A/N: So Fresh seemed to forget that a flight from Hawaii to Zimbabwe is next to impossible, because it would be a 24-hour flight and theoretically impossible for the Ice Dancers to make it as fast as they did - but we're going to ignore that, okay? Great.

This chapter is short, but very, VERY important.

Oh - and cookies to those who spot the Twisted reference!

Chapter 22- Beginning Spiral

It was eerily silent this morning. Josée woke up on her own without Jacques to do so. She didn't mind, at least, she pretended not to mind. When Josée locked eyes with her partner, he broke eye contact immediately, without bothering to greet her. Josée bit her lower lip; she detested when Jacques was mad at her. Okay sure, there are times when she acted similarly with him, but... it wasn't purposeful. Was this honestly how he felt whenever she did this to him?

Nonetheless, they had a whole day ahead of them. Before they could go to Hawaii, they were told by the producers that if they intended to travel back there, that they would still have to start at the Don box for the first travel tip. "Go to the Helsinki airport and catch the next flight to Zimbabwe," Jacques read aloud.

Obviously they weren't going to do that now. They had to get rid of the cursed lava rock first.

When the ice dancers tried to explain the situation to the receptionist, they felt themselves losing their patience over the lack of understanding.

"Why is this so hard for you to understand?" Josée snapped bitterly.

"We need the next flight to Hawaii, and we only want to be there for, like, ten minutes," Jacques started off in annoyance, "...and then we need to fly from Hawaii to Zimbabwe."

"But it... it making no sense..." the receptionist said meekly.

"Okay fine, we 'making no sense,'" Josée reluctantly agreed mockingly, then her eye-twitched: "...now stuff the opinion and give us our tickets!" The receptionist blinked slowly at the absurd sounding request, but relented and handed the ice dancers their tickets.

Finally after ten minutes of waiting, Jacques spoke up beside her. "We wouldn't be doing this if you haven't picked up the rock-"

"I didn't mean to," Josée hissed, still petting the rock.

"Josée, stop touching the lava rock!" Jacques nearly, not quite, but nearly exclaimed. He tried to grab it out of her hand, but Josée held it out of reach.

"It's giving me more comfort than you could do!" Josée almost shrieked at him.

"It's also cursed and caused four losses in a row and me to be injured everywhere!"

"You think I don't know that?"

"Non, you were busy contributing to it by punching me and shoving food in my mouth!"

"It was to help us advance in the game, and I already apologized over that!"

"Oh, so if we're talking about apologies, I would love for you to acknowledge my apology over the olympics!"

"Well that's an entirely different matter!"

"That was over a year ago!"

"And I have every right to be upset!"

"Then so do I over the lava rock!"

Josée groaned loudly. "You're impossible."

Had he not been focused on trying to stay mad at her, Jacques would've smiled at her adorable pouty expression. "Whatever."

And it was silent after that.

Naturally, the producers found this to be very entertaining and asked them for an interview.

"Jacques is mad at me," Josée remarked sadly.

Jacques crossed his arms. "I'd like an apology."

Josée glared at him. "Why should I apologize? Obviously I didn't know it was bad luck when I took it from the island! Ugh!"

When she clenched her fists and groaned at the ceiling, Jacques couldn't help but smirk, he really couldn't stay mad for long: "Apology accepted."

"...Thank you," said Josée.

Time had passed, and eventually Josée and Jacques had gotten to their seats on the plane to Hawaii. Josée hesitantly looked over at her partner and bit her lip anxiously when he didn't look her way. Even though Jacques said that he accepted her apology, Josée still felt that things weren't exactly right between them, but - oh the hell with it; ever since the race started things haven't really been right. Maybe it was the constant competing every day, going back and forth between placings, and the wacky schedule that they were thrown into. Josée felt herself going a little mad, and it scared her a bit - on top of her mother's illness, she didn't need the competition to stress her out further.

One could argue she was just being paranoid, but Josée was smart - she knew things were slightly off, it wasn't just her being superstitious. She knew that she had been acting strange lately, and even Jacques had been a little more snappish than usual, but... god, sometimes she wished she had gone against her mother's wishes and stayed home.

"Jacques," Josée said quietly. Jacques didn't look at her, but made a humming noise to indicate that he was listening. "You're still frustrated with me, aren't you?"

