A/N: Okay, so someone (luckycharms92) unconsciously made me start planning my fanfic, and I did. So I know how it's going to end now. Muahahaha. But yeah, I like how it ends. Review! :D Edit: Okay, Lil reuniting with Brianna took too long. Plan will have to be redone. XD Oh well, that just means more updates for you. Are my notes too long? Probably. Koodos if you read this. :D On a similar note, I am so sorry for the length of this. I was going to stop… But I didn't.

Sam had shown Lil where Brianna lived. She walked the streets of Perdido Beach nervously, as more and more children eyed her with suspicion. Lil had purposefully avoided her old house. Brianna wasn't living there, and she didn't need to see that part of her life.

Maybe another day, when she had less on her mind.

Right now, Lil was thinking about how stupid she was. Coates was a mistake, and John had known that. Meanwhile, she had been so stubborn.

So.

Fucking.

Stubborn.

But then again, Lil thought, she had always been like that. Always unsure, until some irrational wave of decisiveness washed over her, forcing her to act on whatever impulses she happened to have at the time. Sure, her decisions would seem logical, but they rarely were.

Lil wished she could be sure of something, anything, and still believe it the next day.

Sam had told her all about Coates Academy, the boy with the whip arm, and Sam's brother. She could understand now why John was so afraid of the place. But John wasn't with her now—he was at the Daycare. He had told Lil it was the only constant left in his life, and he needed to see the kids again.

Lil could understand that.

She reached Brianna's new home, and a stranger answered the door. She had broken something—Lil guessed her ankle—which was bandaged with some kind of makeshift cast. The girl glared at Lil, obviously just as suspicious as the other kids had been.

"Uhm hi," Lil said, "Is Brianna home?" The girl nodded, but she did it with attitude, still not sure of Lil's presence.

"You're lucky you caught her. She was going to go back to work after lunch." The girl limped off to get Brianna, and Lil smiled a little bit. Her sister had a job. Back before the FAYZ, the only thing Brianna had ever done for money was babysit. She heard the girl call out to her sister, who arrived at the door in less than a second. Lil shook her head. She was still a little woozy from dehydration and lack of sleep, but she didn't think she was going to start hallucinating.

She made a mental note to take a nap.

But she wasn't paying attention to sleep deprivation. She was paying attention to her little—or who used to be little—sister. She was thinner than Lil remembered, but much taller. She wrapped her arms around her and wanted to cry, but she didn't have enough water for that, either. Brianna, meanwhile, did not return Lil's hug. Instead, she backed away slowly, her face full of shock.

"Lil… there's no way. How?" Lil smiled as a dry sob shook her. They walked into Brianna's little living room and sat down across from each other.

"I don't know what happened, Bri. I mean, it might have been a miracle—not that I usually believe in that kind of stuff—but one minute I was leaning on the… dome thing, and the next I was face down on the highway, stuck in here! I actually got here four or five days ago. To be honest it's been kind of a blur. But yeah, here I am." Lil smiled, happy to finally tell her story to someone who mattered. She had rehearsed it a lot in her mind, but it was another thing to finally tell it to her little sister.

A flash of something crossed Brianna's face, followed by a slight frown. She looked unsure of herself.

"Dad." She said, "Did they find him?"

Another sob, smaller this time.

But she smiled, for Brianna.

"No," Lil began, "They didn't find anybody. To be honest, I'm not even sure how they know this place is full of kids. A bunch of scientists figured it out, but they were never very specific on how they knew everything." Lil saw the pained look on her sister's face and paused.

"But mum is fine!" she said, hoping to improve her sister's mood. It did. Brianna smiled a little and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "She misses you so damn much, Bri. A ton of people have given up waiting for their kids. But mum and I came every day, just in case." Brianna smiled, even though her tears were coming more frequently. Lil laughed a little bit.

"That reminds me, do you have any water?"

"I have to admit, this isn't your greatest plan." Diana was lying on a small couch in the living room, picking at her fingernails.

