AN: What's this? Chapter four? Yes, it is! Now, before I actually get started with the chapter I wanted to thank you all, again, for reading, reviewing, favoriteing, and following! Now, to answer a question from No One Special(pssh, you reviewed this story, it makes you amazing, much better than special) yes, I have read Plague! And I am aware that several things that happen through the book, in fact all of the books after Lies, will be changed because of this. This story is basically a type of AU after Lies, and while I will be following the overall plots of the books plenty of things are up for changing. But before we actually enter Plague there is a month in between Lies and Plague, which is where we are now. Anyway, as the Doctor would say, Geronimo! Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to Tienka.

Disclaimer: I, Mistystarshine, do not own Gone or the characters.

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Diana had been absolutely determined not to fall asleep. She sat beside Caine for who knows how long, she certainly didn't, and ignored everyone else in the room. Her mind was whirling, trying to wrap itself around what had happened. Caine had lost his voice. Caine was mute. No matter how many times she repeated that in her head it didn't sound right. Caine, the boy with so much charisma and manipulative power that he had managed to get himself to the top of the Coates Academy pecking order even before he discovered his powers would never speak again. Sure, some part of her said that there was a tiny glimmer of hope, but must of her doubted it. Lana had said that there was something she couldn't fix before they had known what it was, and if the healer couldn't fix it there was no way anyone else in this damned fish bowl could.

She didn't speak as she sat beside him. Not only did she not know what to say but a good portion of her felt like it would be wrong if she did. He needed to think right now, not to have someone lecturing him or, as she normally would, snarking at him. But she also couldn't leave him alone. While Caine had always been good at hiding his emotions the fact remained that they were down there, somewhere and emotions could drive people to do crazy things. At the moment she had no doubt that he was not only feeling loss but anger, humiliation, and definitely denial, although she hoped that that stage wouldn't last too long. It would be dangerous to leave him alone, for both himself and others. Although some deeply engrained part of her tried to convince herself that she didn't care if he went and got himself cared. But then again, she had proven the exact opposite just moments ago, hadn't she?

That was why it was so important that she didn't fall asleep. And yet, sometime as she was sitting beside him, slumped against the wall, her vision began to grow fuzzy and her eyes closed against her will. How many hours had she been awake? Probably somewhere close to a day by now, as she had gotten up early the day before, and emotional exhaustion took just as much a toll as physical at times. God knew she had plenty of both.

When she awoke it was not one of those slow, fuzzy, reluctant to pull yourself out of bed things. As soon as her mind had surfaced enough for her to remember the events of the last day, she bolted upright, alarm on her face. Despite herself one of the first things she noticed was that she was on a couch, the exact same one Caine had been on earlier as a matter of fact. She didn't bother spending the time to question how she had gotten there. Instead she cast her gaze wildly about the room, searching for someone, not anyone, just one person in particular. Unfortunately it was not the one she was looking for she found, instead it was Lana that looked up at her from the chair the healer sat on, exhaustion on her face and a lit cigarette between her lips.

Before the healer could say anything Diana asked, "where is he!?" As soon as the words left her mouth she cursed herself for not pausing to get herself under control, the alarm sounded clearly in her voice, although it had been pretty evident on her face as well. Not only alarm though, no there was genuine worry there as well. Yet Lana did not look surprised, which made part of her wonder for a moment just how good she was at making herself seem completely cold and uncaring. But as soon as she thought that she shook it off, it didn't exactly matter at the moment, now did it?

Lana was quiet for a moment before she responded, watching Diana with narrowed eyes. Thinking about something certainly, although what she had absolutely no idea. Any number of things could be swirling through her head and at the moment she just wasn't in the mood nor state of mind to try and pick her apart. Finally she said, "outside, Dekka's with him. Quinn went to check on the boat, I think Sam's with him."

This caused surprise to flicker across her face for a moment. Not that Caine had gone outside, no, it made sense that he would probably be eager to track down Penny or take his anger out on the poor, innocent foliage. Nor was she particularly surprised that Dekka was with him, she doubted that Sam's crew would be willing to be on an island with the pair of them and Penny for any amount of time and allow him to go unwatched, especially after the grand display of telekinetic power that had left the room in shreds. No, it was the boat part that surprised her. They had a boat, as in, one that was still on the island? How in god's name had they pulled that one off? The rocky sides of the cliff weren't exactly a welcoming docking place. But then again, she told herself, they probably wouldn't risk it if they didn't have a way off.

Shaking her head to clear it of pointless, boat-related thoughts she stood up and began to head in the direction of the door without a word. However, just before she left the room she paused to ask, "why did you let me fall asleep? I didn't need it."

