Hi guys! Allow me to start off by giving a big thank you to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I appreciate that you guys enjoy my story so much, and I hope you guys keep coming back for more.

Now, allow me to address something that I should've addressed last time, but absolutely forgot to: Scarlett. In hindsight, yes, having her be the stereotypical sociopathic villain from canon was probably not the best way to go about writing her here. And truth be told, if I could go back in time to fix her I absolutely would. But from the get-go, this story had always been about Sammy, Amy, and Ella, and anyone else who had gotten any sort of development ended up happening as a result of me writing for them, as I was writing them. Unfortunately, this meant that Scarlett, someone who was on the other team, went unchecked for a long time, before it ended up becoming too late for me to do anything about her. It hadn't even crossed my mind to fix her up until I had finished writing the previous chapter and some reviewers had pointed it out to me, and at that point changing anything so drastically would've caused a lot of headaches for me, especially for a character who in the long run wasn't much of a focus for this story. I understand that a lot of people wanted to see her get an explanation or to not become what she had been in canon, and if I had thought of it at the time I absolutely would have done that. But that's just how the hand was dealt, and I apologize to anyone I've disappointed because of it.

That said, I may have something new in store to counter something like this from happening again, among other things I've been thinking about, but that would be something entirely separate from Twinning With a Twist and I won't talk about it up here. More on it down below.

Hopefully this chapter helps to make up for my blunder - writing is tough sometimes, especially when writing without anyone's assistance, and you aren't able to see every possible angle available. It doesn't help that this is my first story that I've almost managed to finish, so I'm still rather green when it comes to planning things out. But that's the point of learning, isn't it? To make mistakes and correct them in the future. And I have plenty of ideas swimming around in my head for me to have a chance at correcting those mistakes, so hopefully something good comes out of it all.

Anyway, I've said more than enough here. This chapter aims to wrap up most of what was left over from the previous one. Hopefully you enjoy it!


Chapter 10.5: From Unexpected Places

The waterworks went on for an embarrassingly long time, though from everyone else's reactions it seemed no one was blaming her. Ella did her best to soothe Sammy into calming down, though the shudders and sniffles coming from her were signs that she was just barely holding it together herself. Sammy took the opportunity to try and comfort her as well.

When her crying finally died down, the two stood back up and rejoined the conversation currently taking place. Jasmine was holding Scarlett aloft under the arms, dangling her like one would a child. "You have a lot to answer for, you know that?" she asked the redhead, glaring daggers at her. "Just what the hell were you thinking, threatening Chris with our lives and demanding the million like that?"

Scarlett snarled at her and kept wriggling to get out of her confines. "I was thinking about getting the money, obviously! I was attempting to play the game as anyone would, to earn it fairly and stay under the radar, but it should be clear as day that I'm nowhere near capable of besting the lot of you in any of these ridiculous challenges. I had to take what opportunities were presented to me, and usurping control of the island and forcing McLean to give up the money was the one to most likely succeed." She tutted and looked away. "Clearly, I was wrong."

"At least she can admit it," Ella said to Sammy under her breath. The blonde nodded in response.

But then Ella went rigid as Scarlett directed her scowl towards her. "Though I would have been able to do it had it not been for you and that stupid bear!" She motioned towards Scuba Bear, which was now simply standing by the door and watching everyone talk. Amy, who was standing right next to it, took notice of the robot for the first time and quickly scuttled away in fright. "How did you wrest control of it over me? And the same for those blasted Chris robots! What on earth did you do?!"

Ella was frozen in fright, her body slightly trembling from the intensity of Scarlett's voice. The courage she had gained when dealing with the robots had evaporated entirely, now that she was dealing with someone who couldn't be tamed through song. There was such malice and hatred in Scarlett's eyes that anyone would have withered under them, so Sammy couldn't blame her. But she also wasn't just going to sit back and let that happen, so she slipped her hand into Ella's and squeezed, a reminder that she was there. Ella let out a shaky breath and stood her ground. "I sang," she said. "I sang and they listened to me. I don't know how it works, just that I was able to use it against you."

Scarlett was clearly not expecting that to be the answer. "You sang?! And they all listened?! How is that even remotely possible?!"

"Like I said, I don't know."

"Something tells me that everything in here is kinda shoddily built," Sammy said. "I mean… I shut down the self-destruct by closing the program down."

"Not to mention that everything went haywire in the first place," Sky added. "What exactly happened that caused it, I wonder?"

"Whatever it was, the worst of it is over now," Jasmine said. She looked back at Scarlett in her hands when she heard her talking under her breath. "Oi." Jasmine shook her slightly. "What're you muttering about?"

Scarlett was not pleased with the interruption. "I'm attempting to determine what caused the robots to ignore their programming and listen to her." It was then that Scarlett started speaking a mile a minute. "It must have been a fault in the audio intake systems, and she was singing at just the right pitch to cause some sort of malfunction in the action decision-making component of the robots' central processing system…"

"Uh…" Sky was looking a little lost. "Yeah, has anyone told you that you talk really fast sometimes?"

Scarlett glanced at her and smirked. "Oh I'm very aware of when I do it."

