Author's Note: Once again apologies for the late upload, I've been really busy the last couple of weeks and this time I can't even say using a drawing tablet distracted me from any free time because I've been putting any free time into trying to finish this chapter. I should be good now so the next chapter hopefully shouldn't take nearly as long…
That being said I will need to rewatch the finale a couple more times just to get all of the spectator scenes right, so who knows really XD. On a side note I appreciate the support as always, even though most of it has been silent support but when people do comment it's always so positive which I wasn't expecting.
Reviews
RFtheGreat: It would definitely be an exception, however considering she does try to maim Damien and MK with a jackhammer it is possible she does lie about that. Either way her graphic description was meant to be ironic considering it's what happens to Ezekiel in IOTS, and she's using it here to defend him (fyi, if you think that one was disturbing then some of the other ones are downright horrifying)
Honestly I'm surprised as well that Ezekiel and Dakota don't get explored more considering they're the only two contestants to be mutated (so far at least…), closest I've seen to it was the RR concept of post recovered Dakota and Zeke teaming up. As for the lawsuit, expect more developments in the next few chapters!
And yeah, because the cast is being split up for the finale, it was either gonna be here or after the finale for Axel apologising, but considering we need a chance for the finalists to have some interactions as well it was for the best that Axel apologised here. Obviously they're still not friends (especially in Lauren's case) but at least Axel won't need to worry about her weapons being used against her anymore XD.
Yeah this next chapter should hopefully be a good one, we'll see how this ends up on all sides, Axel's really the only person in the room at the moment who's content with the situation (mainly because she doesn't know what the hells going on). As always I appreciate the support!
Chapter Twenty
*Flashback*
The tension in the lounge had risen considerably over the last few minutes, Zee and Emma had since left to go and do other things, and with Cody and Sierra having also left to speak to Noah and the other Emma about a potential lawsuit against Chris, it left just the three of them there.
Geoff had tried to lighten the mood slightly, however even the party dude knew that the conversation couldn't be avoided forever, he could see the anxious glances Bridgette was giving towards the door, and Harold despite hiding it better was still occasionally slipping up himself.
Eventually as time continued to pass, even someone as upbeat and positive as Geoff couldn't take the growing tension anymore, as he noticed the mood wasn't improving in the slightest, in fact his own mood was being dragged down significantly from the ever growing tension.
"Bridge? Harold?" Geoff began, wrapping an arm around the pair to bring both of them closer, only letting go of the latter when he had their attention. "Guys, we really need to sort this whole issue out and soon, you two don't look good at all."
"And how do you expect us to do that Geoff?" Harold almost snapped, averting his gaze away from the others. "We can't exactly just go up and talk to the guy, he either hates us or is deathly afraid of us…"
"I'm just saying maybe we should go and talk to someone who knows him, see what we can do to try and ease him into a conversation." Geoff shrugged, already trying to think about who they could talk to.
"I mean Izzy was able to talk to him…" Bridgette responded.
"Yeah but we saw what happened when the rest of us arrived, plus he still seemed nervous around her…" Harold explained, knowing that despite having been his closest friend prior to being stuck on the plane, Izzy wouldn't be able to help them.
"What about that Lauren girl? Surely she'd be able to help given their current relationship?" Geoff questioned, remembering the news that Sierra had told him, as well as what Ripper had inadvertently revealed to them when they had first arrived at the resort.
Bridgette and Harold however both winced slightly, remembering something that Dawn had told them when she had pulled them the previous night.
"Um, Geoff…" Bridgette began, smiling nervously, "Remember what Dawn said about this Lauren being extremely pissed off at me and Harold."
"I have to agree with her Geoff, from what Dawn had told me, plus what the others were saying about her being this 'Scary Girl', I think we should stay away from her until this situation with Zeke is sorted at the earliest." Harold continued, shuddering slightly at what he'd been told about the events at Camp Wawanakwa, namely the incident with the jackhammer and when Lauren had threatened her team's lives following her elimination shortly before she disappeared to Boney Island.
