Finally, the merge! Half the teams have gone – I think I managed to keep them equal – four Villains, four Heroes. Okay, a few more girl Heroes and guy Villains but I will be bringing one of each to the finale, promise. Thanks for reviewing, The Phenomenal Flair, PokemonFTW, Bloodylilcorpse, SuperKitty4789, yeezynight14 (Sierra is a representation of the fangirl and I feel it is my duty to preserve her as a truly unique character. After all, she can be rational and game-savvy) and Nicky Haugh.

The free day was all right, if I was to be honest. But I felt bad. Both my allies, my closest friends on the show, were gone. At least Lightning was still here, and at least all my teammates were friends, but it wasn't the same. I'd been through so much with Mike and Zoey. And although I was closer to Lightning, we were still on different teams.

Beth read my feelings that morning, when I woke up and looked over at Zoey's empty bed. "You can still do your best to win this thing." she said quietly. "You know, for your allies? That's what I thought to myself when Lindsay was eliminated."

I paused, thinking about it. "You're right..." I said slowly. "But it's still tough. Mike chose to get voted out to make sure his mental health didn't get any worse. And Zoey had gone into that really crazy competitive mode. I know it's just coincidence, but seeing both of my friends losing the plot...it makes me feel like I'm going to do the same."

Sierra, who had been awake, looked down from the top bunk at me. "Hey, no losing your mind! I'm supposed to be the hopelessly crazy one on this team, okay?"

Beth and I couldn't help laughing.

"Well, all the blogs except mine say the same!" Sierra grinned. "I don't mind – I kind of like being the successor to Izzy. I always liked her in the first two seasons."

Already, the two girls had begun to cheer me up. I was already beginning to feel better.

Lightning helped, too. As I'd guessed, he'd tried to stop the Villains from choosing me to go last challenge, but he'd been outvoted. We spent the whole day together, except at meals when he went off to the spa hotel with Scott and Duncan (and during lunch, Heather too), and I went to the mess hall with Sierra, Beth and Brick.

The one good thing about the team after four eliminations was that the dynamic hadn't changed. We were still a team of nice people with team spirit. It's just that there was only half of us left.

On the next day, Chris called us out to the front of the spa hotel. Why? Because...well, duh, it was merge time!

After telling us this, Chris' phone rang. "I have to take this. It's my stylist." he said to us, before walking off as he answered. "Yeah, how come my socks don't match my shirts?"

Lightning jogged over to me. "Sha-awesome! I've been waiting to get split off from the losers. Let's team up!"

I shrugged, smiling. "Okay. I was planning to ask you anyway. Just...neither of us let the other win, right? We work together and vote together, but if there's only one winner, we try to win for ourselves."

Lightning grinned at me and quickly kissed me on the cheek. "You think like I do. Final two, here we come!"

Having an alliance would be especially good in this cast, because I noticed pretty much all the other Villains had no alliance. However, my teammates were all saying something to each other, so I guessed that they would be working together. But I didn't expect them to vote me out just yet – I wasn't the biggest physical threat when compared to half the ex-Villains.

Chris finally came back. "Guy thinks I'm colourblind." he was muttering. Then he told us our challenge. We had to regatta (boat race) around the perimeter of the island. Several boats were waiting at the dock for us – some would be good, some wouldn't. We'd get some obstacles along the way, but it seemed pretty straightforward.

When Chris told us to go, Lightning didn't want to bother keeping pace with me. Instead, he picked me up and put me on his shoulders, so he didn't have to wait for me.

"Are you sure this isn't going to slow you down?" I asked from above him.

"Apart from you being pretty light, nothing slows Lightning down!" my alliance partner answered confidently. "We're totally gonna bag the best boat!"

Well, we still got there first, so I couldn't argue with that. We found the old Boat of Losers from the first season and despite Lightning's protests (yeah, it was the word Losers), I insisted we take it, and started the engine the minute he had one foot on it.

Duncan and Heather were both right behind us, though on different speedboats. Well, at least they'd found one. Luckily, Scott didn't look like he was going to win as the best boat he could find was an inflatable one since Sierra had jumped on the last motorboat before he could get it. As for Brick and Beth, they got stuck with a wooden raft. I'm not sure how Scott beat Brick to the dock – maybe he was up to his old tricks of shoving people to the ground in order to get ahead (yeah, just like Courtney – they would be perfect for each other).

Wouldn't you know, after a couple of minutes of me driving, Lightning gave a sigh and said "You're driving too slow, girl! This is a race!"

I sighed back and said "Haven't you heard of slow and steady? We don't want to run out of fuel! But fine, if that's how you feel, you drive."

We got halfway around the island before we reached the first obstacle. I instantly made for the driver's place. "Coconuts are raining out there!" I exclaimed without thinking.

That's right, Chef was in a hot air balloon, throwing coconuts at the boats.

"What the-" Lightning began, sticking his head out of the door. Wrong move.

A coconut hit him in the head instantly and he was out cold. I paused, remembering the bell-ringing challenge from last year, when Lightning had been knocked unconscious and we'd had to use him as a ski. This time, it looked like I'd have to drive.

Well, fair enough. I drove. Chef, apparently, had thought he'd caused enough damage (probably because I couldn't get the boat to go as fast as it was before) and left us alone. But by the time Lightning had woken up (only about a kilometre away from the finish line), already, two boats had passed us.

As we got closer, we heard Chris announce "Heather wins it! And Duncan takes second place. Not that it matters, Lightning and Danni take third..."

