A/N: Behold, one of the longest chapters - and my all-time favorite chapter to write. It's very psychological and will shed some light on an issue that we haven't really looked at lately. I highly recommend you read the bit from Chapter 1 again - where Josée and her mother are talking.
Warning: Implications of sexual assault in the second to last scene of the chapter.
Chapter 26- The Vulture Within
Indonesia was next.
Needless to say, Josée was still flustered and furious from the last round. Ever since MacArthur mentioned Josée's parents, she was set in a rage - because her mother probably wouldn't like her right now, considering that she had gotten silver. The producers guided them to the swan statue that Geoff had made for the ice dancers, saying they wouldn't have gotten closer if it wasn't for them, and Josée had lost it.
"I will destroy them!" Josée shrieked.
"Easy, Josée!" Jacques tried to calm her down. "It was our own fault for trying to play mind games with the Surfers." Then, he smiled. "They don't have minds to play with."
They were set to be on the winning plane, but the losing plane had been struck down by narwhals. Therefore, there was a shift change in plans as everyone ran to the winning plane for a tie.
"This is outrageous!" Josée cried out angrily, "We didn't take silver just to be stuck on a plane with losers!" Josée gasped as a narwhal tried to attack her, landing in Jacques' arms, and the same happened vice versa, with Josée holding up Jacques barely.
"Perhaps we should join them."
"I concur."
In the knick of time, Josée and Jacques made it onto the plane, much to nearly everyone's disappointment. They didn't bother making eye contact with the other teams, nor did they decide to engage in conversation; it was all pointless, anyway. Everyone was quiet, probably because they had woken up pretty early for this round and no one was in the mood to talk to each other.
There was, however, a sound that was persistent, and for some reason, it irked Josée.
Squeak.
Squeak.
Squeak.
That sound belonged to the Goths' odd looking rabbit. Josée felt her eye twitch profusely against her will, watching the creature continue to make those squeals - it... disturbed her, oddly enough. Her heart began to race, and her eyes were wide, and she felt like she was having a heat stroke. It wasn't quite like the way she would get nervous out of the blue where Jacques would calm her down with those grounding techniques, this was something else and Josée couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
Why was this bothering her so much?
Josée began to fidget with her hands, shifting uncomfortably in her seat to try and distract herself. Hopefully the other teams wouldn't notice. The squeaking noise persisted, it becoming more ingrained into her head, it was like a broken record. With each squeak, Josée's stomach began to churn - suddenly she wanted to throw up her breakfast. She tried to open her mouth to speak to try and get that rabbit to stop, but no words came out - she fell silent.
"Josée." Josée blinked rapidly and turned to Jacques; who had his hand on her knee, that had been bouncing before but she hadn't noticed. "Is everything okay?"
Josée stared at the Goths rabbit, and then looked back at Jacques and nodded. "Fine," she settled with saying, rather uneasily.
It was quiet for the rest of the flight.
The moment the flight pulled into Indonesia, everyone was itching to get out. Jacques had pushed a truck driver out of his vehicle and got behind the wheel while Josée got in the back of the truck. As the other teams tried to rush ahead, Josée and Jacques flew right past them. "Bye, bye! See you at the finish line!" she gloated. However, her gloating was cut short as the plane started to back up behind them, which left them to abandon the vehicle and scramble like the other teams to find a taxi.
It took an irritatingly long time in comparison to the other teams.
Josée tapped her foot impatiently in the taxi.
"It looked like something was bothering you on the plane," said Jacques, after a few minutes of unpleasant silence.
"I said I was fine, didn't I?" Josée replied sharply.
Jacques hummed a little to himself. "That's what you said, but the way you acted said no."
"When I say I'm fine, Jacques, then I mean it."
"Josée-"
"Not now, Jacques... not now."
Jacques sighed deeply. His partner's tone indicated that yes, something was bothering her, but that she would prefer that her emotions be put to the side so they could focus on getting on top of the podium. Something in his gut told him that he would regret not letting her talk about how she felt. They were right behind the Cadets' taxi, who seemed to take very long as well. Josée and Jacques ignored the look that they were getting from Sanders upon reaching the Don box, which was one of curiosity.