"Right, well," Jasmine replied, choosing to ignore her own confusion. "I don't think it really matters how it happened, just that it was enough to take you out of the picture." Scarlett only grumbled at this.

"Hey, not that I don't find this fascinating," Amy spoke up, now awkwardly standing in the corner of the room, "but can we get out of here please? This place still gives me the creeps."

"For once, I agree with her," Sammy added, earning her a slightly surprised look from her sister. "We shut down the self-destruct, we stopped Scarlett… I think we're done here."

Before anyone else spoke, the monitor flickered to life once more, and the back of Chris's head was shown. "Guys, there's about a minute left before the detonation, so I just wanted to take the chance to say-" He turned around and saw that everyone was giving him an unimpressed look. "Whoa!" he exclaimed genuinely when he saw the six of them. "You guys are alive! And you took down Scarlett! Nice! Way better than dying, am I right?"

"Yes," Jasmine scoffed. "No thanks to you!"

"You're lucky you did such a crappy job designing these robots," Sky told him. "They helped us break down the door to get in here!"

"The robots did?" Chris asked, his eyes glancing over to Scuba Bear. "That's weird. They shouldn't have helping you guys wired into their brains. I'll have to take a look at it later."

"Check the auditory processors," Scarlett suddenly said. "They must be flawed considering that Ella-"

"Nope!" Jasmine covered her mouth with one of her hands. "You're gonna put a cork in it, y'hear?" Scarlett let out a muffled cry and glared sharply at her.

"Uh…" Chris started, his eyes glancing over to Ella. "Anyone know what she was about to say?"

"Ah, nope!" Sammy answered without thinking. "Just the ravings of a madwoman! Seriously, if she's willing to kill us for a bit of money, then she's not worth thinking about."

"Hmm…" Chris drew out his chin-scratching to uncomfortable levels, as he was wont to do, and Sammy's awkward smile was starting to hurt after a bit. But thankfully he just shrugged it off. "Whatevs. You guys come back up to the surface. We're going to be having an extra special elimination tonight!" Chris directed them towards an elevator not too far down the hall, and disappeared from the screen.

The moment he was gone, there were four sighs of relief from the six of them, and they all turned to frown at Scarlett. "We're probably gonna have to tape her mouth up or something," Sky suggested.

Scarlett attempted to speak, but Jasmine's hand was muffling her. With a roll of her eyes the Australian freed her mouth. "That won't do you any good," she said. "Chris or one of his lackeys will undoubtedly review the footage, and once he sees that Ella sang during a challenge, it'll be curtains for her."

In all of the chaos, Sammy did forget that little detail, but there was no going back on it now. At the same time, Ella didn't look particularly upset by this, and didn't back down as Scarlett smirked at her. "I may get eliminated, but at least we're all still alive. I'd gladly give my place on this show up if it means we all get to walk out of here on our own two feet."

Scarlett scoffed. "What a load of bullshit. Friendship and empathy are a weakness. It's absolutely absurd that you've made it as far as you have with that mindset."

"What's absurd is that you think you know me enough to be able to say that," Ella spat back. Sammy's hand was starting to hurt from Ella squeezing it so hard, but she wasn't about to say or do a thing about it. "Caring about other people is not a shortcoming for me. If it wasn't for my friends I wouldn't be the person I am now, and I wouldn't want to be anyone else."

"And what happens when they turn on you? Hm? No friendship or relationship lasts forever. It's only a matter of time before they stab you in the back to get what they want."

"Maybe in your world they will. But I know for a fact that my friends, my true friends, would never willingly let anything bad happen to me, let alone be the cause of it." Ella grinned at Sammy, and received a smile right back. "I trust my friends. They have my back, and I have theirs. And that's something you'll most likely never understand, so please, kindly take your bad attitude and zip it."

Surprisingly, Scarlett blinked at her, almost like she was stunned at the demand. Since it came from Ella of all people, it was a justified reaction. However the glare returned in full force, and actually settled on Sammy this time. "Ah, right. This is all because of you, isn't it? You're just another of all of these fools, aren't you?"

Taken aback by the accusation, Sammy looked to the others for clarification, but none was to be found. "W-What? Me? What do you mean?"

Scarlett barked out a mocking laugh. "If you need to ask, then you're the biggest fool of all! You come to this island with no backbone to speak of, and yet here you are, a week and a half later, and you've already gotten half of the cast on your side. Hell, you're even somehow winning over your sister of all people, and you're supposed to detest one another! With you at the center of it all, it would've been in everyone's best interest if you were eliminated sooner rather than later. That way this entire social structure you've built around yourself would've fallen apart, and the thing connecting everyone together would no longer be there. Then it would've only been a trivial matter to turn everyone else against each other and make it to the finale."

She was reminded of what Chris had said during the night's elimination, that she apparently had a knack for making friends despite barely ever having a friend in her life before now. Was this what he was talking about? Ella, Sky, Shawn, Beardo, Jasmine, and now possibly Amy… that was a lot of people to have on her side, especially when the reward of a million dollars was at stake. And now that she thought about it… one of the main reasons they were so close in the first place was because of her and her desire to become stronger. That night where the five of them had bonded over the campfire, sharing their hobbies and interests and goals, where she had spilled her guts about Amy, had to be the turning point for all of that. If she had not been placed on Team Maskwak, if she had somehow been put on Kinosewak's team and wasn't in arm's length of Ella and the others, would they even be here now, as close as they were at this point in time? Chances were, probably not.