Jacques' heavy sigh already told Josée that he was, but decided to word it differently: "I think we need to just relax and not think or talk about anything right now."

Josée crossed her arms; that's what he wanted, but what about what she wanted? "Well I think we should talk about strategy," she remarked, matter-of-factly. Jacques buried his face in the magazine, annoying Josée, but she went on anyway: "I mean it, Jacques. I mean..." she scoffed, rolling her eyes: "We're obviously not going to come in first-"

"On account of you," Jacques cut in casually.

Josée glared at him. "I thought you said that you forgive me."

"Oui, I do," Jacques noted, lowering the magazine and turning his head to face her. She was pouting again, and well... it was adorable. It almost made him grin like an idiot, emphasis on the word almost. "If you could bring up the olympics, I can bring up this."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Josée asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Now Jacques openly grinned. "Every. Passing. Second."

"You bastard," Josée said bluntly, scowling at him as he snickered into his magazine. Josée felt the corners of her mouth turn up ever-so-slightly, no matter how much she tried to fight it. She tried to hide it with her own magazine. "Well I'm glad you find this so amusing. I feel terrible, thank you very much."

"Oh chouchou, you should've seen the look on your face." This time, Josée allowed a small smile even though he may have mentioned his pet-nickname for her on camera - this was still one step closer to things being okay. "I have a proposition."

Josée's smile vanished after that. "Hm?"

"Today," Jacques said, putting down his magazine to meet his partner eye-level. "I'm in charge of strategy."

Beat.

"Wh-what?" Josée nearly squawked. "But I'm the one that..." she paused, hesitating and biting her lower lip. She owed him this. He forgave her so easily, even though a part of Josée had yet to fully forgive him over the olympics incident. She owed him this much, at least. "Okay," she settled with saying. "You're in charge."

The rest of the flight had gone pleasantly.

Josée and Jacques eventually landed in Hawaii. They don't know how many people Josée and Jacques pushed out of the way to get to where there were, but it must've been a lot - to be frank, they lost count. None of those people understood, they were in a race, and most definitely in last place - which was obviously so much worse than fourth. At least they were on the way to being on slightly better terms, but it would certainly help if they weren't in last place anymore.

"Okay, is this where you found it?" Jacques asked Josée.

She hesitated, looking back and forth at the area. "I think so." She raised her hand with the lava rock, proceeding to throw it: "Let's just do it."

"Wait!" Jacques said in a high-pitched shriek, grabbing her arm suddenly before she could do anything. Josée merely stared at him, wondering what the delay was. "You can't just dump it out! We need some kind of ceremony..." Then, he looked up to the sky. "...an offering."

Beat.

Was he... was he serious?

Nonetheless, Josée realized she promised that he would been in charge, and sighed. "Fine." She put her hands on her hips. "What do you suggest?"

Jacques' face faltered for a moment. "Ah... I was thinking we could put the lava rock on a tower of other rocks... and then perform some synchronized choreography."

Josée blinked slowly at her partner's request. She initially thought he was joking, but the look on his face said that he was entirely serious on the matter. Though normally Josée wouldn't pass up an opportunity for dancing, but now that they were probably last, it wasn't the time.

Jacques' serious expression did not change, resulting in Josée rolling her eyes harder than ever before. "Oh, you cannot possibly be serious!"

"Extremely."

"I... I..." Josée stammered, at a total loss for words. Instead, she settled with just squawking, "What?!"

"You said that I would be in charge, Josée! And that means I could do this. I just want to make sure."

Josée blinked rapidly and shook her head. "Don't ever call me superstitious again."

"Mais oui, Josée," Jacques agreed, already finding a pile of rocks to stockpile. "I will never call you superstitious."

"And you will never make fun of bun-bun again." Jacques opened his mouth to protest, but Josée wouldn't have it. "No, no, no! Don't argue; accept it." While Jacques scoffed and let out a childish 'fine,' Josée proceeded to mumble under her breath about how stupid this was.

"You realize I can still hear you, right?"

"I wasn't exactly trying to hide it. This is one of the most ridiculous things we've done this entire race."

"More ridiculous than you picking up a cursed lava rock?"

"Yes." Josée glared at him. "Are you really going to hold this against me the entire time?"

"Mais oui!"

