Cody lightly tapped his finger against his thigh. He hadn't made to leave the cabin all morning, so he had been sat on his bunk, staring daggers at the bunk bed across from him. It had been three days since he last saw it, and despite the minimal attachment he had to the object, its disappearance still bothered him.

'The coin is missing.'

He instinctively reached into his right hand pocket at that thought, hoping to grasp the tinny, faux-gold coin between his fingers… only to feel nothing. He let out a soft sigh, taking his hand out and clasping his head between both of them.

He really shouldn't be bothered, he had thrown the damn thing away into the lake countless times by now, so… why did he care so much? Hell, ever since it disappeared, he's had this distinct feeling of being watched, one type of paranoia he had long since abandoned. He was used to always knowing who was watching him, but this was different. It was an unknown factor .

Shaking his hair, Cody stood up from his bed. Today was the talent show, so he had some big plays to make. A viscous grin made its way to his face, pushing his cheeks in a way that would normally look unnatural on his face, before he returned to a more docile and 'gentle' smile.

He turned and bent down, grabbing a small black book. The disappearance of Gwen's diary was unknown to everyone but the girl herself, and she was never one to ask the reality TV host to go looking for the book that contained her deepest secrets and desires. Though this diary no longer contained pages from Gwen's diary, they had been torn out long ago. In their place was something more… confrontational.

Cody smirked a little, before pocketing the book and leaving the cabin.

"Hey Beth!" Cody smiled and walked over to the chubby girl. She perked up and turned around, smiling with braces in full view at him. He had to admit, she was cute like this, but they could never work out. "How's everything going on the Gopher side?"

Beth blushed a little, pointedly looking towards a scorched part of the Earth. Seems like her try-out had already gone poorly. "Well… we have Trent and Heather! Still looking for one more."

"What about LeShawna? She seems like the kind of girl who'd have a couple great talents." Cody asked, presenting himself as nonchalant, before leaning in a bit towards Beth. "Or how about you? You seem like you've got a lot more than a cute face."

As usual, she melted at the compliments. Her daze allowed Cody to get a bit of more important information out of her, which had been the goal.

"LeShawna?" Beth mumbled, a silly smile on her face, "Heather's trying to get some dirt on her. They had a big fight last night!"

"Dirt huh? Has she tried seeing if LeShawna has a diary?"

'Step One: Complete'

Noah looked over at Cody from his position in the shade of a nearby tree. There he went, darting around from person to person. Having a weirdly short-lived yet enthralling (from Beth's perspective, at least) conversation with the local wannabe, before making his way back to his team. He spent a good deal of time buttering up the CIT, but didn't bother participating in the try-outs.

'Is he really the one behind the eliminations so far? ' Noah thought, looking over the situation at hand. In all honesty, it mostly seemed like Cody wanted to fulfill the teenage boy fantasy of having multiple girlfriends on a secluded island. So far he only had one, but that's more than anyone else here at least. 'Maybe I'm just being paranoid… but those dreams were…'

He shook his head roughly. Believing in dreams was the absolute last thing he wanted to do, never mind what it may say about his sanity, but dreams naturally lean into your present thoughts and biases. He has a small argument with Cody in the showers, he dreams about Cody getting everyone eliminated. He suspects Cody is up to something, the dreams continue.

But, he couldn't take his mind off that coin, and most of all, what had been printed on it. It was such an odd term, something he imagined a dullard like Cody wouldn't at all be familiar with.

Rubbing his eyes, Noah was going to return to reading his book, but a commotion at the Gopher cabin caught his eye. There was Beth, standing in front of the girl's door as if… keeping watch. Then, a couple minutes later, Heather exited with a brown book in her hands. Noah had to roll his eyes.

'Stealing someone's diary?' He scoffed, looking at the scene. 'Didn't realize we were in elementary school.'

But, that wasn't what bothered him the most. What bothered him was Cody rushing behind the Gopher cabin, and his feet promptly disappearing from view once he reached where the back window would be. A few seconds later, he reappeared and dashed the opposite way he came.

Noah was completely dumbfounded. That was one of the most suspicious things he had seen, sure he could've been stealing a bra, but that timing. His conversation with Beth where she melted right into his hands, Beth then doing something with Heather, and immediately after, Cody does something behind the cabin.

Noah opened the back cover of his book- his own personal notes collection. He took a cheap spare paperback to camp, so marking it up didn't matter much, and so far his notes made him look like an obsessive stalker.

Cody seems to still just be talking to Beth and not making any moves, but whatever he says to her is striking her in all the right places. He's either a master manipulator, or she's just that easy.

Cody has a weird relationship with Courtney. All I ever see is him complimenting her and talking about how great of a leader she is- I haven't even seen her do anything the whole time we've been here. What's his angle?