But then, in the midst of these thoughts swarming her head, Sammy's mind zeroed in on what exactly Scarlett was saying. "Wait. Wait. Y… You wanted me eliminated?!" She pointed at Scarlett in shock. "But- But earlier you were encouraging me to confess to Ella! You wanted me to talk to her! Why would you try to get us together when you were just going to get rid of me right after?!"

"Because I despise weakness! And you were simply swimming in it." She grew a wicked smile, causing Sammy to taste bile. "Besides, if you ended up together with her, and were then promptly eliminated moments later, it would've killed you on the spot."

Sammy frowned. Huh. You know… she's probably not wrong.

Scarlett growled and turned her attention elsewhere. "But that obviously didn't come to pass, because someone chose to not stick to the plan!"

Everyone's eyes turned to where Scarlett was looking, and unsurprisingly they all landed on Amy. She was leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed, and looked away in frustration at being the center of attention.

"You could've gotten rid of her if you just did as I said!" Scarlett shouted at her. "But no. You gave into your own weakness and couldn't go through with it. You're even more of a coward than she was when she got here!"

"Oh, will you shut up?!" Amy screamed at her, banging a fist against the steel wall. "I have my reasons for not voting for her! And besides, I'm not exactly the sort of person to follow someone else's orders! So really, you just set yourself up for a bad time in the first place."

Scarlett was beginning to turn scarlet in frustration. "We had a deal! We were going to get to the end together!"

Amy wryly grinned and shook her head. "Ha! As if you weren't planning on backstabbing me yourself when it was most convenient for you! Besides, you made the mistake of targeting the one person I wanted to apologize to!"

Something clicked in Sammy's mind as they bickered. Ella, Sky, and herself had voted for Shawn. Jasmine and Shawn had voted for Sammy, though that much was obvious. If Scarlett had also voted for her, then it was a tie between the six of them, with only one other person's vote determining who was to be eliminated.

Sammy's eyes went wide in realization. Realization of the fact that Amy had voted for Shawn, not her, and the only reason why she was standing here right now was because her sister pretty much saved her. And that thought…

…Actually didn't make her as uncomfortable as it might have originally.

"You're the odd one out now!" Scarlett was saying, her and Amy's squabble still going on. "You won't make it to the end without me!"

"I'm willing to take my goddamn chances, thank you very much!" Amy screamed at her. "Especially after tonight! Who in their right minds would buddy up with someone willing to kill them?!"

They started spouting insults at each other, and it took all of Sammy's willpower not to make an exit right then and there. Luckily, someone else was getting sick of it as well. "Alright, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jasmine shouted at the both of them. It was loud enough that they both immediately silenced themselves. "It doesn't matter who sided with who anymore! It's done, you're done," she pointed to Scarlett, "and we're leaving now!"

Without another word Jasmine left the control room, Scarlett now clumsily being carried under her arm like a football, and vanished behind the corner.

Looking between the few remaining people in the room, Sky awkwardly shuffled her feet. "I'm… really not sure what to make of all that," she said with plenty of hesitation. "But honestly, I'm just glad we're all alive. Way to go, you guys." She gave Sammy and Ella quick hugs, and hurried out of the room after Jasmine.

This left Sammy, Ella, and Amy alone in the room, and the tension was… weird to say the least. Ella offered her a strained smile, and Amy refused to look at her. Not wanting to beat around the bush, Sammy walked up to her sister. "You… didn't vote for me?"

Amy took one glance at her, then shrugged and looked away. "Like I said… I wanted to apologize. And I couldn't do that if you were gone."

She finally had the chance to get rid of her, and she didn't take it. Maybe Amy really did want to change after all. With a small smile, Sammy put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Thanks."

Amy stiffened at the contact, though she only shrugged again. "W-Whatever. You know there's nothing holding me back from voting for you now, though, right?"

Sammy laughed. "There's the Amy I know."

Amy gave her a half-smile. It… was genuine. And looked really out of place. Not to say it was bad, though. "So, uh, does this count towards you… eventually forgiving me?"

"Well, considering you did that before we talked and agreed to it, I'm gonna say… no."

Amy huffed and rolled her eyes. "Aw, come on. That's low, Sis."

Sammy was momentarily startled by the ending of that sentence, but got over it pretty quickly. "Well… that's not my real name, but you get brownie points for the effort."

"Gee, thanks," Amy scoffed, but there was no anger or venom in her voice. She looked past Sammy towards Ella, who had ended up over at and commanding Scuba Bear to go hibernate once more. "So, uh… are you two, like, a thing now?"

Sammy inhaled sharply and found herself unable to speak. For all her boasting that she wouldn't care what Amy would say, she almost instantly found herself terrified of it. Yep. Still not better. Go me.

Ella, having heard her and now a part of the conversation, walked up to the both of them. "We… haven't had a chance to speak about it yet. It only really happened about two minutes before you entered that… weird Chris room."