"It's an All-in. Teams must collect one vial of komodo drool and hand it to a local to get their next tip," Jacques read, wincing uncomfortably. "Is that safe?"
"No way," Josée remarked, crossing her arms. "Their saliva has venom in it."
Nonetheless, they ran to their next challenge. As they did so, Josée muttered a fair share of curses. Their eyes scanned the komodo dragons that were in the area; they did not look welcoming in the least. They spotted one in particular, watching as it threw up some bones that had its saliva all over them.
"That's gross," Josée stated coldly. Then her eyes went to Jacques. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
Wincing at her harsh tone, Jacques charged forward and slipped on the saliva, and landing face first on the ground. Right in front of the komodo, who was growling at him. Jacques' head snapped up in fright, meeting its gaze. Luckily, before that komodo could chow down on him resulting in feeling numerous side effects - which could include being eaten by the damn thing - it sniffed and then scattered away as if it sensed a new presence.
It was right. Jacques looked up to see the Goths had showed up; somehow frightening the animals.
"Spare some venom?" Crimson asked, holding out the vial. The komodo hid behind the bush, which gave away its answer. Crimson didn't seem too bothered. "Er, like, fine, whatever." Josée yanked him off the ground and pulled him to the side while the Goths were having their interview.
"What the hell are you doing?" Josée whispered fiercely.
Jacques raised an eyebrow. "I'm trying to get the venom like you told me to do."
"Well you're doing a terrible job! Do you want to sit on a plane with losers?"
Now Jacques getting frustrated. "Did I say that?'
Josée scoffed. "Oh, I don't know, with the way you're making us lose I would think so!"
"You know what?" Jacques began coldly, holding the vial out for his partner: "You can go get the venom if you think you can do a better job."
Josée snatched it out of his hand. "Gladly." And she stalked over to the komodo dragon that whipped its head around and hissed at her, startling the female ice dancer momentarily - before she tried to move forward and try to collect the venom. The komodo's eyes fixed on Josée. Jacques' heart pounded out of his chest, his eyes wide.
That komodo looked like it had the intent to kill.
"Josée! Stop!"
But Josée didn't listen. The komodo hissed louder, indicating a warning, but Josée knew she was closer to getting its venom. Jacques found himself moving forward and grabbing Josée by her waist, in the knick of time before that komodo could bite her. Josée was baffled; she had been inches away from completing the challenge but here was Jacques picking her up and carrying her away from the reptile. Once they were out of sight from any reptiles, Josée was crushed into a hug.
"What the... Jacques-"
"You could've been killed!" Jacques cried out.
Josée pushed Jacques away from her, unable to believe her ears. "You're the one that told me to get the venom! And I was just about to get it until you stopped me!"
"It would've bitten you if I haven't intervened!" Jacques exclaimed. "Is it worth your life ending?" He stared at her in utter disbelief when he saw a distant look in her eyes; one that said that she wasn't too sure of the answer, the fact that she had to think about it. "Josée-"
"Fine! So now we've established that you're getting the venom?"
"You didn't answer the question."
Josée narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't be an idiot, Jacques."
"You still didn't answer the question."
Beat.
"Just get the damn venom!" Josée snapped, her eyes flaring madly. Jacques' eye twitched only a little, clenching his fists to his side, but scanned to find a reptile nearby resting, looking content.
She still didn't answer the question.
"Okay, Jacques..." Jacques said, trying to comfort himself as he approached it uneasily, "You can handle a venomous reptile... you've skated with Josée for years..."
"Ahem!" Josée announced from behind him, clearing her throat. Jacques didn't reply to her. Instead, he creeped down on the ground and placed the vial underneath the Komodo's mouth, where a little bit of venom was dripping out. Then a bunch of reptiles stormed the area, trampling both Josée and Jacques to the ground, leaving them with multiple scratches and disheveled. They discovered the source of them vanishing, which was again, from the Goths, who called the animals cowards.