Cody talked to Trent today, just brought up Gwen and broke the poor guy's heart. Is he tone deaf? Or is it something more?

He added another note, about this incident. He then remembered something important reading that last note, and made to continue his investigation elsewhere- this time by the location of the first challenge.

Cody yawned as the talent show proceeded as usual. Typically, the events don't change. There's some weird cosmic consistencies in time he can't change. Courtney's violin will always get broken, for example. Though, that could also just be something in the producer's "script", which he wasn't privy to beyond his own assumptions about the odd consistencies. Some things later on couldn't be explained away as just that though.

Glancing up, he finally saw Heather make her way to the stage, brown book in hand. He had seen this play out many times as well, when he tested what could happen. It seemed all the girls except Heather and Lindsey kept personal diaries (though calling Courtney's a "diary" was generous, it was more or less just a databook on everyone here), and since LeShawna would be the obvious target after Gwen left, Cody made sure to find a way to egg Heather on into finding her's.

"This island is so wack. It's whiter than a Catholic school, but it ain't all bad. I've been getting some spicy poems at lunch, making a sister feel wanted!" Heather read out, in a voice clearly mocking LeShawna's own cadence. For her part, the 'sister' was more angry than upset, having Trent and Owen hold her back from rushing onto the stage.

Heather eventually departed the stage, ensuring her team's loss. But, at least she got a spiteful win against someone who lives in her own cabin.

Cody's predatory grin at these events was missed by everyone except a certain other geek, who had only just arrived at the show, his suspicious look turning into a full on glare.

"Beth!" Cody ran up to the girl. The talent show had wrapped up only a couple minutes ago, and the final part of this plan was essential , otherwise all of his work would mean nothing here. The chubby girl looked at him confused, a small blush still on her cheeks.

"What did you need Cody?" Beth asked. She was a bit skittish after the talent show, obviously feeling guilt for her role in Heather's spiteful play, which was perfect for Cody.

"I want you to vote out Heather." Cody said, grabbing the shorter girl's shoulders. She froze, looking up at him, and tried to stutter out a response before being promptly shushed by the time traveler. "I feel guilty for what she did as well, and if she plays like this , she'll only drag your team down, or imagine if she pins the blame on you. " Cody stares into Beth's eyes, dragging out his last word just long enough for a small bit of terror to seep into her.

"B-but, she wanted me to be her ally!" Beth squeaked, squirming under Cody's hands, clearly in desperate worry now, shaking and on the verge of tears. "S-she wouldn't betray me like that, would she?"

"Beth. Please trust me." 'You've believed this liar before.'

She quivered, looking up at Cody. Then, she looked away, her eyes darting all over the area until eventually-

"Hm!?" Her voice was silenced by Cody kissing her, his tongue invading her mouth. She tried to resist, but eventually gave into the carnal emotions inside. Eros became her entire being in that moment, and it was a while before Cody broke away, leaving Beth panting, saliva falling against her chin. She looked back up at Cody, entranced.

"Beth, I want to take you to the final two with me. You have to get rid of Heather before she does something that can't be taken back."

"O-okay…" Beth whispered as Cody let go of her shoulders, her body looking ready to collapse. "How do I get everyone else to vote with me though?"

"Well, if Heather knew where to find LeShawna's diary, then maybe she has a diary of her own?"

The night went by as Cody had hoped.

His planted diary was found by Beth, who passed it over to LeShawna. Dinner that night was interrupted by a live reading of Heather's "diary", which went into detail on her true feelings for every player. The person most upset by the diary reading seemed to be Heather, despite her not even keeping one. What bothered her must have been how accurate each entry was.

Cody just smiled as he stirred around his slop. He looked up and caught the eyes of two people. Beth looked at Cody in a mix of skittish anxiety, and the entranced look she held only an hour before, and then he saw Noah looking right at him, suspicion colouring his features.

Cody's smile stretched into a more forced one when he saw that. The one flaw in his early game plan was always the elimination of Noah- outside of the dodgeball game, he never really showed himself to be a viable loser to send home. Keep him around though, and he becomes suspicious quickly, he was the first one to catch onto Alejandro for a reason.

Cody decided to leave the mess hall, but found himself followed, Noah dogging his steps on the way out.

"What do you want?" Cody finally asked as he led Noah to somewhere more secluded, namely it was behind the communal bathroom. "Glaring wasn't enough, now you have to follow me?"

"Cut the crap Cody." Noah said sharply, leveling a more focused stare at him, one that held a touch of anger as well as a sense of smug superiority. "I know ."

Cody felt the blood drain from his face. His hands became cold, clammy, his entire body shuddering. This was the worst sign- just what had he done to get Noah to catch on this early?