The female ice dancer scowled. "I was right, you are impossible." She longed to wipe that cocky smirk off his face; this was solely the reason why she hated it when he was in charge - Jacques would get so obnoxiously arrogant and pumped up; it made her cheeks read from total embarrassment, because usually he'd end up making a fool of himself.

"Agh!" Case and point, Jacques somehow managed to slip on the sand. Josée snickered into her hand while Jacques got up, pouting at her. "It is not funny."

"You're right," Josée allowed, then snickering some more: "It's hilarious."

A few minutes pass, and possibly the dumbest thing Josée had ever done had occurred. She and Jacques, like the latter asked, performed a synchronized Hawaiian routine in front of the lava rock that was sitting on large rocks like it was its throne. She never wanted to hear him call her superstitious ever again. Suddenly, the ground started to rumble, making Josée and Jacques pause mid-routine, and look over to see that the volcano nearby had coughed.

"Look, a sign! We've been forgiven!" Josée proclaimed in relief.

Jacques gasped. "Back to the airport! This game isn't going to win itself!" As he and Josée ran all the way back to the airport, Jacques smirked beside her. "A sign? We've been forgiven? And I'm told not to call you superstitious anymore."

"Oh shut up."

Now they had to get to Zimbabwe, which was going to be a long flight. Not that Josée and Jacques had the patience for that, however. As time passed, Josée and Jacques grew more and more antsy on the plane. It didn't help that they were forced to ride with a camera crew and a few producers that continuously reminded them that people were already moving ahead. Neither Josée nor Jacques knew whether or not that was allowed, but they were positive they were doing that to make them panic more. After all, they hadn't forgotten that they aren't exactly on the producers' good sides at the moment.

They were so incredibly scummy.

God.

"I hate this," Josée muttered under her breath, which had gotten a little more uneasy. Jacques looked at her, who was staring down at her hands while shaking her head and repeated, "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this..."

Jacques put his hands over her, startling Josée to look at him to meet his sincere and sympathetic eyes. "We're going to make it."

"You don't know that."

She didn't mean to come across as so forceful, Jacques knew. And he knew that she blamed herself without saying it.

"It's... it's not your fault, Josée. You couldn't have known."

"Yes it is," Josée emphasized, her voice breaking just a bit. "That stupid old man told me not to take the rock, it's that..." she faltered. "...I didn't know what it would entail."

"Still," Jacques said pointedly. "You didn't know it would curse you." He wanted a reason to be mad at her, but when he saw her eyes water, he just couldn't.

"Um..." a snooty voice piped up from behind them, belonging to one of the producers that sounded like he was looking forward to ruining the tender moment. "I'd be more concerned with getting this plane to go faster rather than a stupid rock."

Well, he wasn't wrong, just the way he went on about it...

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Jacques retorted.

The producer rolled his eyes. "Oh, I don't know," his voice was dripping in sarcasm, "...maybe because you're celebrities? Olympic medalists? Sure, it's silver, but..." Josée's eye twitched while Jacques glared at the mere mention of their placement; they loved to do this, they swore on it. "...it would give you some leeway."

Josée thought about it for a moment. "And how do we know this isn't some trick you have up your sleeve?"

"Do you hear yourself?" the producer shot back, matching her glare. Then, he shrugged. "I guess you want to be last place. I heard a few teams already reached the chill zone."

That got their attention. Just like that, the panic set in, much like earlier before Josée and Jacques talked it out. The producers knew exactly where to go to get their worthwhile shot, and although Josée and Jacques knew that - the fear of getting into last place far outweighed how they would look on camera. They were the masters of mind games.

So that's how Josée and Jacques ended up bursting through the door at the front of the plane where the pilot was.

"You need to fly this thing faster!" Jacques demanded.

"You're not allowed in here!" the pilot snapped back.

Josée remembered that they did have some leeway with their status, according to the producers. "Uh, do you know who we are?"

"Aren't you those figure skaters that lost gold at the olympics?"

Josée and Jacques' smirks vanished.

"Just fly faster!" Jacques barked.

Josée and Jacques didn't know how long the flight was, but they were convinced that the pilot flew the plane even slower out of spite. On top of the producers claiming that they heard that some teams were already going to the chill zone, it was safe to assume that they weren't going to get the gold. While Josée and Jacques were defeated upon realizing this, there were more so focused on making sure they weren't last. With the way the flight was going, it left them more and more frustrated with each passing minute.