Josée brushed herself off and groaned, getting up. "This is hopeless. It's time to forget the challenge and focus on sabotaging the others."
Jacques rolled his eyes. "Pfft, because that worked so well last time!" He paused, then added: "That was sarcasm."
"I know!" Josée said, smacking his hand away from her face. "Just follow my lead."
Jacques really didn't want to; not because of moral reasons, but he really didn't need for his partner to descend into this frenzy that was completely unfamiliar territory - at least he didn't want to sabotage for today. He didn't want to admit it, but Don was starting to sound right.
Josée smiled when approaching the Goths. "That rabbit of yours is so darling." Jacques didn't know why her smile looked more forced than usual, it was a similar expression she had when she was on the plane with them.
Nonetheless, Jacques played along: "I used to carry around a Shih Tzu just like it!"
"Um, Loki isn't darling," Ennui said. Josée and Jacques' smiles disappeared as Crimson added, "He's a beacon of famine."
Josée let out a forced chuckle. "But still, he must be terrified. Those komodos are just waiting to gobble him up." And that churning feeling in her stomach returned; it was partially true - she actually didn't want to see the rabbit gobbled up, but this was more strategy to get them to leave. Still though, it bothered Josée more than it should've.
"One wrong move and he's dragon chow. Best to get him out of here," Jacques advised.
Crimson hummed a little bit. "Let's see what Loki has to say." She paused, then turned to her boyfriend: "Ennui, link with him."
Josée frowned. "Er, what are you-" she stopped as Loki pressed his head against Ennui's.
"Loki is refusing to leave," Ennui told them. "He has... another idea."
"They're taking orders from a rabbit?" Jacques asked in the confessional, with much amusement.
"Might as well back your bags, rabbit lovers, because you're coming in last place!" Josée proclaimed, pointing to the camera. When the confessional ended, they were back with the Goths to see this idea that... Loki came up with. Loki climbed a tree and threw some walnuts at a reptile. It looked so unbothered as the komodo tried to eat him.
While watching, it made Josée's heart race and her hands shake - it wasn't like she cared about the rabbit, it was something else she couldn't explain, and it made her unnaturally nervous and uncomfortable - it was a feeling all together that she wasn't familiar with. Josée's shoulder was being shaken by Jacques, who looked at her worriedly. She shook her head and watched as the komodo drooled into a bucket, successfully getting the venom.
"That is one B-A-D bunny," Josée stated, watching the Goths walk away.
"Well, that plan backfired, and much faster this time," said Jacques.
Josée gasped excitedly when she saw that the Goths had left the bucket behind. "Who cares? We have what we need!" She scooped up the venom in their vial and announced happily, "To the winner's circle!" Then she looked to see if the other teams were around, and kicked the bucket, spilling the rest of the content so the others couldn't get it.
Josée and Jacques cackled and ran to the local, where the Goths were right in front of them getting their travel tip. "Hey, hey, hey! We're finished!" Josée exclaimed, trying to get the local's attention. The local frowned and gave them their travel tip. "Prepare to meet your loom?" Crimson and Ennui looked behind them, and shrugged.
"Basically you have to find the rug that has the show's logo on it," Ennui told them, moving forward to search for the rugs. Josée and Jacques did the same, tossing out various rugs in hopes of finding the rug they were looking for.
"You found our bucket of venom?" Crimson asked, after some time.
Josée's eye twitched at them and she smirked. "Oui! I bet you didn't see that coming."
Squeak.
Squeak.
Squeak.
Loki started to make more noises; making Josée's eye twitch even more - it was like nails on chalkboard.
"We left it on purpose to help you," said Ennui.
Josée and Jacques' smirks vanished and blinked in confusion. "What?"
"Yeah, you almost got killed, so..." Crimson trailed off. "...whatever."
"You took pity on us?!" Jacques exclaimed angrily.
Right before Ennui could say otherwise, Josée cut him off with a cackle. "Well that doesn't matter! I kicked the rest of the venom so the other teams wouldn't be able to get it!"