Lana's reaction was something similar to a harsh chuckle. Her voice was filled with bitter amusement when she said, "when we arrived you were covered in blood, still struggling to keep that egomaniac alive, had been there for hours judging by when we saw your flares, maybe even longer. Then you sat beside him for hours until he woke up and pulled him out of a blind rampage and generally stopped him from doing incredible amounts of destruction. No, you definitely didn't need sleep."

Diana couldn't help but narrow her eyes at this, a bit of annoyance coming off of her. She dished out sarcasm often enough and could certainly take what she gave, but that didn't mean she had to appreciate it every moment of every day. Especially when that sarcasm was just someone telling her that she was wrong. Her voice was tart as she replied, "you're one to talk. You have an uncanny resemblance to the living dead at the moment from where I'm standing."

The healer just shrugged, choosing not to comment on that particular tidbit. Instead she just took on a slightly musing tone to her voice as she said, "you must care a lot about him."

Diana chose not to respond.

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It came as a surprise to see the sun shining high in the sky when she walked outside. It was noon, at least, which only severed to help make anger well up inside her. They had let her sleep four hours! Sleep while Caine was out doing who knows what who knows where. Well, whatever it was it probably wasn't only overly intelligent or useful. Never mind the many intelligent and/or useful things he had done in the past, Diana's default state of mind was that whatever he was doing, if she didn't know what it was, it wasn't good.

Thankfully it didn't take her long to locate him or figure out exactly what he was doing. As first she was alerted by a loud crashing/breaking sound and, soon after she turned to face the source of the noise, was greeted by the sight of a tree being launched off the side of a cliff. Thankfully this one didn't happen to be very far away, for she was in no way in a mood for walking half way across the island. With a small groan she began to head toward the site of the tree destruction, trying to push back and deny the seeds of worry trying to make their way into her mind. Some part of her that seemed to enjoy making the other parts of her mad laughed at this. Seed!? it exclaimed, there's a whole fucking tree in there by now.

As she continued to walk she muttered to herself, "you know, they say taking to yourself is the first sign of insanity." There was a pause in which she frowned before bitterly saying, "although, I think everyone in here's passed the first sign a long time ago."

It seemed like as soon as she began the one-person conversation it ended. The arrival at her destination revealed a patch of clear grass that slowly turned to stone, also clear. Grass and stone that had absolutely no right to be clear. Not to mention the splintered remains of a tree stump and Caine, clearly sweating and staring out over the edge. He was the first thing she noticed, but he did not notice her arrival, not at first. Instead it was the girl leaning against one of the yet to be obliterated trees that brought her to his attention.

"We ran out of boulders and other various sorts of debris. Drastic measures had to be taken." Dekka's voice was emotionless as she spoke, as if talking about the weather. Part of Diana envied her ability to do that, for there was no doubt that the other girl had at least some sort of feelings inside her. Of course, Diana herself was normally very good at hiding how she felt, but when it came to stuff like this? Not so much, that was when she began to waver. Yet from what she had seen Dekka was unmovable. Her mockery toward the other girl about her sexual preferences hadn't destroyed her like she had expected it to. Even when Caine, the same boy she stood watching now, had encased her hands in cement she had refused to give in. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had expected Dekka to be gleeful about what might be seen as some sort of karma descending upon him. But if she was she was very good at hiding it.

Diana did not make any further comments about Dekka though, or even continue to look at her. Instead she turned her gaze back to Caine, who whirled around the moment she spoke with a surprised look on his face, one that he erased almost as soon as it arrived. Raising an eyebrow the brunette replied, "I see. Because clearly destroying our oxygen-giving friends, the trees, is the best way to deal with any stressful situation."

She saw the muscle on Caine's jaw twitch as he began to open it on impulse only for it to tighten as he forced himself to keep it closed. Not willing to humiliate himself by trying to speak and fail. For a moment something flickered across her face. Not pity, no, not only was she not the type to pity people often but she knew Caine wouldn't appreciate it one bit. More like regret, empathy. How those were different from pity she wasn't completely sure, but she did know that they were. Maybe because pity was reserved for those that were less than you, those that you looked down upon, those that were weak. Of course Diana had a rather high opinion of herself and looked down upon people often, Caine included, but h was not weak. But that didn't mean that he wasn't hurting.

And, for the brief moment that she showed the expression, he saw it and met her gaze. For a moment, just a quick moment, his shields slipped down. He looked sad, lost, scared, and so unlike himself. Proud, cocky Caine, with a swagger in his step and ready to take on the world. This was the one he showed in public most often, although there was another version that the people of the FAYZ had seen many a time. Caine the killer, a power-hungry boy willing to destroy anyone and anything that got in his way. Yet as she looked at him she saw neither. Instead he reminded her of the Caine she had taken care of for those months that he was under the control of the Gaiaphage, the fear she saw on his face for a moment when she fell off that cliff. This was not exactly the same as either of them, no, but it was the closest comparison she could get.