Geoff blinked for a moment, taking this information in, quickly realising that they were right about Dawn saying to avoid Lauren before he realised something even more important. "Wait a minute dudes, why don't we just ask Dawn then about what to do, I mean she spent a while in the forest with those two and she seems to understand what his issue with you guys is, and if not then we go find one of the others who've been here for a while, like those two jocks who Tyler's been hanging around with or that Damien guy." Geoff explained his idea, to which Bridgette and Harold looked at each other for a moment, the latter shrugging in indifference before the pair looked back towards Geoff.
"I guess that could work…" Bridgette eventually responded, smiling at her boyfriend.
"As long as we don't have to worry about Zeke's girlfriend potentially killing us…" Harold agreed, unaware of who exactly they were going to find just minutes later with the person they were looking for.
"It's settled then." Geoff grinned happily, standing up with the pair as they began to leave the lounge to look for Dawn.
They walked down the hallways throughout the resort, trying their best to find any signs of the other contestants in order to find the moonchild that they were looking for. They checked the other small lounges and the dining area to no avail.
Eventually the trio found themselves approaching the lobby, deciding that the next place to look would be at her room in the residential wing, afterwards they would check the pool area outside and the gym area before temporarily abandoning their search for Dawn in order to check in with some of the others, namely the newer contestants who had been around Ezekiel for the last few days.
As the approached the doors leading into the lobby, the trio heard some muffled voices coming from behind the doors, at first Harold began to narrow his eyes slightly in annoyance, believing this to be Ripper and Chase having gone back to the lobby after they had kicked Harold out of their group, before abandoning the others over refusing to apologise.
Then they heard the voices a little more clearly, realising that they were female, the trio all looked at each other for a moment, noticing that one of the voices sounded familiar, before Geoff nodded at the others, deciding to check for himself to see if Dawn was actually there.
"Hey Dawn? Dudette? Are you in here? My friends wanted to ask you som…" Geoff's voice trailed off as he opened the doors to enter the lobby, Bridgette and Harold quickly followed suit, all three soon stopping in shock as the others already in the lobby turned to face them.
They had found Dawn like they wanted to, however it was the duo standing across from her that caused Geoff to trail off, the party dude not noticing his companions freezing up completely as they locked eyes with Ezekiel for the first time in years.
*End Flashback*
Axel looked around the room in confusion, being the only person there that didn't quite understand what had gone on the previous day, she could see Dawn looking quite concerned, and Zom… Ezekiel had frozen in shock, same with the lanky nerd and blonde girl who had entered the room with the guy in the cowboy hat, said guy having a similar level of concern as Dawn once he noticed who was in the room with her.
It was the expression on Lauren's face however that unnerved her the most. Axel prided herself on being unafraid of anything, she'd trained for a zombie apocalypse after all, but the murderous look on Lauren's face frankly scared the shit out of her, there was a reason why everyone had called her 'Scary Girl' and the glare she was sending the trio's way was a good indication as to why.
"Oh… Geoff… you wanted to speak to me?" Dawn eventually recovered, smiling politely at the party dude, although Axel was almost certain that this was an act, she could smell the tension growing in the room, it was just a matter of who was going to snap first between the other four.
If Axel were to bet on this, she knew Lauren was about five seconds away from attempted murder on Bridgette and Harold…
"Yeah… but we can do this another time… right guys?" Geoff responded after a while, turning towards the still frozen duo standing behind him, hoping that either of them would respond so they could find a way out of this situation before things started getting ugly.
"No…" A voice called over to him, Geoff quickly turning back around to see Lauren smiling eerily at him, her eyes still glaring murderously over at the pair standing behind him. "Let them talk…" She continued, her voice sounding off as she spoke, barely restrained anger hiding behind an obviously fake tone.
"L-Lauren…" Ezekiel muttered, briefly snapping out of his daze to glance nervously at the Scary Girl, quickly noticing how her hands were shaking, how her eyes were starting to twitch maniacally, how her smile was stretching out too wide, the edges beginning to wobble.