"That's not very cool of you," said Ennui.
Josée scoffed at them. "We don't owe you anything!" Could that rabbit be any louder?
"We never said you did," Crimson replied monotonously.
"People always want something," Jacques replied coldly.
"We saw the way you boomeranged the Haters!" Josée added, as if to prove a point. "We're onto you!"
"They boomeranged themselves..." Ennui said, blinking slowly.
Jacques laughed in utter disbelief. "Please! Who would boomerang their own team?"
"The Haters would. They're miserable," Ennui answered.
Squeak.
Squeak.
Squeak.
"Stop with these mind games!" Josée shouted furiously. "And can you shut your rabbit up!?"
Crimson blinked at them. "Loki is still a rabbit; even if he is a beacon of famine. He can't help it."
"Well it's... it's... it's a mind game!" Josée snapped, almost desperately.
"You two need to chill," Ennui said honestly, making Josée and Jacques gasp.
"No, you need to chill!" Josée fired back. Crimson and Ennui blinked slowly once more.
Jacques huffed and continued to search through the rugs, along with Josée. The rabbit's squeaking subsided after a while, and it wasn't because of Josée ordering it to. It was because the rabbit had helped them find a rug. At that moment, Josée and Jacques found their rug. It was now a race to the chill zone with their rugs wrapped up so it wouldn't weigh them down.
"The Goths take first place!" Don announced excitedly at the pair who looked less than interested.
Josée and Jacques arrived seconds later, with the latter looking over at his partner to see anger written all over her face.
"What? Silver again?! This race is fixed!" Josée accused furiously. She briefly glanced at the Goths and then lost it, letting out a series of screams while tossing the rug back and forth, accidentally whacking Jacques in the process of it. She threw the rug and stomped on it repeatedly, still screaming in frustration.
Stupid rabbit.
Stupid show.
Jacques glanced over at Don, who was shooting him a look that said, 'I told you so.'
He was right. Jacques rushed over to Josée to get her to let go of the rug, and usher her to the producers that were asking for a confessional. As much as Jacques longed to snap at them that now was not the time, he knew very well that this could affect their placement for next time.
"I can't believe those pasty-faced freaks took gold!" Josée said, her face in a twisted expression. "Oh, I bet they're just loving it!"
Back at the chill zone, almost all the teams had arrived - the exception was the Reality TV Pros - Noah and Owen. From what the others were saying, it wasn't even close, they were ridiculously far behind in comparison to everyone else. On the way back to the hotel Emma had looked upset, naturally, but her face was a little red; flushed, even.
"Six teams left," Josée remarked in their hotel room for the night, and then she mumbled it again: "Six teams left..." Then she shot up from her seat. "I have to go buy something." Before Jacques could stop her, it was too late, she had exited the room. Jacques let out a heavy sigh; he suddenly craved a cigarette.
As tempting as it was, he stayed inside.
It was absolutely ludicrous. Jacques should've realized that something was horribly wrong when Josée had come back yesterday claiming that she was onto the Goths and that she was going to fight back with a wooden stake and some garlic. Despite Jacques trying to tell her that only worked for vampires and that was only in fictional stories, she refused to listen and just mumbled on how she was going to get back at them; and their stupid rabbit would pay for it as well.
Josée was especially fixated on that rabbit; Jacques hadn't a clue why, though.
"Coming in second is bad enough," Josée said in the confessional. "But losing to the Goths is unacceptable! Oh, I'm on to them now, and I will do whatever it takes to bring them down. That's why I picked up these!" She bent down to pick up the items to show the camera. "Garlic... and a wooden stake!"
Jacques scoffed. "Sacre Cerise! Are you losing it?! They're goths, not vampires!"
"Aren't they, Jacques, aren't they?!" Josée exclaimed, lifting up the wooden stake causing Jacques to screech.