Within a moment both looks were gone, Diana's replaced with a mixed look of annoyance and indifference and Caine's a look of uncaring. He just gave a shrug before scanning the area for another thing to launch over the edge. It was clear that he was tired, you didn't just stand out there launching things off a cliff and, occasionally, tearing things out of the ground before launching them off a cliff without there being any effect. Yet he didn't seem to care. It was a way for him to get his anger and frustration out, she knew this. Heck, chances were everyone on the island knew this. And, possibly, everyone on the island knew about the fate of the tree. That is, if Lana came outside and Sam and Quinn were anywhere nearby.

Which, apparently, they were. There was the none-too-graceful sound of people approaching, which caused Caine to glare in that direction and begin to raise his hands. For a moment Diana hoped with all her heart that it was either Penny or Bug so she could witness them following the tree over the cliff. But no, the sound of someone falling followed by a muffled curse a very male, non-Bug voice pretty much obliterated any chance of that. Slowly Caine lowered his hands and soon enough Sam came into sight, Quinn following behind and rubbing his head behind him.

It looked like the surfer was going to speak for a moment but the sight of Caine stopped him. It actually caused a small smirk to cross her face. So, someone was still afraid. Didn't surprise her, Quinn never was one with much of a backbone. Instead it was Sam that spoke, his voice tense and prepared for some sort of trouble as he asked, "is everything alright?"

Diana gave a snort at this and rolled her eyes before gesturing to the stump and saying, "everything's fine, but apparently poor Mr. Tree committed some horrible act and needed to be punished." She ignored the glare Caine cast at her, the one that he seemed to have designed just for when she threw unnecessary sarcasm his way. Not intending on letting Sam continue on with the subject or along the same lines as it she asked, "so, what are you doing, anyway?"

It was said in a casual voice that personally drove her up the wall a little. There was no less than a ton of things she wanted to ask, about Drake's sudden return from the dead, about what was going on back on the mainland, if those kids had made it, and why on earth they had come to help them. But no, she wasn't just going to dive into asking questions like that. For one, it was tactless. And for another it just wasn't the right time. Not that making small talk felt right either. As a matter of fact it felt downright awkward. Sam seemed to feel a bit of this as well as he was silent for a moment before saying, "just checking on the boat, making sure it hasn't gotten loose."

Caine raised an eyebrow at this, surprise flickering across his face for a moment. "Yeah," Diana told him, "apparently they used some sort of witchcraft and managed to get their boat to the island and keep it in one place." Again she saw his jaw twitch and, as he felt another expression begin to try and replace his calm one, her forced in back into the emotionless mask. But she did notice the slight clenching of one fit. Not about the others managing to get their boat docked, no, but because he wasn't able to make some sort of remark about it. She wanted to say something but there was no way that would happen, not it front of everyone else, as it would probably do more harm than good.

Quinn spoke up around her for one of the first times since arriving. "I wouldn't call it witchcraft," he quietly said, "just rope and experience with boats."

Another moment of silence passed. It made Diana uncomfortable. When she was around Caine there was almost always someone talking, if not them having a conversation or her making comments about one thing or another then him going on a seemingly endless monologue. Which, before all this craziness had started, would often be interrupted by snarky comments from her and Drake. And when there wasn't that there was the constant whining of children, complaints that needed to be addressed. But silence? That was either the very rare comfortable silence, which this certainly was not, or when something was horribly wrong. This was certainly the horribly wrong sort of silence, though it seemed like no one was willing to jump forward and address the horribly wrong thing at the moment. Probably thanks to not only the natural desire to ignore elephants in rooms for as long as possible but a sense of self preservation.

Again it was Sam that broke the silence by asking, "wait… So you didn't get the boat to shore? Then how did you…" He trailed off, glancing at Caine and probably making the connection for himself.

But Diana couldn't just not say anything, it was too tempting of an opportunity. In a deadpan voice she said, "we grew wings and flew." This was followed by a roll of her eyes and her adding, "no, maybe flew wasn't the correct word. And maybe there weren't any wings involved at all. More like flung. Violently flung toward a cliff after running out of gas." Caine sent an annoyed glance her way. She returned it full force. No, there wasn't exactly a 'softly fling' or 'gently place' option, but she hadn't exactly been too excited about this island idea in the first place. No, they hadn't really had many other options at the time. And no, it hadn't seemed to have turned out that bad for a while. But now?

Now she was starting to think that she might have preferred the leper colony.