By the time they ended up in Zimbabwe, politeness was out the window entirely, at least for Josée.

"Out of our way, sky waitress! We're in a race!" Josée snapped, pushing the flight attendant on her way out of the airport. Jacques didn't bother looking behind him to see the attendant on the floor. Like Josée, he was more focused on completing the first part of their challenge. There was one jeep in front of the airport, presumably for them.

"I navigate, you drive," Jacques ordered. Josée nodded in agreement as her partner got into the passenger seat and took out the map inside the compartment. Josée strapped into the driver's seat, started the engine and floored it. Jacques gasped and held onto the car tightly with his free hand. "Josée! Calm down!"

"And why should I do that?" Josée challenged. "We're in last place!"

"Because we could end up running someone or something over!"

Beat.

"So?!"

"Josée!"

"Fine, fine, fine!" Josée snapped, slowing down just a little bit. She had to keep reminding herself that she promised him this. "There. Happy now?"

"Very," Jacques said evenly.

Josée pressed her lips together, yet moved on: "Do you still have the travel tip?" she asked, regarding the next challenge.

Jacques nodded and used his free hand to take out the travel tip from earlier. "Head to Victoria Falls where the Zambezi River borders Zambia and Zimbabwe," he read aloud. Then he scanned over the map; he pretended not to notice Josée speeding up slightly. "I was thinking that we could take Mosi-oa-Tunya, it's faster."

"Okay. How do I get there?" Josée asked.

"It's up ahead," said Jacques, reading the map to himself. "I'll let you know when to turn."

Josée appeared doubtful. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Jacques scowled and rolled his eyes. "Oui. Josée, you have to trust me in order for this to work!"

"I do trust you, Jacques! It's that..." Josée trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"It's that?" Jacques echoed her words, crossing his arms. "It's that what?"

"Nothing, it's just..." Once again, Josée couldn't think of anything else to say. She let out a weary sigh. "I just don't want to lose after all the effort we put into."

Jacques didn't reply. Instead, both of them sulked on the rest of the drive there. That was, until Jacques looked ahead and yelled, "Agh! Stop! There's someone on the road!" He was met with a disapproving glare from his partner, but he shot a glare right back. Josée resisted the urge to let out an annoyed groan.

...Great.

Josée reluctantly hit the brakes, the tires screeching obnoxiously. She and Jacques came into contact with Dwayne, who lied down pathetically on the floor hunched over in misery. She took note that his son wasn't there, which meant that they still had a shot! If only they could get away from him right now...

"My son..." Dwayne said desperately, "...have you seen... my son?"

"No. Haven't seen him, so..." Josée cut herself off by honking, much to Jacques' displeasure.

"I lost Junior!" Dwayne exclaimed in horror. "He's gone. Gone!"

Josée rolled her eyes. "Wow, your wife is going to kill you." Jacques frowned from beside her, watching Dwayne get up.

He was turned away from him. "Well, I deserve it. What is the number one rule of parenting? Hm? What is it?"

Josée's answer was instant: "Don't let your child ruin your chance of winning a gold medal?"

"Yes!" Dwayne proclaimed, but then turned around to face the ice dancers. "What, no! Don't let your kid get eaten by a lion while you're in a raft going over a waterfall." Josée glared at Dwayne, yet she realized that what he said probably had to do with the next challenge coming up.

Jacques hummed a little to himself confusedly. "That seems... ah, specific."

Dwayne walked toward them with a disapproving glare, his hands on his hips. "Who cares about a dumb gold medal?"

...He did not.

Both Josée and Jacques gasped.

Josée kept her glare on Dwayne, while asking Jacques: "Now can I run him over?"

"Please," Jacques agreed.

Josée snickered and pressed her foot on the gas, nearly knocking into Dwayne who had made it out of the way just in time. Josée and Jacques burst into hysterical laughter which eventually developed into cackling as they kept driving ahead. They felt the satisfaction in their bodies, in their veins to do something like that. Let him know that they shouldn't mock them, that they were frightening, that people should be trembling in fear in front of them. They were the ones to beat, the best. No one was going to tell them otherwise; not even some sick, twisted producers that were experts in mind games.

It felt so immensely good. It was like when she tackled Dwayne, but better. The rush, the adrenaline, the feeling of doing something you shouldn't have done.

Oh, but what did it matter?