"Yeah, well it's the only thing we've got at the moment." Diana rolled her eyes, having heard Caine's speech a million times. She figured that at this point, he was trying to convince himself more than her.

"We're on an island, he's on the mainland. I don't even think I can carry the two of us back there, and even if I could, it would just make it easier for him to attack us. We might as well just sit tight." Diana sighed, rolling over on her stomach, her face almost buried into a pillow.

"Damn it, Diana, I know it sucks! When you come up with something better, please let me know." Caine was pacing, and Diana hated that. It made her feel stressed.

Like she wasn't already.

"Are you going to tell Penny?" She had been living in a small apartment in the basement of the home, refusing to acknowledge either of them. Caine shook his head.

"If she wants to be a hermit, she can be a hermit. I have enough to worry about without her. What's the matter, don't think I can take him on alone?" Diana laughed spitefully, ending the conversation.

The weeks they had spent together on the island had made them softer, both physically and towards each other. Caine had regained most of his handsomeness and Diana suspected she had too. They were well-fed. They were happy. It meant less reason to be bitter, less reason to be sarcastic, and less reason to hold back.

Diana suspected that if they were still going to school, like semi-normal kids, her and Caine would have been considered official.

But Drake's escape had changed that. They were becoming more hostile towards each other, and both of them hated it. Despite her demeanour, she enjoyed having a normal relationship with Caine.

Welcome to life, Diana thought.

She really did hope Caine killed the creep.

Painfully.

Diana saw Caine looking at her from the corner of her eye. He saw the anger on her face, and Diana forced it to evaporate, not wanting Caine to think it was directed at him. She smiled softly, and he melted.

"I'm tired, Caine. Let's just go to sleep, okay?" It was a bit early, but the day had been long for both of them. Caine ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

"Okay, Diana." She walked over to him, lacing her fingers through his and leaning her head on his shoulder.

Together, they walked upstairs, and—too tired for words—fell asleep together.

Drake knew where Caine was. He wouldn't have guessed it on his own, Drake admitted, but Bug was a moron. He hated the little freak, but he was glad he hadn't killed him.

Yet.

He suspected some of the Coates kids would have gone to Perdido Beach, while the rest would have gone with Caine. The kids in Perdido Beach weren't important for now.

But this island, that was important.

It wasn't going to be easy. Brittany had been trying to take over lately, and Drake didn't have a lot of energy to spare. She already had once, and Drake had woken up three storeys below his old room, lying in the grass with one hell of a headache. Luckily, her immortality not only saved him, but healed the bullet wounds that had hindered him a couple of hours earlier.

But the couple of hours was concerning.

It appeared to Drake that Brittany was beginning to control how quickly Drake could heal. It wasn't a big deal to him right now—he was accustomed to pain—but it would matter, he knew that much.

Stupid bitch.

He could control her long enough to do what he needed to do. He walked out of Coates, and began walking out towards Trotter's ridge.

It took him a while to reach Clifftop that way, but it was the only way without being spotted. He needed Lana, just in case Brittany decided to fuck him over. Then it was over to the marina—though he hadn't figured out how to get there without being seen—to steal a boat.

But Lana was gone. He checked the rooms around hers twice, just to be sure. Drake fumed.

"Why the fuck isn't anybody where I need them to be?" Everything in her room was covered in a fine layer of dust, indicating that she hadn't been to her room in a while. Drake sighed and sat behind her bed, waiting. But he became impatient, and eventually he had to admit wherever she was, she wasn't planning on coming back any time soon.

Walking out onto the balcony, he looked over Perdido Beach. Town hall, half-gone church… It was all the same as it had been while he was imprisoned. Thinking of which, Drake reminded himself to kill Sam, and that retard Edilio when he got back. He hung his head, looking down below.

No.

No way.

That was way too perfect.

Drake rubbed his eyes and looked again, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Fuck Lana. Fuck the marina.

Drake had a helicopter.