Ezekiel slipped one of his hands into hers, trying to reassure Lauren that he can handle things, even if he didn't believe that himself. His thoughts were all over the place between the recent apology from Axel and the current situation that was unfolding, but even with all that he knew that Lauren was looking increasingly unstable from the events taking place, and despite his discomfort he needed to try and be stronger for her, if only so she didn't snap at the others.
Despite his uncertainty towards his old teammates, he didn't wish anything bad on them, nor did he want Lauren to suffer because of his own discomfort. Lauren glanced down their now interlocked hands, the glare in her eyes softening the slightest bit, the wide smile on her face becoming just a little more real. Deep down the Scary Girl knew that he was trying to help her, but as she looked back up towards the others she couldn't help for a moment but think if he was just trying to protect the others from her as much as he was comforting her.
Her glare and eerie smile quickly returned, however certain bystanders could see that it wasn't as strong as they were before. Not that it mattered too much to the three who it was directed at, Geoff in particular feeling increasingly uncomfortable from Scary Girl's glare, the others still too lost in their own thoughts to pay too much attention to Lauren.
"Axel…" Dawn called over to the survivalist, the pair having both noticed that Lauren was slowly beginning to calm down just the slightest bit. "Would you mind leaving us, I should be able to handle things from here and I wouldn't want to bother you with anymore of the drama." She asked the survivalist, receiving a solitary nod from her in return as she started to leave the lobby, brushing past Bridgette and Harold in the process, unintentionally sending the latter tumbling to the ground in the process, something that made Lauren smile more genuinely at seeing.
As Axel opened the doors to leave, she turned one last time to look at the trio that she had spoken to earlier before the interruption. She looked at Dawn first, seeing her give a single nod of her own as if to reassure the survivalist that she could handle dealing with whatever was about to happen, mostly concerning Lauren.
She glanced over towards Ezekiel and Lauren afterwards, noticing how Ezekiel was beginning to attempt to get over his fear of the incoming conversation once she left, Axel opened her mouth to say something to the Feral Homeschooler, but then just as quickly closed it, instead staring for a moment longer before turning around and leaving the lobby, slamming the doors behind her.
For a moment the lobby stayed silent after Axel had left, the only sounds coming from Harold as he pushed himself off the floor, grumbling to himself as he brushed himself off.
"So… Homeschool…" Geoff began, realising that there wasn't going to be a way out of this, despite the conflict not being directed at him he still felt somewhat responsible for part of his descent back in World Tour. "How've you been dude?"
"I-I…" Ezekiel began, stammering more than usual, having also realised what Geoff had, Dawn looked over towards him with sympathy, knowing how hard this was going to be for him, the thoughts having weighed on his mind for years, ever since he started to lose it in the cargo hold.
He glanced at Dawn, seeing her smile at him reassuringly, he could feel Lauren attempt to comfort him as much as she could whilst restraining her own anger towards his old teammates, her thumb gently gliding across his hands, the duo's hands still linked.
Ezekiel gulped nervously, beginning to respond once more. "I-I'm doing a-a lot b-better l-lately… H-How a-about y-you guys e-eh?"
"Yeah…" Geoff grinned slightly, glancing over towards his companions once more, noticing Harold smile apologetically at him, however Bridgette looked a lot more uncomfortable. "I actually got to win a million, though it wasn't on here. It was a duo's competition and me and my best bud got five hundred grand each."
"W-Wait… You and B-Bridgette w-won a m-million d-dollars?" Ezekiel's eyes widened slightly, finally snapping Bridgette from her thoughts as she heard him say that.
Unbeknownst to Ezekiel, Lauren's eye raised slightly towards him humorously, knowing that Ezekiel was completely unaware of the Ridonculous Race, it having aired almost a year after his isolation on Boney Island had begun.
"No!" Bridgette shouted suddenly, all heads quickly turning towards her. "I-I mean… it wasn't m-me who was with Geoff when he competed… it was a guy called Brody…" She hastily corrected, quickly realising that she was in the spotlight.