"Really? Huh." She gave Sammy a look. "Thought it would've been sooner than that."

Sammy, groaning in frustration, gripped the sides of her head. "Did everybody on this island know that I liked Ella before I said anything?"

"I'm gonna be honest, chances are you were probably the last person to even figure it out," Amy told her, a fraction of a smile tugging at her lips.

"Ugh… Yeah, that sounds like me, alright."

"I mean, your face turns red quite easily," Ella told her with a giggle. "It was pretty easy to tell when the crush started."

"But why didn't you say anything?" Sammy asked her. "It could've saved me from a lot of internal panicking and embarrassment."

"Aw, I'm sorry," she said sympathetically. "I guess… I was still trying to figure things out for myself. I'd never thought about falling for a girl before now and I suppose it caught me off guard."

Sammy anxiously played with some hair that had gotten free of her ponytail. "So… is that, like, a good or bad thing?"

Ella hummed in thought, and then planted a kiss on Sammy's cheek. "You tell me."

A giddy, stupid-looking grin forced itself onto her face. "Good. Definitely good."

"Oh my gag, get a room you two," Amy droned, and walked out into the hallway.

That old feeling of anxiety started creeping into Sammy's gut, and she followed Amy out. She supposed the reason she cared so much now rather than a few days ago was because there was at least a semblance of a civil relationship between the two. And if her sister was put off by the fact that Sammy was gay, then that semblance was as good as history.

"Hey, uh," she said hesitantly. Amy acknowledged her but didn't stop walking. "You're not like… upset or anything because I like girls, are you?"

Her sister blinked and shrugged. "Uh… no? Why would I be? You like who you like, and who you like doesn't bother me."

She felt the rising pressure immediately deescalate. "Oh. Cool. Thanks." Amy grew silent again and focused on the hallway ahead of them, and Sammy felt there was more to it than that. "Though… you are upset over something, aren't you?"

Amy looked like she wanted to keep quiet, although she quickly decided against it by sighing heavily and rubbing at her eyes. "I'm just pissed at myself for not finding someone who likes me before you did. I dunno. It's petty." Quietly, and mostly to herself, she added, "Like me."

Sammy started to reach out a comforting hand to her, but chose not to. A part of her realized that she really shouldn't be giving Amy the time of day, considering everything she had put her through all her life. But Sammy was an empathetic person, and she knew that Amy was struggling with her own issues. Wouldn't it technically be hypocritical of her to ignore someone else in their time of need? Especially now that she said she was wanting and able to do better. Sammy couldn't see herself forgiving Amy so easily, but that didn't mean she was just going to leave her to deal with it on her own.

"I'm… sure you'll find someone," Sammy told her in the end. "You just… you know, need to work on those more positive qualities of yours."

Amy laughed dryly. "Yeah, that's not happening anytime soon."

"Does it need to be soon?"

She awkwardly rubbed her arm. "I guess not, no."

"There's still time. You're 16, you've got your whole life to find someone who likes you for who you are. There's no rush."

"I know that. But… ugh. Still. It's like…" She placed a hand on her chest and gripped her shirt angrily. "It's like my head is telling me I need to find someone now, otherwise no one is ever gonna want to date me. You know?"

"I get those thoughts too," Sammy said.

Ella, who had been walking behind them this entire time, chimed in. "We all do. Those thoughts are not easy to ignore, but… you'll get used to it, as you keep working on yourself."

"Yeah," Sammy agreed. "They don't go away immediately, but you learn to deal with them and eventually you'll stop thinking that way."

Amy looked between them both. "You sure?"

"Positive," Sammy answered.

Another half-smile. "Okay. I'll hold you both to that."

Sammy gave a genuine smile at her sister, for what felt like the first time ever. There may still be parts of Sammy's mind that were working against her, but she was making her way towards working with those parts. She wasn't the only one with problems, but if she was able to help those who had them in even a little way, that would be okay for her.


Standing on the path leading to the cannon, Sammy watched in righteous joy as Chris threw one marshmallow after another at the sociopath who almost killed her and her friends.

"You are so eliminated!" yelled Chris. "You're more eliminated than anyone's ever been eliminated! Even that wizard guy's got nothing on you! How come no one bothered to do background checks on these guys before bringing them on?!"

"Weren't you the one who chose the contestants?" Chef asked him with a raised brow. "That should'a been on you, man."

The host paused for a moment. "Whatever!" Chris punctuated this by throwing the entire tray at Scarlett, though she ducked down into the cannon to dodge it. "Normally, I ask the person up for cannon fodder if they have any final words, but I'm not giving you the opportunity to speak! So goodbye, Scarlett!" He raised his remote to send her off, but stopped when his phone began to ring. "Ugh, seriously?"

Sammy and Ella shared a worried look as he answered and listened. "Uh-huh? …Uh-huh." His eyebrows shot up. "Really? I see. Okay." He hung up the phone and turned his attention to the five remaining competitors. "That was the dude in charge of going over the footage for the show, and he gave me a pre-tty interesting tidbit."

"Here we go," Ella whispered morosely.

