurting someone... He was a monster... But... Duncan was a horrible person though, wasn't he? He went behind Courtney's back and kissed Gwen, without any regard for the damage it would cause. He had hurt people, probably in worse ways than he hurt Gwen and Courtney... So was it really wrong? To take pride in destroying someone who was bad?

Duncan was an asshole, a horrible asshole.

Immediately, he recoiled.

What... What was that? Where did that come from? He just called Duncan a horrible asshole and a horrible person... He had never thought of someone like that before. He always used to try to see the best in people, to show kindness... But that was his shell, then, wasn't it?

Maybe that thought... Maybe it came from HIM. The real him. Maybe that was it. Maybe this was him. His shell was gone, and now all that was left inside of him was Cody. The Cody he had buried. Somehow, he felt like he could breath.

He originally had donned his optimistic mask and smile to fight those who wanted to hurt him, but it seemed that he started to hide inside of it... And now it was no more.

Sierra, apparently becoming a little lonely and tired of being ignored, suddenly grabbed Cody and forced him into a hug, but Cody continued to ignore her as he lost himself in thought.

What would he do now? What was there left for him here? There was nothing. He had been broken again, his facade has fallen, his shell broken, and now his "true" self has been released and now he was as unhappy as ever. What could he possibly do here? And then, he decided almost immediately...

He decided... He'd win.

But win for what? What could he possibly gain from winning the show? He didn't need the money - his family was rich, and even though they ignored him, they still threw him a bone every now and then. Fame? He didn't care for fame. Fame attracted all sorts of attention, both good and bad, and the "good" kind of attention usually was in the form of people like Sierra... What was this? Why did he want to win so badly now? He came to the show to get friends originally, but now that that's all exploed in his face like everything usually does, there is almost no reason to stay - he could just drop out right now and be done with it...

But yet he didn't want to drop out. For some reason, Cody felt more driven than ever to win the show. It was strange.

Cody rubbed his temples as his mind raced and worked, trying to make sense of these internal contradictions and conflictions boiling inside of him. He could not figure out the answer... Why did he want to win? Why?

So I did something different this chapter.

I wrote the ending first, and then worked my way up. I dunno. I just had the end scene circling in my head for a while and I wanted to get it out I guess. I think it turned out pretty good, and it was a fun way to organize the chapter. It's kinda like John Romero - the guy who worked on DOOM. He always made his maps starting from the ending and working his way up to the beginning so he would get warmed up and the player would see the best parts of the map in the beginning...

Or something.

This really wasn't even a chapter at all, it was more or less just a chapter focusing entirely on Cody's feelings. Next chapter will be the Ex Files, and it will be there the whole shinding will get started, and we see what Cody, the REAL Cody, does, and how he will change the show's history.

If you don't like this chapter - I don't blame you, but I really wanted to start this. I'm so excited for Ex Files. I have so much stuff to do and many ideas to implement. I already have the aftermath planned out too. Lots of stuff for the future of this story.

I'm really interested in seeing what you guys think of this so far, as this is where we see dark Cody arrising.