Dawn chuckled slightly. "Nice of you to join us Bridgette…" She smiled at the surfer, attempting to ease her nerves slightly, before looking over towards Harold and doing the same thing. "You too Harold…"
"Hey, leave me out of this!" He replied, crossing his arms in annoyance.
"Oh? But having you two involved will make this SO much more interesting…" Lauren responded, glaring at him.
"Lauren please…" Dawn began to say before quickly being interrupted by the Scary Girl.
"Please what! Stop antagonising them, maybe they should stop trying to avoid the subject that I'm sure we all want to get to!" Lauren responded, her angry expression betraying the otherwise happy tone she was speaking in, her head tilting to one side with an audible crack.
"Lauren I understand where you're coming from but we need to approach this delicately." Dawn pleaded to no avail.
"Delicately! Like when they approached voting him out, causing him to resort to living in that Cargo Hold for weeks until he lost his mind!" Lauren said, her expression becoming more manic as her hands began to tremble, Ezekiel wincing slightly when the hand clutching his closed tightly.
"He lost what we needed for the challenge! It was his own fault you idiot!" Harold shouted back at her, his ego overriding his guilt over what happened to his former friend.
"HAROLD!" Geoff, Bridgette and Dawn all cried out, the trio all realising that this was about to get ugly. Ezekiel's eyes widened as well, however he stayed silent, instead looking worriedly between the arguing pair.
To her credit Lauren was able to hold off from lunging at the nerd, instead choosing to cackle madly at his comments. "You know what, it is your fault! At least with Bridgette and the others on Zekey's team, they didn't realise what had happened during that challenge and just voted the one they thought was responsible, but you…"
Lauren giggled slightly before her tone became a lot angrier. "YOU knew exactly what happened that day and YOU shifted the blame onto him… Zekey may have clung onto the plane and Chris may have escalated the problem when he was clearly losing it… but it's your fault that this all happened in the first place…" She finished, her whole body now trembling as Ezekiel tried to silently comfort her, looking at Harold with a mixture of guilt and disappointment.
"I-I…" Harold attempted to defend himself, but between the angry look Lauren was still giving him and the fact that deep down he knew she was right, he ultimately couldn't form a counter argument.
Lauren breathed heavily, attempting to calm down after her mini rant towards Harold before looking over towards where Bridgette and Geoff were. "I don't blame you for voting him off, but let me just ask you something, and it's the same question to everyone else from your seasons."
"Um…" Bridgette stammered out, slightly frightened by Lauren after her outburst, the surfer clinging onto her boyfriend for comfort. "O-Okay…
"Did you ever try to look for him? Try to help him after everything that happened to him?" She asked her.
"What? O-Of course we tried, we didn't know where he went and when the island had sunk we couldn't find any trace of him!" Bridgette responded tearfully, her regret over not being able to help Ezekiel despite her previous animosity towards him during their time on the show coming out in full force.
"Besides, we tried helping him once we knew about his condition… but Chris refused to let us, dude kept saying it was 'great for the ratings' and 'he's now the show's property'. By the time any of us could help him he had disappeared…" Geoff added, his hat tipped over his face so no one could see his regretful expression.
"O-Of c-course it a-all comes b-back to him eh…" Ezekiel muttered angrily, Lauren's angry expression softening slightly as he spoke.
"Ezekiel…" Bridgette called over to him, breaking out of her hug with Geoff in order to step closer to the Feral Homeschooler. "Look, I know we never really got on in the past… but I'm so sorry for letting this happen to you."
Ezekiel smiled softly as she tearfully stepped up to him, Lauren's grip tightening on his hand once more as she attempted to comfort him. "I-It's o-okay… I-I f-forgave you a l-long time a-ago for w-what happened in E-Egypt all those y-years ago… I'm just h-happy to be g-getting better."