"It turns out, one of our own players has broken a promise." No one openly reacted to that. "Shocker. I know." He had a serious look on his face; whether it was real or part of the act, Sammy wasn't sure. "Ella."

With a heavy sigh, she looked away.

"If you recall, we previously established that you would, under no circumstances, sing, whether it was to yourself, for others, towards the animals, or just in general. Tonight, you broke that promise, and I'm sure you're fully aware of what that means for you."

"Yes, I do." She refused to look at him.

"Ella, from this moment on you are officially disqualified from Total Drama: Pahkitew Island." He raised a hand towards the cannon. "If you would so kindly join Scarlett in preparation of being blasted off the island?"

With only the hint of a glare, Ella stuck her nose in the air and walked with as much dignity as she could. "I don't regret doing any of it."

"Wait, please," Sammy suddenly found herself saying, and rushed to catch up with Ella. "I-I'm sorry. Again. I wish I had said something sooner, before this happened. I'm such an-"

"Shush," she said, putting a callused finger on Sammy's lips. "Don't finish that thought."

Sammy slowly nodded. "R-Right. Sorry."

"It's okay. Everything's okay, you hear me?" Likely to take notice away from the tears forming, she took Sammy's hands and held them tightly. "I know you feel like it's going to be hard, but you can do this. I know you can do this. You made it this far, and nothing's going to stand in your way. You understand?"

Unable to keep her own tears from streaming down her face, Sammy nodded sadly. Ella wiped away the water leaking from her eyes, and pulled her in for a quick kiss. "I'm going to miss you," Sammy said.

"And I'm going to miss you. But you'll be okay. I believe in you."

Sammy sniffed loudly and unattractively. "Th-Thank you."

It was going to be painful without Ella, but she could do this. She still had a job to do, a game to win. Sure, Sky and Jasmine were probably going to be tough to beat, but she could do it. She had to do it. Ella was counting on her to do it. There was no backing down now.

"Alright, that's enough out of you two," Chris said, having walked up to them and physically pulled them apart. He pointed a finger right at Sammy's face. "You're lucky I don't stuff you in there with them, for what you did to the island."

"Wh- What?" Sammy arched a brow at him. "What I did? What did I do?"

"Remember when you ate those Juggy Chunks a few hours ago?"

As if I could forget that.

"Yeah, you kinda puked in a bush that was scheduled for changing up in the bunker. It ended up getting all over the wiring in the transition, and sparked some sort of chain reaction that caused the whole island to go off its rocker."

Sammy's mouth hung open in shock as the others gasped. "Wh- B-But I- Huh?!"

"Since it was an accident, you're off the hook. But you're also on thin ice, so I'd watch myself if I were you."

Sammy had no idea she had done that, and if she were in the right state of mind would have probably told Chris that he should have had more countermeasures to puke of all things. But she also knew when she was beat, and chose not to say anything. She gave Ella a strained, forced smile, and backed up towards the others. Ella gave one last wave, and turned back to the cannon.

This is it, Sammy thought sadly. I didn't actually think one of us would be gone so soon after I confessed… We haven't even figured out if we're together or not yet. God, I feel so… so… so hopeless right now…

She looked up to the cannon, where Scarlett was waiting, and noticed that she was watching her with the nastiest smirk Sammy had ever seen. Ah, dammit, and now Scarlett gets to enjoy the show… This day has been nothing but ups and downs, and the sun is just barely coming up. I just want to go back to bed and sleep and forget this night ever-

"HOLD IT!"

The shout caused Sammy to instinctively flinch and tense up, and when she opened her eyes she was surprised to see that Ella and Chris were looking at her. "What did I just say about being on thin ice?" Chris asked her testily.

"What?! N-No, that wasn't me!" she desperately defended.

"No, you knucklehead, it was me!" And from the back of the group Amy pushed her way past everyone.

"Wh- Amy?!" Sammy asked in confusion.

Her sister ignored her and marched right up to the host. "You're really just gonna get rid of her because she sang?" Chris didn't answer right away, and Amy agitatedly urged him on. "Not a rhetorical question, McLean. Answer me!"

Clearly taken aback, but also highly suspicious, Chris plainly answered, "Yyyes? What's it to you?"

Amy's glare was unimpressed. "So you're kicking off the girl who literally saved our lives. The girl who stopped the lunatic who was threatening not just us, but also your stupid island and your precious show. You realize that if it wasn't for her, none of us would be here right now? We'd all be dead, and there would be a lot of angry parents looking to sue your ass because either their kids were on an island that could've exploded at any second, or because their kids were on the island when it did."

Chris looked genuinely surprised at the accusations, but didn't get a chance to speak as Amy's tirade continued. "And that's not even getting into half the crap you pulled in the last five seasons. Holding the finale on a volcano? Starving that one guy into becoming feral? Forcing the last group to stay on a mutated island, where some of them actually got affected by it? And don't get me started on those gross-as-hell balloons you made them get in at the end of last season! Are those guys still floating over the ocean, by the way? Or have they all suffocated from the lack of air? You've pulled a lot of shit in the past, McLean, and I sincerely doubt you'd be let off with a slap on the wrist like last time if you get caught again."