"YOU KIDS NEED THERAPY!" Dwayne shouted after them.

Josée and Jacques stopped laughing immediately. The former slammed her brakes on the jeep, turned around, and yelled back: "MAYBE DON'T BRING YOUR KID TO A DANGEROUS GAME SHOW!" That being said, Josée turned back around and floored the jeep furiously. Dwayne was not going to ruin her good mood.

"Josée?" Jacques said hesitantly. Josée glanced over to her partner, who looked spooked. "We almost ran someone over."

Josée gripped her steering wheel tightly, thinking it over. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and reality was starting to set in. "...Yes. We did." She could hardly believe it herself, blinking slowly over the incident. She wasn't exactly guilty, per se - just confused.

"Leo and Liv would've done something like that." Josée slowed down the vehicle just a little bit. Though her eyes were on the road, her mind was somewhere else. "We're not... we're not becoming like Leo and Liv, are we?"

Josée thought about it long and hard, focusing intently on the road in front of her - she couldn't stand to see the haunted look in her partner's eyes, it hurt her more than she expected it to. And to be honest, Josée was a little frightened by the incident as well. It was a good question that he had. After all, Leo and Liv wouldn't be below running over people - just like they certainly weren't below causing a figure skater to go into a severe allergic reaction; it still gave Josée the creeps.

It had been quiet other than the sound of the jeep's engine. Jacques was anticipating Josée's answer.

Josée shook her head slowly. "Of course not," she said softly, more to herself. She broke eye contact with the road to face Jacques. "He was in the way, Jacques. It's different." She bit her lip apprehensively, trying to focus on driving. "It's a... precautionary measure."

"Okay," Jacques said simply.

"I mean it, Jacques," Josée said convincingly, though her eyes said otherwise and she bit her lip harder. "It won't happen again."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Fine."

"Wonderful."

Then it fell silent again. Josée felt something in her stomach shift uncomfortably; something had changed, it was different, and as most people knew, she didn't like change.

Josée pulled in the jeep beside the Don box. They got out quickly and Jacques read the travel tip: "It's an All-in." He paused in his reading after reading some of it, turning to his partner. "Go to the glove compartment, there's a camera in there." Josée nodded and did so, as Jacques read on: "Teams must take the waterproof cameras in their glove compartments. Then get into a raft and ride over the falls while taking an epic..." he trailed off, frowning at the unfamiliar word. "What is a selfie?"

"I think Alice used that word once," replied Josée. She smiled a bit, she hoped to see her on the big stage one day. "It's taking a picture of yourself."

"Alice would do those all the time, then."

Josée chuckled. "She probably still does."

Jacques smiled and read on, "Miss the shot then it's a long climb back to the top again. Then float down to Zambezi National Park, home of the elusive white rhino." He stopped to groan. "I hate rhinos." Josée lifted an eyebrow, motioning him to continue, which he did: "...where you'll take a picture with a rhino. Once teams have their selfies it's a foot race to the chill zone." So what Dwayne said about waterfalls rang true. It took a while for it to sink in. Then Josée and Jacques' eyes popped out of their skulls.

"Who's ideas were these?" Josée asked in bewilderment.

Jacques shook his head. "I don't know, but that doesn't matter now." He spotted the raft and nudged his head in that direction to Josée, "We need to go." They set up the raft into the river and took off; very, very slowly. As they floated down the river and waited, the anticipation grew, as well as their anxieties - not just over potentially getting eliminated, but falling over a waterfall without any safety net wasn't really an ideal good time. Jacques knew that Josée wasn't exactly too keen on this. "It's like a rollercoaster."

"...without the seatbelts," Josée deadpanned.

Jacques chuckled nervously. "Ah, oui. But..." his face faltered, trying to think of a way to help Josée. Then, he smiled and held Josée by her waist and above his head. "There!"

"What exactly does this do?"

"I won't lose my grip on you." Never again, Jacques added thoughtfully. They were getting closer to the waterfall. "And you can take the picture, I promise I won't let go."

Beat.

Josée cracked an amused smile down at him. "Have you watched Titanic recently?"

"Don't make fun of me, it is a good movie!"

"You realize what Rose immediately did after saying that?"

"Josée..."

"She let go!"

"She meant that she'll live on for Jack!" Jacques cried at his friend's teasing. "That movie was so sad I cried-"

"And cried, and cried..."