He looked over Bridgette's shoulder towards the frowning Harold, noticing the downcast look on the nerds face. "S-Same to you H-Harold, I-It's not y-your fault… I-I shouldn't have u-used that stick on the c-crocodiles, y-you meant f-for the o-oars and I s-stupidly thought o-otherwise…"
He grinned regretfully, years of mulling over his elimination letting him realise that the best thing he could have done that day was nothing, he may have potentially still been voted off first in the next episode but at least he would have made it slightly further.
Dawn smiled from the sidelines as Bridgette moved in to hug Ezekiel, the pair both happy to put the past behind them as Geoff wiped a tear from his eye. Lauren looked visibly uncomfortable being stood right next to them, only for Ezekiel to grin mischievously and drag her into the hug as well.
"C-Come on in g-guys, don't want a-anyone to miss out." He laughed slightly as the others shrugged and moved to join in, Lauren letting out an audible groan as she was bombarded by several sets of arms, even if the small smile on her face suggested that she felt otherwise about the situation.
"I think between Axel's apology and everyone here, we've made incredible progress here, Ezekiel." Dawn said to him, giggling slightly at Lauren's facial expressions morphing between happiness and visible discomfort at the group hug.
"Y-Yeah…" Ezekiel responded absentmindedly, happy that the people he'd been afraid of seeing again for so long had forgiven him for everything, and for the first time since the old cast had arrived at the Playa, Ezekiel finally felt confident that things were looking up for him.
Since the small accident in the gym a couple of hours prior with Axel and Tyler, the group in the gym had since been able to get over the incident.
Nichelle had since finished up her workout routine, Caleb having stepped in to help her in place of Axel after the latter had stormed out of the room. She was sat down on one of the benches, winding down after having trained for a few hours. Most of the others had since moved on to other sports, and despite having the most 'athletic experience' Tyler was easily being outclassed by just about every other person participating.
Nichelle took another drink from her water bottle, turning around to the entrance to the gym just in time to see Axel walk in once more. She smiled happily, seeing her friend in a much better mood compared to the one she had left in.
"Hey Axel!" She called over to the survivalist, Axel glancing over to her with the smallest smile creeping onto her face.
"You're still here…" Axel muttered in response, walking over to the action star and sitting down next to her. "Good… I needed someone to vent to that I can trust."
"Huh? Vent about what?" Nichelle responded, confused as Axel grabbed another water bottle sitting next to her, taking a large drink from it and tossing it across the room before turning to Nichelle once more.
"I spoke to Zo… Ezekiel and Scary Girl earlier…" Axel began, Nichelle raising an eyebrow in interest.
"Really!" She gasped, concerned about both her friends since they were against each other, mainly Ezekiel and Axel though, while she was starting to get used to some of Lauren's antics the Action Star wasn't afraid to admit that the Scary Girl was still absolutely terrifying to her. "What happened?"
"I was approached by that other creepy girl, that Dawn girl from the season where everything had been mutated…" Axel continued, staying silent for a moment whilst Nichelle tried to figure out which of the older contestants was Dawn. "The one who apparently ran off after those two when Ezekiel had his 'episode'." She explained.
"Oh her… right… I should have remembered honestly… So what happened with Dawn?" Nichelle asked her.
Axel sighed before continuing her explanation. "We talked, I had some slight regrets about what happened the other day with Ezekiel, about what I had said to him…" Axel stopped for a moment, her face reddening slightly from embarrassment about how she'd admitted her moment of weakness to somebody else, even if it was someone who she trusted. "She offered to help smooth things out with those two…" She finished explaining, to Nichelle's happiness.
"Damn girl, didn't think you'd have it in you to actually admit something like that…" She smiled at the survivalist, rubbing her shoulder in comfort. "He accepted your apology right?" She then asked, wondering how it all ended with the pair.
Axel nodded slightly, looking away for a moment as her face reddened once more. "Homeschool did, Scary Girl didn't, but she'll back off as long as me and Zeke are civil with one another…" She eventually responded.
"Understandable…" Nichelle nodded, knowing how Lauren can get with grudges, Lauren had made a point of terrorising Ripper whenever she was alone from their little incident before she landed on Boney Island, plus Damien had told the others when he first arrived at the resort about how she had threatened their lives when she was eliminated, even if her immediate change in mood when she had skipped away to the Dock of Shame made it seem like she wasn't entirely serious about it.