Chris, while slightly unnerved at the spiel, still seemed unconvinced, even though Amy just laid out several moments from his sketchy history. "You got a point to this, or what?"

"Yeah, I got a freaking point! Ella doesn't deserve to be kicked off! She's the only one who managed to keep your ass from being chased down by the cops again! You should be grateful she sang, because now you get to keep on terrorizing us for those goddamn ratings you're practically married to!"

Sammy was barely able to comprehend what was going on. Amy was defending Ella? Of her own free will? This makes no sense. When did I enter the mirror world without realizing?

"You're seriously complaining about this?" Chris asked. "You know you'll have one less person between you and the million without her here, right?"

"Oh, I'm aware. And yet here I am, telling you that she shouldn't go."

"Well, that's great, but my mind is already made up. Ella goes, and you're going to stop talking now."

Amy's glare intensified, to the point where Sammy started reliving old, dreadful memories and felt herself squirming on the spot. "Like I said… Without Ella, there wouldn't even be a show. And I'm willing to bet that also applies to right now."

"What?" Chris asked, his face scrunched in bewilderment. "What are you-"

"Let me put it in words you might understand…"

And with a stomp of her foot for emphasis, Amy yelled,

"I QUIT!"

Literally everyone screamed in shock, from the girls, to Chris and Chef, to even Scarlett still in the cannon. Sammy's mind was working a mile a minute, trying to grasp what Amy was saying. Defending Ella was one thing - deciding to quit the game for her was something entirely different, and Sammy had no clue what it was that was causing this outburst from her. But at this point, her reasons hardly mattered, really.

Chris was sputtering out a response. "Y-You can't just quit! There'd only be three people left! We can't drag out the final episodes with three people!"

"Then you're gonna have to find some way to work around that, buddy!" Amy shouted back. Her hands were at her side, and clenched furiously - although, when Sammy looked closer, they were opening and closing rather quickly. Like she was anxious about something, or like…

Then it hit her.

She's not anxious… That's a freaking sign!

"I quit too!" Sammy shrieked at them, stepping forward. All eyes turned to her, most in shock and one other in triumph. "If Ella's leaving the show because she allowed us to live, then I don't want any part of it!"

"What?! No! NO! None of you can quit!" Chris was getting furious, and waved his hands in front of him. "You're all gonna shut up now and-"

"And what if we don't want to?!" Sky spoke up, stepping in line with Sammy. She and her sister grinned at the action. "Amy's right, what you're doing is totally uncalled for! She had no choice in the matter, it was either sing or get killed by your stupid robots! She saved us, and your show, and now you're throwing her away like garbage! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"Hey, I am never ashamed of my actions!" Chris attempted to protest.

"Well maybe you should start!"

"You know, it is a shame, though," Jasmine said, joining them. "Without Ella, there really won't be a show…" With a smirk, she folded her arms. "That's just how it's gotta be, I suppose. And here I was, finally starting to get used to this island…"

Chris was actually starting to seethe from anger. Chef was wise enough to stay out of it, Scarlett was watching everything with unrestrained delight, and Ella herself looked a mix between absolutely flattered and desperately horrified. "Y-You guys don't need to do this! I've made my choice and-"

Amy whirled on her. "Is it really your choice if your options were shit to begin with?" she interrupted. "You're seriously telling me that you're just gonna accept elimination or death, and nothing else? What happened to 'shoving back' or whatever it was you said? Or are you just gonna let this two-bit, washed-up sadist tell you what to do?!"

"'Washed-up'?!" Chris repeated aghast.

"I- I…" Ella was looking torn, unsure of what to do. Her hands were clutching her hair, almost pulling it, as she tried to come to a solution. "B-But if Chris is the one in charge, and if he's saying I'm gone…"

"Freaking forget him!" said Amy, waving her arm as if to shove him away. "Be selfish for once in your goddamn life! Isn't this something that you want?!"

Ella stared at nothing as her mind warred with itself. Her eyes were shrunken and she was actually beginning to sweat from her forehead. But then, her face set in realization, and she looked up at Chris with a fire in her eyes. "Actually… You know what, they're right! It is unfair that I have to leave! In what world is it a good idea to punish someone for doing good? For saving peoples' lives? More than likely, that's going to get a lot of hate when the episode airs!"

This was, apparently, something Chris didn't think about. He was visibly distressed, and the glares he received from all of the remaining contestants was causing him to sweat buckets.

"Hey, that's true!" Sky said. "If the threat of legal action doesn't convince him, then low ratings and bad press will!"

"And what's a good way to guarantee low ratings?" Jasmine asked the others. "By not being able to actually finish the show. If we all quit, then there's no way you'd be able to scrape together something coherent for the network!"

"I'm telling you, no one is quitting!" Chris continued to say angrily. "You all signed contracts! You're good for being on the show for at least another 10 years, with room for extensions!"

"Oh, I'm glad you brought the contracts up, actually," Amy said to him, her tone dangerously low and a practically sinister grin etched on her face.

"W-What are you talking about?" Chris asked her.