"Third?" Lightning exclaimed. He turned to me. "What the sha-hell happened here?"

I didn't meet his gaze as I spoke. "I'm sorry...I'm just not as good at driving the boat and two of the others passed me. I didn't mean to lose us our lead when you got knocked out." I don't think Lightning had ever really been cross with me, in all the time we'd dated. But I knew the competition was really the one thing that could get him to act that way, so I wasn't too surprised.

But I was surprised when he didn't berate me or just walk away, but instead, tilted my face up to make me look him in the eyes. "I get you." He assured me. "Mistakes happen. And you didn't let them overtake you too much. I know you tried. Just promise you'll make up for it later."

I managed a smile. "I swear I will."

As winner, Heather was told she got to have the spa hotel, and could let one person share it with her. I could see the way her grey eyes lit up, telling me that there was a lot going on in her head. She glanced at everyone, meeting their eyes for only a split second, but I could tell she was sizing everyone up.

Finally, she gave her answer. "I've decided to bring Danni."

I gave a gasp. Although I knew for a fact that she probably wanted a strong player on her side and that the Villainous Vultures had considered me a threat, I hadn't thought Heather would've sacrificed a night of enjoyment just to get me on her side.

I said as much when we were up in the one bedroom (Heather was really playing up her "I-want-to-be-friends" routine and saying we should treat our time in the hotel like a sleepover). "Heather, I always got the impression you hated me. You said so last year, and besides, the invincibility statue you found ended up in my hands. Do you really want to spend two nights with a girl you don't even like?"

Heather blinked at me in surprise, then she shrugged and said "I don't like anyone else here that much. And besides, I at least think you're worth respecting. I could've said I wouldn't bring anyone. You have amazing acrobatics skills. And the fact that you got my invincibility statue just proves that you aren't afraid to play the game. I kind of have to respect that. I don't respect the other Heroes, because they were all so squeaky-clean."

I raised an eyebrow. "So you respect me for being more of a villain? Then you should've respected it when Beth stood up to you instead of trying to get rid of her."

Heather's cheeks went pink. "I was sixteen, okay? I'm eighteen now. Things are different...though I don't care, I only ever talked to Beth when I thought she was spineless, and she's grown a backbone in the last couple of years. My point is, you're one of the strongest players here. Your will to win reminds me of me."

I didn't reply to that. I didn't need to. Heather knew I knew what she was saying – that we should team up. It was up to me to say yes or no, and I wasn't ready to dig myself into oblivion by answering. Not yet, anyway.

I discussed it with Lightning that evening. "We've already got our alliance." I remarked. "But now Heather wants me on her side. What do you think I should say?"

"Say yes!" Lightning said instantly. "You don't have to go through it. We can keep our alliance, but let her think we have her back and then vote her off first chance we get!"

That was so simple. Why hadn't I just thought of that myself? I pulled Lightning into a major kiss, before thanking him. "Perfect plan!"

But Heather had immunity right now, so we'd have to take down another threat. We both agreed on a competitor who'd been consistently strong, every season.

"And dude's smart." Lightning added. "You don't see it at first cause he looks like he don't care, but it's true."

I didn't need convincing, but I thought our temporary third ally might. But when I suggested it, she seemed enthusiastic. "Totally! I've had enough of the boys on my team, anyway. Sending any of them out is cool with me."

"Well, it was Lightning's idea." I told her honestly. "So if you're going to try to get me to vote him off next time, you might also want to think about getting two votes against you. And I know Beth won't take much persuading to vote against you, too."

Heather tossed her ponytail, like she thought she was innocent. "Um, no. I didn't say that. Actually, the others were getting on my nerves. Especially since-" she cut herself off.

I paused, thinking about what she was going to say. I took a guess and asked gently "Heather, were you going to say what I think you were going to say? Because if you were, I asked him about you the night he left."

Heather paused, grey eyes wide, but she said nothing, so I said "He said he'd leave it to you to let things happen. But if you're still in denial, it won't."

Heather seemed to recover. "I'm not in denial about anything." she said stubbornly. "I'm just waiting for this game to be over. Nothing will happen while the game's still on. And no, I'm not telling you anything about what I'm going to do when it's over, so don't ask." she added hastily.

I held up my hands in defense. "Okay, okay, Heather, I'm not asking. Just because we're going to work together doesn't mean you have to be friends with me."

But anyhow, three votes seemed to be enough, that night. Chris threw marshmallows to all the former Heroes, and to Heather and Lightning. Only Scott and Duncan remained.

"And tonight, the person going down the porcelain pan is..." Chris paused, for emphasis. Then, he finally said the name.

"Duncan."

The delinquent gave a sigh and stood up. "Whatever. I'm out, cool. At least I don't have to put up with the usual crap we get here."

I'd expected that kind of reaction. Don't get me wrong, I liked Duncan OK and I'd rather have taken Scott out, but Duncan was far stronger. Scott hadn't bothered to do anything this season, so I figured it would be safest to get rid of Duncan first.

And as for Boney Island? Well, as a reward for making it to the merge, Chris said no one had to go that night.

I slept easy that night. Though, that was only after I knew Heather was asleep, too.

I haven't really concentrated that much on the Villains apart from Lightning. I don't really have much for Scott to do, but I figured I could show a bit of Heather's more manipulative side. She is still mad at Danni for stealing the invincibility statue, but she figures making friends with her will only help. Too bad Danni knows what she's really like.