"Not that she would have gone through with anything, those guys from the first season showed up wanting to talk to Dawn, and well Scary Girl looked like she was about to savage that Harold and Bridgette…" Axel said, Nichelle's eyes widening in alarm.
"Wait what…" She muttered, alarm bells beginning to ring in her head.
"Yeah, the only reason I'm here and not there right now is because Dawn wanted me to stay out of it… Which is fair, I'm not involved in whatever petty squabble the old cast have with each other." Axel responded, shrugging her shoulders.
"What's happening with the old cast?" Izzy popped up from nearby, her head peeking around the door that Axel had entered not too long ago.
Realising that the chaos already going on could only get worse if Izzy joined in with the argument, Axel shook her head slowly. "It's nothing… Izzy right?"
"Uh huh!" Izzy responded giddily, rapidly nodding her head as she fully skipped into the gym, approaching the pair still sitting on the bench. "Say, have either of you seen anything around here where old footage might be kept?" Izzy asked the pair, both Axel and Nichelle glancing at each other in confusion.
"Uh… what?" Nichelle eventually asked.
"Old footage, from the old seasons… we're looking for something to use against Chris in a lawsuit over what he did to Zeke." She explained, a large grin stretching across her face.
"Well why the hell are you looking in a gym for something like that!" Axel shouted at the crazy girl, slightly irritated.
"Well we've looked just about everywhere else…" Izzy replied, scanning the room for anything out of place, her grin not leaving her face. "It's either here or somewhere on the island, probably in Chris's private quarters but you never know with that guy."
"Right…" Axel trailed off, not knowing how to respond to Izzy, having already had enough of crazy girls after her interactions with Dawn and Lauren earlier in the day.
"Wait, you said something about a lawsuit?" Nichelle asked Izzy, to which the redhead started rapidly nodding her head in excitement. "Can I get in on this?"
"Of course, the more people on board the more likely we can get enough together to take the asshole host down!" Izzy grinned, the action star smiling in response whilst Axel rolled her eyes, reluctantly agreeing to it as well.
'Why do I keep getting involved in this mess…' She thought to herself, watching as Izzy finished her brief scan of the room, finding nothing of use, before she noticed the others at the other side of the gym still doing their own thing.
Izzy bounded over towards the others, Nichelle and Axel sharing one last glance before following the redhead, the pair both being curious about where this potential lawsuit was going to go.
Eventually nightfall descended on the Playa Des Losers once more, both sets of casts deciding to gather at the docks in order to greet the last eliminated contestant before the finale, the interns having informed them all about the final three all featuring in the finale instead of the traditional final two that everyone would have been expecting.
After hours of searching the Playa Des Losers from top to bottom, double checking every room, every nook and cranny of the resort for any indication of the 'unused footage' of the older seasons that Noah had spoken about. Eventually even the likes of Sierra and Izzy had given up, conceding defeat that anything of value would be found at the resort, their plan B of checking Camp Wawanakwa during the finale needing to be implemented.
As they all waited for the Drone of Despair to arrive with their latest companion, the twenty eight contestants were all gathered around the docks, the contestants that hadn't been around the pool area for the conversation about the lawsuit on Chris McLean quickly being filled in about all of the information they needed about the plan.
Some of the others had fully taken the information in stride, Lauren had only been there for the initial conversation, however her growing hatred for the host alongside a grisly reminder of the disturbing comments she had made about dismembering Chris had quickly persuaded her to join.
Following their earlier conversations, Bridgette, Geoff, Harold and Dawn quickly joined in with their own agreements on the lawsuit situation, the earlier incident in the lobby having washed away any doubts in the former trio's minds, whilst Dawn was fully on board the moment the lawsuit was mentioned, the moonchild still slightly bitter at Chris for turning her sanctuary into a prison for both the mutants and Ezekiel.