Sam winced, although whether it was from the sarcasm or the description of the flinging she did not know. She liked to think a little bit of both. However, it the quiet did not last long this time, as he soon went on to ask, "and how did you get to the top?"

This memory made her let out a bitter laugh while Caine frowned, not exactly fond of that particular bit. "Now that," she said, "that is the best part. You see, it turns out Caine can't just move something as far as he pleases, and the bottom to the top of the cliff happens to be beyond that limit. We climbed." Again Caine was glaring at her, although she was sure he didn't mean it. After all, he was acting like her normal self, or trying to anyway, and she was pretty darn sure that he would prefer that over anything else at the moment.

It was then that Dekka spoke up, saying, "Sam, you know I can only make things go up, right?" There was a serious note to her voice as she spoke, not that she didn't sound serious most of the time. Somehow the frown on Sam's face managed to deepen, Quinn paled, and the beginnings of a smirk actually began to move across Caine's face.

"Well," Diana muttered, "good luck with your climb down."

Sam looked up at her at this, a grave expression crossing his face. He didn't speak right away but for a moment she knew what was coming and, exchanging a quick glance with Caine, she got the feeling that he did as well. And he wasn't going to like it one bit. "You'll need that luck as well," he finally told her, "seeings as you'll be coming with us."

Caine's gaze snapped to Sam, a true glare crossing his features and his lips twisting into the beginning of a snarl. He didn't like being ordered around, especially by his brother. For a moment he had a lapse in memory and opened his mouth, only to snap it shut within seconds. Now the emotionless look he had forced himself to wear faded and the anger he was hiding showed through. And, as Sam looked at his twin, she saw a mixture of sadness and pity cross his face, which she knew probably wouldn't do any good. But Caine didn't start hurling things around just yet to Sam continued, "there's a psychopath that apparently wants to kill you somewhere around here, a psychopath that nearly did kill you. Plus you can't realistically expect to stay here forever, eventually the food will run out, the power will go out, something will happen that will force you to return anyway."

He paused for a moment, waiting to see if Caine was going to do anything. When he didn't he finally finished, "and, quite frankly, it's risky leaving you two here. I heard a… interesting story about this place from some kids that crash landed a helicopter on a cliff." At this he glanced at Diana, as did Caine. Diana, who, couldn't help but feel relieved for a moment and felt it show through. It was on purpose that she didn't look at Caine, surely if those kids had told Sam everything he would know about her dive off the cliff. And, quite frankly, she wasn't ready to talk about that yet. That or the other things that had been said. After a brief pause he finished, "crash landed right after Mary Terafino jumped off a cliff on her fifteenth birthday and tried to take all the littles with her."

Now this got surprise out of both of them. That… wasn't a good thing. At all. Despite feeling that she already knew the answer Diana couldn't help but ask, "did she…?"

Sam nodded in response. Quinn spoke up again at this point, adding in a bitter voice, "let's not forgive the angry mob, thanks a lot for that, by the way, and Drake trying to kill us all."

Caine, who had turned to give Quinn a vicious glare at the mention of the human crew, one that made the fisherman take a few steps back, suddenly whirled to look at Sam at the mention of Drake. His eyes were wide and shock crossed his face, shock and anger. Even without words it was clear that he wanted, no, demanded answers. And with the pointed look she gave Sam Diana made it apparent she felt the same way.

"Yeah," Sam admitted, "I'm not very happy about it either. But we can't kill him." This was followed by Caine narrowing his eyes in disbelief. And, because he couldn't ask the question that she had no doubt was whirling about in both their minds, Diana chose to.

"Why the hell not!?"

Sam sighed before saying, "it's complicated. For one he heals from any injury he obtains now and, according to Brianna, can literally put himself back together. And, he didn't come back completely… himself." He paused at this, having trouble finding a way to explain. Finally he continued, "remember Brittney? She died at the power plant, or at least we thought she did. Well they fused together somehow and now he… she… it keeps morphing between Drake and Brittney." Again he fell silent, not needing to say anything else on the subject. He couldn't kill an innocent girl over something she couldn't control, especially not one that had already been through so much. Eventually he finished, "we have them captive, they're being held in Orc and Howard's basement."

Finally silence fell across the group, none of them saying anything else. Caine and Diana exchanged a long look. His was reluctant, angry, but also a little bit resigned. As much as he hated to admit it his brother had provided some valid points. Plus there was that little matter of Drake being alive and, more importantly, Orc being the one watching him. Orc had little self-control, they both knew it and had used it to their advantage when first taking over Perdido Beach. And now if that lack of self-control got the better of him it could lead to a disaster. They both knew what was going to happen, but that didn't mean they had to like it.

It was with a slightly bitter tone that Diana responded, "we'll go."