"I don't think we told you yet, but our mom," she motioned between herself and Sammy, "is a lawyer. A really good lawyer. She's been able to sniff out corruption and shady business dealings for years. She's the best lawyer in her firm, and she gets requested for case after case on a daily basis. So honestly, right now, you're caught between a rock and a harder rock."

"Ahh, rock and a hard place," Jasmine quietly corrected.

Amy flushed and shooed Jasmine away. "Ugh, whatever! The point stands!"

"I do agree with her, though," Sammy said. "Mom is crazy good at what she does, and has a lot of victories in court under her belt. I feel like if anyone was able to take down Total Drama because of how it operates, it's gonna be her."

"So what's it gonna be McLean?" Amy asked one last time, getting in his face and pointing him in the nose. "You gonna let Ella stay in the game, and avoid causing a huge and needless scene? Or do you want the show to end before it's supposed to, take a nosedive in ratings, and get investigated by a mother who actually has a stake in what happens on it?!" She stood up straight, folded her arms, and smirked confidently. "From the looks of it, you're the one out of options now."

Chris was desperately trying to think of a counter to everything, but it appeared that he couldn't find one. In the end, he rubbed his hands down his face and groaned loudly and angrily. "Okay! Okay! Fine, you guys win! Ella gets to stay! Are you happy now?!"

The cheers and cries from the girls could be heard from all over the ceremony area, and Sammy and Sky ran up to Ella to tackle her in a hug. All three were then promptly scooped up by Jasmine and squeezed tightly, which ended up hurting more than expected but Sammy wasn't in the mood to care. Oh thank god, Ella's not gone! That was so close! But I'm so happy now! We can keep going to the finale together!

For her part, Ella seemed visibly shocked but yelled all the same. The tears from before had made their way down her cheeks, and Sammy couldn't help but give her kisses of pure happiness for what they had just won.

Suddenly one of Jasmine's arms disappeared, and the next thing anyone knew Amy had been drawn into the hug as well. She looked somewhat uncomfortable, but the infectious laughter and cheers from the others broke through her defenses and she couldn't help but holler with everyone else.

Through it all, Sammy was just able to make out a conversation in the background. "Man, they got you good."

"Oh, put a sock in it, Hatchet."

After an appropriate amount of time, Chris called for attention once more. He was miffed, that was clear, but he was trying to keep it under wraps. Due to being unwilling to air that particular conversation, the host called for everyone to line up back where they were and to retake the scene. "Ella," he said when the cameras resumed rolling, "I've been told by one of our staff that you broke your 'no-singing' promise." Ella put her acting skills to work and frowned deeply at that. "Normally, I would have to disqualify you for that. But because you're literally the reason we're all standing here right now," he subtly glared at the others behind Ella, who gave him varying degrees of saucy grins, "I'm going to ignore your transgressions for now."

Unable to hold out any longer, the girls sans Amy tackled Ella into another hug.

"That being said," Chris continued through grit teeth, "don't do it again. I won't change my mind a second time."

Ella saluted to him. "You can count on me," she said.

With that taken care of, Chris glared up at the cannon, where Scarlett still laid in waiting with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. It was a good thing they decided to tie her up properly with rope, else she could have escaped and be running free around the island again. "Anywho," Chris said. "You're still getting the boot. I hope you enjoy your flight!"

"After watching you get utterly trounced by a group of high school girls?" Scarlett asked cockily. "Please. I'll be riding on cloud nine the whole way out of here."

Chris growled and loudly yelled, "Whatever! Goodbye!" He violently pressed the button on his remote, and Scarlett was blasted away, laughing loudly all the way out of earshot. "Jeez, what is up with this season's cast being a bunch of freakshows?!" he asked no one in particular.

"Probably has something to do with the guy who chose them!" Jasmine spat back at him.

Chris wasn't having any of it. "Alright, episode's over, so get out of my sight! We're starting late in the afternoon so we can all get some sleep, but don't think that because the island's on shutdown the challenges are going to get any easier!"

He shooed everyone away so that he could close out the episode, and the five remaining players found themselves walking back up the path.

"Well then," Ella started. She had her hands pressed together and a serious expression on her face. "That was… how shall I put this eloquently…"

She paused just long enough for the others to wait for the response, and with exaggerated hand movements and a wide grin on her face she said,

"Absolutely freaking nuts!"

Most of them burst out laughing at the apt description, especially coming from someone normally unwilling and unable to say anything like that. With the tension now all but vanished, everyone's spirits were riding high.

Ella stepped out in front of them and turned back around to face them. "Thank you, all of you, for making Chris change his mind. If you hadn't all banded together I'd be sailing through the air right now." She looked specifically towards the back of the group. "Especially you, Amy. You were the most adamant of us all, I think. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you."

Amy was shocked to be addressed, and awkwardly looked away. "Uh… Yeah. NBD, or whatever."

"No, it is a big deal," Sammy told her, "because it actually is because of you. I don't think any of us would've had the guts to do something like that, especially to Chris of all people. So, uh… thanks."

Amy blinked rapidly in thought. "Huh. I… guess you're right." She was lost in thought for a moment, and cleared her throat before continuing. "Uh, yeah. You're… You're welcome."