Ezekiel understandably was nervous about the whole situation, his freedom had already been secured but some persuasion from Izzy and Lauren had quickly convinced him to be fully on board in the revenge plot against the host that had ruined his life.
Some people however just scoffed at this motion, Ripper and Chase both laughed at the idea of this working, the pair quickly being pushed into the waters by the two crazy girls. MK just rolled her eyes from the sidelines, not bothering to get involved even though the temptation of ruining Chris was getting to her.
Most of the others were generally accepting, either staying neutral or offering support with those three being the main exception. The fourth person who refused to help being the person about to step on the dock, the Drone of Despair landing on the dock with an angry Julia glancing around, glaring at everyone else.
"Great… look at all of the buttknuckles gathering around to greet their superior." Julia gloated, glaring at her ex-competitors in particular.
"Nice to see someone hasn't lost their ego…" MK snarked, getting a laugh out of Noah.
"Hey Jules! How's things?" Wayne smiled at her, seemingly the only person from his cast that was happy to see her.
"Oh it's perfect you know, not like I was cheated out of a million bucks by that asshole Bowie." Julia responded, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Wayne winced in sympathy as Raj cheered for Bowie next to him. "Tough break brah, better luck next time am I right?"
"Yeah…" Julia trailed off, confused as to why he was trying to act nice to her when everyone else including his best friend was (rightfully) being hostile. "Well… if you excuse me, I have some purchases that desperately need refunding!" Julia said to him, walking past and towards the entrance to the resort, pulling a phone out from her pocket.
"Yeah, well… see ya later Jules!" Wayne waved to her, the influencer not noticing as she left, Wayne himself not noticing the stares aimed towards him from the majority of his cast.
"He does realise that she's a total snake right?" Emma asked Zee, who was standing next to her since Chase was still in the water.
"She's not that bad to be fair, she's just… rough around the edges." Zee responded slowly.
"Yeah, if the core was as rotten as Heather and Courtney combined…" Noah interjected.
"She doesn't seem pleasant, that's for sure." Bridgette added.
"She's just mad that she got outplayed, that's all." Lauren grinned, realising that her 'friend' Priya had made the finals.
"Yeah Bowie rocks for that!" Raj smiled happily, Emma cheering in agreement despite how her last interaction with him had ended.
"Dude, seriously?" Wayne asked Raj, receiving a meek "Sorry bro…" from his best friend.
"Well since Wayne wants to associate with her…" Damien said, turning to look at Wayne as everyone started to slowly head back into the resort. "Wanna fill her in on the whole lawsuit thing? I doubt she'll agree to help but you never know now that the competition is over for her." He asked the Hockey Bro.
"Sure dude! I can talk to Jules for ya!" Wayne grinned.
'Seriously, what is with the nickname?' Was on the mind of several people as he said this.
Chef Hatchet sighed to himself as he walked up to the entrance to his trailer, this one being much smaller compared to the luxurious trailer that Chris had been residing in for the entire season.
He couldn't wait for this season to be finally done after tomorrow's finale, he knew that whilst Chris had already made plans for a second season featuring the entire cast to begin in a couple of weeks. Not that the cast members knew about this yet, Chris wanted it to be a surprise for them, is he really expecting them to willingly come back?
Truthfully, Chef didn't mind them coming back for another season, in fact if he was honest with himself he found himself liking a lot of the new contestants compared to the last couple of seasons, perhaps it was the new perspective after his time away from the show? He didn't know and frankly he wasn't going to dwell on it too much.
Either way he needed a small break after the chaos that had been going on behind the scenes of the season, Lauren and Ezekiel had caused so many issues for him that, while he didn't mind helping Zeke out in his road to recovery, he just needed the time away after this was solved.
Not that he was trying to blame the kid, it was mainly because of Chris's problems with the Prairie Boy which was causing the issues, Chef having to go behind the host's back as much as possible in order to try and help speed things along, like with the cure being delivered to the Playa, or letting the old cast have a mini reunion at the resort.