"Josée..." Jacques whined. "Stop giggling, it's not that funny."

Josée smirked. "Once again, you're right. It's..."

"...hilarious," Jacques finished, resulting in more giggles from his partner. "...at least you're not freaking out over the waterfall anymore."

Just like that, Josée's smile vanished. "Oh..."

"Don't worry, Josée!" Jacques said comfortingly, smiling. "Like I said, I'll never let go - and I mean that in a literal way." Josée smiled at him; she already felt better.

Then they fell off the waterfall. Both ice dancers screamed, but Jacques still smiled through it while Josée looked horrified; she had managed to snap the photo and wouldn't have to do the challenge again. Despite the terror she felt, Josée never felt Jacques' hands leave her waist - he didn't let go. Josée smirked. Take that, Titanic.

They landed in the water and rose to the surface, spotting their raft and getting back into it again. Now they had to float down to get a picture with a rhino.

"Are you okay?" Jacques asked concernedly as they floated down gently.

Josée smiled at him. "You... didn't let go of me."

Jacques watched Josée took out her ponytail, wringing out water. He blinked rapidly when he caught himself lingering longer than usual. "Of course. Didn't I say that I wouldn't?"

Josée chuckled, putting her hair back up. "Oui. Rose could learn from you." Jacques smiled back at her. Their raft was approaching the end of the river and they were now ready to complete the second part of the challenge; which was to get a picture with a rhino.

"I hate rhinos..."

"Jacques, you said that already," Josée remarked, almost amusedly. She and Jacques scanned the area for potential rhinos nearby that didn't look too threatening. Josée's eyes stopped at one that looked rather old and tired. Josée was about to go forward to get a picture next to it, but Jacques held his arm out. Josée frowned. "What are you...?"

"It's too dangerous," said Jacques. "I'll go, you take the picture."

"Non," Josée replied, shaking her head. "Let me do this. You hate rhinos anyway."

Jacques sighed. "Oui, I do... but-" Josée cut him off by squeezing his hand. Jacques raised an eyebrow; though he didn't mind Josée being like this, he wondered if she had forgotten that they were on camera - perhaps she didn't care?

"S'il te plaît," Josée told him, letting go of her partner's hand. "Take the picture."

"Be careful," Jacques advised nervously. Josée smirked; she wasn't going to heed his warning. She started to climb on top of the rhino, making Jacques' smile disappear in a flash while she just smiled. Jacques let out a high-pitched gasp. "Josée! What are you doing?!"

"Take the picture, dummy!"

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"My face is starting to freeze," Josée said, through a clenched smile. Jacques quickly took the picture, posing elegantly on the rhino's back. Josée giggled and ran back to Jacques, then they proceeded to make their way to the chill zone. "You should've seen the look on your face."

"Ah, Josée, you are trying to give me a heart attack!" Jacques shrieked.

"There!" Josée pointed out, spotting the chill zone with only Junior waiting there, his father currently absent. "We're going to make it!"

Jacques looked behind him and gasped to see Dwayne screaming, who was attached to a rhino that was charging ahead. "We did not fly all the way to Hawaii for nothing! Run!" They tried to speed up, but the rhino was faster and trampled over them. "Ugh!" Jacques groaned, then turned to his partner. "I hate rhinos!"

That was the wrong thing to say. The rhino must've understood that, because he threw Dwayne off of himself and charged toward the ice dancers. Josée and Jacques hesitantly looked up to see a rhino staring down at them, snorting and growling. Josée and Jacques started to scream as the rhino chased them, with Jacques repeating: "I love rhinos, I love rhinos!" as if that was to make up for his earlier comment. "Rhinos are my friends!" They said simultaneously, weeping in fright. It was a desperate attempt to get away from the rhino, but it wasn't working.

Josée felt herself growing very hot. She and Jacques had worked very hard to get this far into the race, and a stupid rhino had to get in the way of that. She felt her temper flare, and suddenly, she tackled the rhino down. She didn't remember much after that; she remembered there being a lot of punching and a lot of kicking - she figured this probably wouldn't be shown on TV, anyway - so she had finally fought back against the rhino that had chased them.

By the time they got to the chill zone, Jacques threw the camera at Don - which he caught - in defeat. Josée was breathing heavily, exhausted from the energy she put into stopping that rhino. She turned back briefly in its direction, "...and stay down!"