"I don't know what you mean." Cody forced his best smile, but that only served to cause Noah to smirk in response. Cody was almost caught off guard by the stone tossed his way, sliding to the side to dodge it.

"It's funny, I found this right where Gwen tripped. It had clearly been dislodged from its original position, which would've been directly under someone's ankle should they have tripped on that root." Noah's voice lacked any laughter, but Cody could feel his mocking, condescending laugh in his head. He chose to glare at his fellow geek in lieu of a meaningful response.

"Eva, loses her MP3 player and it is conveniently returned to her when she is proven to not be a viable player."

Cody didn't bother correcting him. A part of himself had accepted that his inability to act was a form of accepting the guilt either way.

"Duncan, took some balls to the face meant for the person right in front of me. That led to him leaving the challenge, and thus the game."

Cody let himself smirk. The delinquent deserved that ungraceful exit.

"And now, I see you playing with a girl's heart, and that girl is involved in two diary theft incidents." Noah clicked his tongue, like a teacher reprimanding a student that got caught cheating. "Now, why are you the only consistent factor in all of these eliminations?"

Noah walked closer to Cody and leaned down, getting as close as he could to the other boy's face without making contact.

"Why are you so determined to play mastermind in this game?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Cody replied simply, not bothering to dignify the other boy with a real response. Noah just continued smirking though.

"Fine, be that way." Noah turned and made to leave. "I'm sure your game plan will work swimmingly- but try anything on me and I drop all of this evidence on everyone else without hesitation. Don't take my words as an empty threat."

His casual throwing of the rock had already told Cody how much Noah had caught on. Even without evidence, laying this all out there was enough to convict him for most people here.

As soon as Noah had made it a good distance away, walking into the distant moonlight, Cody punched the wall of the bathrooms.

Loop 0004

"You're not going to win this Cody." Noah dryly stated this as Cody fell into yet another trap the girls had set up. "I'm going to make sure you never leave the final four- isn't that what I said last night?"

Cody glared up at him, covered in mud and some amount of blood from all of his cuts and bruises, before climbing his way out. He had been trapped so many times now that he had lost count, but he couldn't just lose here. Not after betraying so many people he cared for… so many people who, once upon a time, cared for him…

Even Noah had been a friend at one point in his life, and now the boy glared down at him with disdain. This was… unfair.

Cody hadn't even noticed the warmness of his face until he tasted salty tears mixing with the mud and blood in his mouth. Yes, this was unfair . Rejected by the girl he loves constantly, seeing her fall for a cheat instead of him, losing in the most humiliating way possible, and now he was trapped in a time loop that seemed to ensure he suffered, whether he won or lost.

Noah raised an eyebrow at the sight below him. "You know, I don't quite get your issue. You pull all these underhanded tactics and barely even talk to anyone here, yet you have this look in your eyes, like you actually regret all of this." Noah was clearly getting aggravated by the end of his statement, his glare directed at Cody intensifying.

"Or maybe you're crying because you realize how pathetic this is." Noah continued, trying to find his usual mirth in the situation, some humour to be wrung out of a boy crying as he struggled to press forward. "Poor little Cody , has to betray everyone he knows and then gets beaten by the weakest player in the game!"

Cody finally reached the top of the pit and looked up at Noah, who still glared down at him. He softly smiled, knowing the other boy would never kick him down, lest he be disqualified instead.

"Come on. You've already lost anyway."

The current Cody looked at this scene in contemplation. Noah had been among the first to directly antagonize him, and if you remove Heather, he actually was the first. The two had an incompatibility despite what many may think- Noah described Cody as "obnoxious and loud" during their time on the Playa, and their bonding on the Aftermath Show had been almost entirely due to everyone else being insane.

Other people would see Cody the same way Noah did, but Noah was always the element to worry about. Cody tried to think about what had tipped him off here though. How had Noah caught on so early, and he could only draw up a blank.

"What happened to your coin?" The feminine voice that haunted Cody spoke, reminding him of the other pressing issue. "Is your pain that unbearable?"

"What do you mean pain?" Cody mumbled back at her, not in the mood to argue. He turned to look at the source of the voice, but was, as usual, met with nothing but a void. "It's a reminder of what not to do, nothing more."

"Is change really so unimportant?" Cody felt a warm hand clasp his cheek, but the absence of a figure attached to the warmness unnerved him. He pulled away quickly. "It's connected to your aura you know. So many colours reside inside you, yet one of them is always pushed into that desire for change you ignore so often."

"I don't want to hear it." Cody said, looking away from the voice. "I have changed."

"No, you haven't." The voice reprimanded him, and Cody quirked an eyebrow in response. "Forgetting isn't the same as changing."

"And what have I forgotten?"

A warm breath caressed his earlobe, and the word she spoke drove Cody out of the dream.

"Love."