Chef shook his head slightly, beginning to get off track with his thoughts, he'd have plenty of time to dwell on this season in the time between seasons…
He opened the door to the trailer, stepping inside and closing the door behind him, wanting to turn in for the night and prepare himself for the finale in the morning.
That was the initial plan that is. Unfortunately for Chef, things were never so simple for him.
"Well well well…" A voice called from the other room, Chef turning towards it in alarm to see Chris McLean glaring at him from his position in the other room, the host standing up and storming forwards towards the cook. "Look who finally decided to show up…"
"Chris? The hell are you doing in my trailer? Get out!" Chef replied, partially annoyed with the host trespassing in his private abode and partially concerned with how angry the host was.
"What am I doing?" Chris laughed to himself mockingly, his glare unwavering before holding his arm up towards Chef, holding a photograph up towards the cook. "What are YOU doing?"
Chef glanced over at the photograph, ready to roll his eyes in annoyance only for them to instead widen in shock. It was a picture of all of the contestants in the lobby of the resort from the previous night, Lauren, Ezekiel and Axel were all absent, and the quality of the image was slightly blurred from having been taken in secret, however it was damning evidence of the older contestants involvement in the events taking place at the resort.
"So when exactly were you gonna tell me that you dragged our old cast into this whole mess?" Chris asked him, venom leaking into his voice.
"Chris… I…" Chef began, in disbelief that Chris had already found out about the cast's involvement in the events at the resort, however he was quickly cut off by the angry host.
"Do you know how I even found out about this Chef…" Chris continued, pausing for a moment to see if Chef responded, when he didn't Chris continued. "One of the interns that you tried to convince to keep secrets from me ended up going behind your back to obtain this, turns out if you promise to treat your interns better then they actually do things for you." He laughed again as Chef sighed in defeat.
"Yeah you got me…" He admitted reluctantly, "I got asked a few days ago and I allowed it, I thought it would help with Ezekiel's recovery to have some of his old 'friends' there to see him."
Chris's laughter became almost maniacal in response. "Ezekiel… friends? Chef, you honestly crack me up sometimes, you know that?" Chris continued laughing for a little longer, eventually sighing in content when he stopped as Chef glared back at him.
"Chris man, you really need to let go of this grudge against Ezekiel…" Chef said softly, almost pitying the host.
"Or maybe you should stop going behind my back with all of this crap!" Chris responded, growing angry once more.
"Don't believe me! Go and see for yourself!" Chef shouted at the host, opening the door to the trailer, grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him out of the door.
Chris groaned slightly in pain as he landed on the grass nearby, not expecting Chef to literally throw him out of the trailer, before he glared back at the cook. "Fine, maybe I will! But we'll see who gets the last laugh here!" He shouted back at Chef, who just rolled his eyes at him as he slammed the door to his trailer, shutting out the noise of Chris angrily shouting from outside.
Chef walked over to his cooler on the side, opening it and taking out a cold beer, opening up the can and taking a large drink from it as he walked into the other room towards his bed. He sighed in annoyance as he sat down, and began to dwell on his thoughts once more.
He was really looking forward to the break in between seasons now…
Outside the trailer Chris continued to shout at Chef, banging on the door desperate for the cook to let him back in so he could continue to berate him for what he thought was a series of poor decisions from his co host.
When he eventually realised that Chef wasn't going to come back out, he sighed in frustration, turning to head back to his own trailer, his eyes still narrowed in anger at the recent events, the photograph of the mixed casts still clenched in his fist.
He'll show Chef, he'll head to the Playa des Losers first thing before the finale, pick up the soon to be peanut gallery and while he's at it, expose Chef's lies about them being there for Ezekiel…
End Chapter
Author's Note: And with that episode 12 is over, next chapter will be the prologue to the finale episode, after which there'll only be a few more chapters as we go through the final episode and into the gap in between seasons.
Speaking of the finale, how would you guys prefer the layout of the finale to be like, a play-by-play of the events switching between the old and new casts perspectives (with the lawsuit shenanigans mixed in), or one chapter dedicated to each cast (with said shenanigans piled into the new casts).