Jacques knew he was in for a very long few days. The flight to Nevada was eighteen hours; and despite that most teams were drifting off to sleep sometime during the flight; Josée remained mostly awake - and very skeptical. Despite Jacques' efforts to tell Josée to calm down and rest since they would be competing in a round, she had gotten very little sleep. And every now and then, the Goths rabbit would squeak - which immensely bothered his partner and caused her to snap a few times at it.
"Josée... it's just a rabbit."
"No, you don't understand!" Josée hissed at Jacques, then mumbled: "Stupid mind games..."
After they arrived in Nevada, Jacques liked to think that would be the end of it - maybe they could focus on the challenge itself instead of worrying about the others. That was until Josée stopped a car, dragged him out of the driver's seat and stuck him in the back. Jacques took the passenger seat while Josée insisted on driving. She wouldn't let him have a say in it. Then, things took a turn for the worse when Josée spotted the Goths taxi up ahead. She pressed on the gas and rammed her vehicle into theirs, and screamed.
"Josée!" Jacques exclaimed in horror.
What she didn't realize that now both vehicles were damaged and unable to move faster.
But what he didn't realize was that she would have a total different perception of what happened.
Josée stormed out of the vehicle as the Goths got out of their taxi calmly. "YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" she accused furiously.
"What?" both Goths said at the same time.
"You slowed down so that we would crash into you!" Josée continued frustratedly. "We're on to you! We're so on to your tricks!" Like promised, Josée threw garlic in front of them, hissing. She didn't even notice Jacques' hands on her shoulders and looking back at the Goths apprehensively that they would react. Their lack of reaction, for some reason, greatly annoyed Jacques - it's like they didn't even care.
"We... we didn't, but... whatever," said Crimson.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jacques challenged.
"We didn't slow down," Ennui said. "You crashed into us because you went too fast."
Jacques raised an eyebrow at him; now he was wasn't so sure if he could believe them. Still, he turned to Josée. "We have to get another taxi."
"No you don't," Crimson replied. "You can just walk to the Don box."
Jacques scoffed. "Now you are trying to sabotage us!"
"...It's literally right there," Ennui said, pointing at the Don box up ahead. Josée and Jacques squinted to see that he was right. Then he turned to Josée. "You didn't crash early on, so we wouldn't fall that far behind."
Josée's eye twitched in annoyance. "Whatever." The Goths ran up ahead, with the ice dancers following shortly behind them. They had overheard the other teams stating whether they were doing a magic show or dune buggies and that it was a foot race to the chill zone after that. Josée pressed the Don box, expecting a tip, but saw that it was behind Jacques' ear and announced, "Magic!" Jacques let out an excited squeal. As they made their way to the magic show, they discussed it. "I'll be the assistant, then?"
"Josée, read the rest of the tip."
Josée did so, reading on that the assistant would have to be caged in with a lion, and that the magician would have to make the lion disappear. Even with this in mind, Josée smirked and nodded confidently. "I'm sure I can handle that!"
"Non, it's too dangerous."
Josée raised an eyebrow. "You aren't serious."
"Josée, you almost got killed by a reptile the other day!"
She scoffed frustratedly. "You're serious. Oh, so you just want us to lose?!"
Jacques couldn't believe his ears. "When did I say that?!"
Josée put her hands up in defeat. "You know what? Fine. Like you said about me with the reptiles, if you think you can do a better job, then you be the assistant."
"Fine."
"Okay."
"Fantastic."
"Wonderful."
Josée and Jacques' glared at each other for some time, then were called over for another confessional before they could get changed into their outfits. "I have no problem being the assistant," Jacques started off confidently, then added: "When we skate, I'm always the magician."
Josée stared at the camera, because even she confused by that statement. "Say what?"
"I lift you, carry you, twirl you around..." Jacques listed, then grinned: "All you need to do is smile and not fall down."
"Wow!" Josée exclaimed sarcastically. "I hope I do this trick right, I'd hate to watch you get EATEN BY A LION!" Josée was standing over him with her fists balled up, making Jacques' grin disappear entirely.