"Jacques and Josée..." Don began, but Jacques cut him off.

"We know."

"Eleventh. Last..." Josée remarked sadly, burying her face in her hands. "Eliminated."

Jacques glanced sadly at his partner. They had gone through all of that hard work for nothing. They went from winning the gold to four abysmal losses in a row, to finally being crushed in an overwhelming defeat. They couldn't even make the top ten; they weren't champions - they were frauds. No matter how hard they tried, no matter the dedication and effort they put into this competition - they came back weaker; and it was a total embarrassment for their country, for their fans... their fans who would probably see this and be ashamed that they went from being abysmal silver medalists to eleventh place.

It was shameful.

But the worst part was, they felt empty. There were no excuses for their loss; because they felt they always could've tried harder. They would've won if they pushed themselves harder, they would've been saved had they not fought harder, tooth-and-nail, doing whatever means possible to save themselves from elimination. Josée had a sudden realization that Leo and Liv were right; this was a different ballgame, and that people were going to do whatever it takes to get to the top - something she should've realized.

Now, there was no redemption. There was no getting back to the top, there was no way to restore their reputation - there was no going back.

"We just want our fans... and our country to know," Jacques started to say, his voice breaking: "...that we tried our very best!" Josée resisted the urge to burst into tears; it was thoughtful of Jacques trying to repair the damage, but there was no going back: "...and we wish-"

"Good news! It's a non-elimination round!" Don interrupted.

...

...

...

...Or was there?

Josée and Jacques' heads snapped up immediately, staring in utter disbelief of what the host just said. That saving grace that they had been given made their hearts accelerate faster than ever before. Upon hearing Don state those simple words that meant so much made Josée and Jacques break into cheers, screaming thankfully in glee over this second chance they had received. Their confidence grew alarmingly high; higher than ever before. After so many challenges and rounds of complete failure, after so many issues with the other contestants, and the producers, they were now secure - their luck had started to change.

A second chance.

To prove that they were still winners.

Not to only their fans, Josée thought - but to her maman.

The gold was going to be theirs.

"Our luck has changed, we're back!" Josée proclaimed proudly in an interview.

"...and stronger than ever!" Jacques added.

"Now nothing will stop us on our quest for gold! All those other teams are..."

"...going down!" Josée and Jacques said at the same time, then they broke into cackling. They cackled all the way back to the chill zone, much to Don's bewilderment.

"Well, that's all kinds of creepy," Don remarked.

Josée and Jacques didn't acknowledge him; they just kept cackling. It was so hilarious; going up and down, going from third, to second, to first, to third - on account of those stupid Fashion Bloggers - and getting first two times in a row, and then getting third again, to getting fourth three times in a row to going down to eleventh. This was all within a span of just a few weeks; the people running this show knew exactly what they were doing, Jacques and Josée couldn't help but laugh. It made great television - again, they were masters of mind games - and it worked. Josée and Jacques just slipped into it; fine, they would give them what they wanted. Anything for a show.

After all, they knew all about performance.

"Um, so, hey... filming's kind of over now..." Don said to the ice dancers, uneasily. "...you can... you can stop laughing now."

They did.

But Josée wasn't finished yet. She marched right up to Don, her eyes gleaming madly and widely, and along with her smile plastered on her face. "I have to give you a lot of credit with the show, even if you clearly have no business being in show-business and the media like we've been!" Don raised a concerned eyebrow, but said nothing as Josée went on rapidly; she couldn't help but say all her thoughts aloud: "Because let me tell you, it is phenomenal that we've come this far with a stupid cursed lava rock that was my fault, it was all my fault, did you know? I shouldn't have picked up that stupid lava rock in the first place or else we could've been on top of the podium! Because this show really does know how to toy with you, do you get it?"

"Uh..."

"But it's fine!" Josée continued loudly, as if Don hadn't interrupted. She started to laugh, "It's fine, fine, fine... totally fine, you need your ratings, and you can't get those ratings unless you show some extreme challenges, extreme emotions, extreme everything! I get it now. I finally understand what people mean. They'll keep at it, going on and on, until you snap and lose control. The media's like that a lot, especially back home... oh god, the media in Montreal is god-awful. Have you been to Montreal? You should come visit sometime, the media will rip you apart, they're all ready to pounce. But hey, it's fine, because again, that's the business!"