"Why'd you do it, anyway?" Jasmine asked. Unlike the rest of them, she still seemed wary of Amy, if the suspicious glare she was sending her way meant anything. "You don't strike me as someone who would do something out of the goodness of your heart all of a sudden like that. Especially after how much of a pain you've been all season."

Amy became visibly irritated from that, her fists clenched and her jaw set. Before she could say anything she might regret, Sammy quickly stepped in. "She's been doing some thinking, and she wants to do better. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt for the time being."

"…Huh." The outback explorer didn't seem all that convinced, and continued to give Amy the stink eye. "That so?"

Groaning heavily, Amy regarded Jasmine evenly. "Look. I was a bitch, okay? I admit that. I know that might not mean much, but I am trying to change, just like she said. It's… hard for me, 'cuz my mind keeps wanting me to act angry when I know I shouldn't be. I'm just doing what I can to make things easier on everyone. And, I know you don't trust me, after everything I've said and done, but…" She rubbed her arm sheepishly, and despite her awkwardness there was a touch of hope in her eyes. "Maybe if I can prove I can be a good person, then… maybe you might?"

Sammy knew Amy really wanted this, really needed it. And that need seemed to get through to Jasmine, who backed off after she was done talking. "Alright, I see how it is now." To Sammy she said, "If you're cool with it, then I guess there's nothing to worry about."

Sammy nodded. "I'm keeping an eye on her, but she's been doing pretty good in the last, oh, twenty minutes or so."

That elicited some chuckles from the others, while Amy simply rolled her eyes, a smirk on her lips. With a smirk of her own, Jasmine nudged Amy in the arm. "In that case, how's it feel to get a proper thanks for something once in a while?"

Amy gave Jasmine a sidelong glance. "It's… good. I could get used to it."

"If you keep at it, you'll feel good about it a lot more often," Sammy told her. "That said… I know what you just did was awesome, but I still haven't forgiven you yet."

She sighed. "Yeah, I figured it wouldn't be that easy."

"Anyways, I'm ready to sleep for like, a hundred years." Sammy yawned and rubbed at her eyes. The adrenaline from before had left her body entirely, and she was this close to just passing out on the spot. "Thank god we get to sleep in tomorrow."

"Seriously," Sky agreed. "Do, ah, do any of you mind if I take a bed in the treehouse? A mattress sounds so much better than the ground right now."

"By all means, go ahead," Jasmine told her. "Sheets haven't been changed, but at this point I'm not sure any of you care."

"That's for sure," Ella said with a nod. "We'll worry about that in the morn-" The barest hint of sunlight rose from beyond the ocean's horizon and struck everyone in the face as she spoke. "Um, afternoon, rather."

Sammy laughed, tiredly but heartily, and was reminded once more that things had taken a substantial turn for the better. Aside from Chris, any source of drama was gone from the show, they were all still alive and still on their way to hopefully becoming richer, and for once, it looked like things with Amy were starting to get just a bit better. She doubted she'd feel totally comfortable around her sister for a good long while, but that's why progress was a thing. It would probably happen naturally over the course of several years, but at least, for the time being, she didn't have to worry about anything.


And there we have it! Y'all thought Ella was going home? Not tonight!

I hope this story was enjoyable to read, just as much as it was enjoyable to write. The fight against Chris went on longer than I originally thought it was going to be, but I think I covered as many bases as I could with it! If you think that the twins pulling the 'our mom's a lawyer' card came a bit out of the blue, please be aware that I had that planned from the outset and I just couldn't think of an opportunity to put it in the story before the last chapter.

So what does this all mean? It means we have a final five on our hands! And with one more person than there was in canon, that means… I get to write up a brand new challenge! Which… might not be what you guys are expecting. Don't go into the next chapter thinking it'll be something epic to rival the island shutdown challenge - I'll detail the reason why when I post next time.

Now, regarding what I wanted to talk about before. I mentioned I had several ideas swimming inside my head, and I've actually sort of wrote up a pilot chapter for one of them. I'm not sure when or if I'll post it, but it would be in the same vein as your standard 'competition' fics, where it focuses on the cast in general and you read to see who wins the money, unlike this fic. (It would still be about the Pahkitew crew, btw). I decided on this style of fic in general because, as I've been writing this one, telling a story from only one character's perspective can kind of get… boring after a while. I've had a desire to spice it up a bit, and a competition fic that allows for multiple different perspectives and stories has an appeal that I just can't shake. The thing is though, I've done my best to come up with some rule changes and twists for that story, to try and make it stand out slightly amongst the sea of similar fics, but I'm trying to decide if I want to simply focus on this story first and foremost or give this new one a shot. I'll see how things turn out in the weeks to come, and maybe something good will come from it.

I hope I haven't forgotten anything I wanted to bring up. I have a bad tendency to blank on the spot when it comes to this stuff. Regardless, if it's important I'll talk about it next time.

Anyway, thank you all for reading! The next chapter is done, but there's still some edits I need to make and I've still barely started the one after it. I want to keep at least one chapter's length ahead of what I post, so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up. But rest assured that I will see this story through to the end. I've come too far to quit now! So I hope you all stay with me through the ups and downs of this story! Thanks again, and I'll see you next time!