By the time they were finished changing - Jacques was delighted with the purple dress he was wearing and wouldn't be quiet about it - it was their turn to do this magic trick. Jacques trembled in his cage, eyeing the lion that looked at him with the intent to kill from the other side of the divider. Josée pushed the lever to remove the divider as the curtain came down, resulting in Jacques to let out a terrified scream. "Abraca-gold!" Josée exclaimed happily as she pushed the lever again in hopes of removing the lion.
The curtain being lifted had revealed Jacques backed into a corner by the lion that roared at him; making him shriek in horror. Then in a normal voice, he asked: "The divider, Josée, can you put the divider - BACK!" He had shouted the last word upon the lion getting closer to him, resulting in more high-pitched shrieks.
Instead of doing what he asked, Josée looked at the judge for approval, that gave them a thumbs down.
Josée groaned. "Ugh, great!" Behind her back, Jacques was getting scratched by the lion. Jacques ran out of the cage to get away and barely made it out. The producers asked them for a confessional on the incident, making Josée sigh. "The worst part is that we have to let the other teams have a turn... before we get to try again."
"That's the worst part?!" Jacques exclaimed in the background, resulting in Josée rolling her eyes. "Really?"
Josée turned back around and glared at him. "You're the one that wanted to be the assistant, so you're the one dealing with the pain!"
"Are you serious?" Jacques exclaimed.
"If you're going to play Joan of Arc, don't be angry when you're burned at stake!" Josée replied icily.
Jacques didn't know what this was. He felt fury rise within him; she was never usually this careless, she was never this cruel. Whenever she had hurt him throughout the race she always had her intentions of doing these things, but now it seemed like she liked it.
And Jacques told her so. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Don't paint me as some monster!"
"I'm not saying that, but you could've put the divider back faster!"
"That's exactly what you're implying!"
"You're avoiding many questions lately."
Josée pretended she didn't hear him.
Back at the magic show, Josée and Jacques felt a little more relieved when they saw the other teams struggling. Unfortunately when it was their turn again, things had taken another terrible turn. Somehow, the lion managed to climb on top of Jacques' back, with him trembling underneath him as it roared, making Jacques' hair stand up in fright. Once again, the judge disapproved and they would have to wait again. Then it was the Goths that went next; that's when things took an interesting turn.
Josée watched as Ennui pulled the lever and let their rabbit within the cage of the lion as the divider went away. The lion roared at the rabbit, and instead of the rabbit backing off, he jumped straight into his mouth that abruptly closed. Everything was slowed down for Josée and felt an enormous tug on her body, almost like she was being dragged to the floor. There was a ringing in her ears; similar to a rabbit's squeal as if it was in pain, and her mind went evidently elsewhere.
"Maman... Maman what happened?"
"Josée, go back to sleep!"
"But I heard bun-bun..."
"I'LL TELL YOU IN THE MORNING, BACK TO BED!"
Josée woke up out of her trance and gasped in confusion; did she imagine that? Why the hell had that happened? She didn't remember waking up in the middle of the night, and she certainly didn't remember hearing bun-bun in the middle of the night squealing. All she remembered was crying the next morning hysterically and her stomach being funny.
The whole thing was so absurd, that Josée burst into a fit of laughter.
But then she realized from looking at Jacques that there was something wrong with laughing like this, it was then she returned to the present and saw that the Goths rabbit had presumably died upon being eaten by the lion. "Sorry for your loss," she offered lamely to the Goths. But then Ennui wordlessly went back in the cage without a trace of fear. When the lion opened its mouth to roar, Ennui reached inside and took out the unharmed rabbit. The judge gave them a thumbs up.
Josée let out a high pitched groan and lifted up her wooden stake. "That is it!" However, she lowered her hand confusedly over what had occurred.
...It didn't make sense. Okay, she didn't remember much about when she was very little, but her mother told her the next morning that her rabbit had died; there was nothing about it in the middle of the night, she had been too scared because she had skated one of the worst days of her life and her mother was undeniably furious. She didn't wake up from hearing her rabbit squealing... bun-bun hardly made any noise at all!
"Josée, it's our turn!" Jacques called out to her.
Oh. Right.