Josée finished, breathing harshly after her mini-rant.

"Okay Jesus Christ, I don't know what's going on here," Don said at last, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"The point is..." Jacques interjected loudly, his eyes gleaming with hope - it was unnatural. "We're going to win!"

Beat.

"Uh..." Don began, rather uncomfortably: "...good um... good luck with that."

By the time everyone got to their respective hotel rooms, Josée's... excitement - a mild understatement - had simmered down completely. Jacques' excitement, however, had not. Josée's exhilaration from a mere twenty minutes ago was suddenly replaced by a feeling of dread; she couldn't understand why she felt this way, and wondered how it shifted to that feeling. It frightened her. When she glanced over to Jacques who was squealing every minute, blessedly happy over their second chance, she wished she could go back to that rush; that feeling of overwhelming euphoria because of their saving grace.

When Jacques looked over to Josée, that's when he calmed down a little; after seeing her troubled expression. "Chouchou, what's wrong?"

"Something doesn't feel right," Josée said uncomfortably, almost like she was shaken.

Jacques frowned thoughtfully. "But Josée! This is what you wanted, we're back in the race!"

"I know, and I am happy, but..." Josée trailed off, she just couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong. "I can't help what I feel." She detested it.

"I'm sure everything will feel better in the morning," Jacques tried to reassure.

Josée figured he was right; she was tired. It was a long day, hell, it was a long competition, and Josée just wanted everything to just slow down only for a moment, or maybe stop completely. But this competition didn't do that; it was every single day, every single passing second, maybe a break wouldn't be too horrible. She walked over and wrapped her arms around his body from behind him. "I'm sorry about everything... it seems like I'm saying that more and more, aren't I?"

Jacques shifted, turning around so he could hug her back. "Me too." Then, he kissed her forehead. "This competition does bring out the worst in us, non?"

Josée blinked slowly; he had never kissed her there before. "...It does," she agreed sadly. Nonetheless, she hugged him tighter - anything to get rid of this dreadful feeling.

Somewhere in Montreal, Quebec...

Isaac felt his stomach drop in the upmost surprise and horror. Though there were possibilities such as these happening, he did not expect it to happen to her. Then again, he figured that these things could never happen to someone you know. But Isaac figured he had lived a long painful forty-something years of his life, and that he had a lot of experience seeing death, but death was tragic this young, and it hurt to see that this would tremendously affect the figure skating community - whether people liked her or not.

His hand was over his mouth, his eyes glazed over as two gentleman showed up to escort the body away from the area. She was put in a body bag so she wouldn't be seen, and was carried out on a stretcher. Isaac didn't cry; it was not like him to cry over death. Unfortunately throughout his life, death was too familiar to him, especially during the 1980s among his many friends. Obviously this situation was different, but his point was that death never seemed to go away from him.

But then, Isaac remembered the promise he made to Josée. He promised her that there would be an update of what went on, no matter what.

...This definitely counted.

Isaac took out his phone and dialed the number to reach Josée and Jacques. He waited patiently, until an impatient and groggy voice answered. "This is late at night, this better be good."

"This is Isaac," the coach said, "I'm listed as one of the people that is aware of Josée Boyet and Jacques Clemont competing in your show."

"Yes, we're fully aware of that," the producer grumbled, "I'm the producer assigned to their cell phones for communication purposes. Are you going to explain why you're calling at such an ungodly hour?"

"It's an emergency."

"It better be."

Isaac pressed his lips together, as if trying not to lash out. "Put them on the phone," he said, as evenly as he could muster. "They need to know that someone has died."

"Oh?" The producer's voice perked up immediately. "Is it her mother?"

Isaac wondered how they knew about Josee's mother's illness, but that's not what this was about.

Isaac weighed his options considerably; and part of him wanted to hang up and realize that this could wait until after the competition, because he didn't want this sudden piece of news interrupt their flow of competing. But once again, he remembered that he made a promise to Josée - and Jacques would want to know this, too. Depending on how the competition would go, he knew that Josée and Jacques would be furious if they were told what happened after the race. So he figured now would be the right time, anyway.

But in reality, he had no idea. Isaac had no idea how much damage that he was going to unintentionally cause. Little did he know, it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Isaac cleared his throat in the locker room, where the death had taken place, and shook his head: "No."