"This time, we nail it!" Josée said, after Jacques stepped into the cage.
Unfortunately not.
Jacques' leg was in the lion's mouth as he whimpered. He bit his finger as if to distract himself from the lion's bite.
The judge disapproved again.
"What's with you?" Josée snapped. "Are you hiding hamburgers in your dress?!"
Jacques scoffed. "It's not my fault I'm irresistible!" Then he posed happily as if there wasn't a lion biting his leg. "It must be my natural manly musk!"
Josée walked back to the lever. "Yeah, that's it. We'll try this again." The judge shook his head and pointed to the Haters, that had switched their roles and were waiting for their turn. She groaned furiously and dragged Jacques out of the cage. The Haters returned, with Stephanie trembling in the cage. Ryan pulled the lever, and it got unexpectedly stuck. He tried moving it back and forth, but to no avail. "What are you doing?" Josée asked.
"Give it a minute."
Stephanie's screech cut through, and it became suddenly quiet, then a punch followed through.
The curtain revealed a batter lion, and Stephanie who was full of scratches with her arms up.
Despite it being obvious that Stephanie kicked the lion into the trap door, the judge approved them.
"What?!" Josée exclaimed, turning to the judge. "How is that fair?!" The judge didn't react. Ryan and Stephanie moved on, presumably to run to the chill zone. Josée resisted the urge to scream; now they had to be in last place, or at least dangerously close to it. Josée and Jacques went back to try and complete the challenge, but instead Jacques' head ended up in the lion's mouth. "Seriously?!"
"Dune buggies! Please!" Jacques begged desperately.
"Fine!" Josée shouted at him. Jacques managed to escape away from the lion and ran with Josée to switch to the dune buggies. On the way there, they passed the Best Friends, who were switching over to magic. Josée smiled; maybe she and Jacques weren't in last place, after all. "You take the tower, I'll take the buggy!" Jacques looked at his console in his hands and pressed the two buttons, resulting in Josée to zoom fast against the dirt. Jacques coughed from the excess of it. Josée looked directly at the camera for her reasoning of making this decision. "Grabbing flags is the most important part, as if I'm going to stand back and let Leggy McLion food do it!"
Meanwhile, Jacques was up at the tower saying something else: "I'm surprised she gave me control of the tower, considering how much she enjoys looking down on people."
Josée managed to catch every single flag when they finished. "Well are we done?" The time said otherwise, which took them a minute and five seconds, therefore they had to complete the challenge again.
"Five seconds over, oh come on!" Jacques complained. Nonetheless, Josée and Jacques tried it again - and managed to get fifty-nine seconds.
"To the chill zone!" Josée proclaimed. As they ran, they spotted some other teams already there - the only team that was missing was the Best Friends. Therefore, they grinned - they were going to make it! But then Devin and Carrie showed up, running ahead of them and making their grins disappear and turn into disapproving frowns and sped up.
"The ice dancers take sixth place," Don announced. Just when Don said that Devin and Carrie were saved from a non-elimination episode, Josée and Jacques were pulled to the side and told them that the Goths had taken first place again; much to Josée's frustration.
"I can't believe the Goths came in first again!" Then, Josée lifted up her wooden stake. "I knew I should've used this."
Jacques looked highly annoyed. "They're not vampires." He sighed. "At least we didn't finish last... and I got to keep the outfit." Then he giggled a bit, holding up the dress. Josée rolled her eyes harshly; he just didn't understand. It wasn't about finishing last, did he just not care about winning anymore?
Neither Josée and Jacques talked on the way to the hotel.
Despite that they weren't in Las Vegas for the filming, they arrived in a hotel in Las Vegas to stay in before they left tomorrow. All the teams were crowded on one elevator and were all set to being on different floors; with the exception of the Best Friends and the Ice Dancers. Calling this tense and awkward would be a massive understatement. When it was just the Best Friends and Ice Dancers going to the same floor - however on opposite ends - it was even worse.
"Um..." Devin began uneasily, "Are you two okay?"
"We're fine, thank you!" Josée hissed at him. "We don't need you to interject."
"Oui. Josée just thinks we can be reckless with challenges."
Josée glared at her partner, who wouldn't meet her eyes out of spite. "And Jacques thinks that he could do whatever he wants, and that's fine."
By the time they made it to their room, and Josée slammed the door she unleashed her fury. "So I get it now; you just don't want to win!" Josée exploded.
And Jacques wasn't having it. "Josée, you were so out of line!" he exclaimed in horror. "You almost had me killed!"
Josée scoffed. "What did I say about Joan of Arc-"
"Non, don't do that!" Jacques interrupted fiercely. It was so hard. It was so incredibly hard to do this; especially because he was very confused about his feelings regarding his partner, but he couldn't excuse it anymore. "You almost killed me! You cared more about the stupide judges' approval than you cared about me!"
"Of course I cared about you, you idiot!" Josée snapped frustratedly. "But forgive me that I want to win! We were almost in last place because of you!"
"Oh, like the way you cost us the podium with your stupide rock four times in a row!"
"I already apologized about that!"
"Speaking of apologies! You never forgave me because of the olympics! Let's talk about that, because you just love to avoid it!"
"Fine! I'm not over it; and I'll probably never be over it! It was by half a point, Jacques! And it screwed us over! And it landed us here, so it is your fault!"
Jacques scoffed and shook his head. "You're unbelievable and out of control! Josée, you laughed at a rabbit almost getting eaten today!"
Just like that, Josée remembered all about what happened today regarding the Goths rabbit; how it was irritating and its squeaks brought something that made her incredibly conflicted, that seeing that rabbit jump into a lion's mouth made her think of a rabbit's squeal, and how she thought of her own rabbit - none of it made sense, and it frustrated her so. "That... I don't know, I just don't know what happened! Leave it alone!" Jacques blinked at her; in total shock and astonishment, and shook his head and took out a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie and went to the bathroom presumably to change. Josée stared confusedly at the bathroom door. "What are you doing?!"
Jacques opened the bathroom door, now changed into the clothes he picked out, and was ready to head out the door. "Going downstairs, I can't... I can't with you now."
Josée scowled. "Are you kidding? You're just going to walk away!?" she screamed, then she cleared her throat and clenched her fists, resisting the urge to use them. "You know, you act like you're such a morally ground person when you want to see everyone suffer just as much as I do. You do want revenge... you're no better than I am. You're just too scared to do anything, too scared of the consequences! Leo is like that, too!"
"And you're an awful lot like Liv," Jacques replied coolly. "Never thinking of the bad things that occur."
"Don't you dare compare me to Liv!"
"Well don't you dare compare me to Leo!" Jacques retorted, his anger building up.
Josée burst into hysterical bitter laughter. "It's so hilarious thinking of them at a time like this, because even though they're awful to the bone, at least they worked together as a team! At least they could use all their anger to fight back against people; but no, my partner is too scared to do that! Think about it, Jacques - every single team has been terrible to us, so my question is, why can't we fight back?! And you're getting mad over the lion... we want to win! And we can't win unless you try, and you weren't even trying! You know what I think it is..." Josée began, venomously sweet: "I think, deep down, you would do the same exact thing to me if the time comes..."
Jacques' expression had darkened under that accusation.
"...because the competition is getting to you too. You think you're that much better, but really, you're not. Neither is anyone else; they're all out for themselves, and so are you."
"Bullshit."
"Oh shut up."
Jacques brushed right past Josée easily; yanking the door open and slamming it forcefully shut. Josée felt herself grow very hot, and her fists were clenched so tight she wouldn't be surprised if her nails were making her palms bleed. Of course Jacques didn't understand; it was about winning, it was about getting gold and impressing her mother. Speaking of her mother, she wanted to know if what she heard actually happened, though it couldn't have happened. Everything was so confusing and Josée couldn't explain what it was, which only made her angrier. The same squealing noise she heard when the Goths rabbit went into the lion's mouth had echoed into Josée's brain, over and over.
And then Josée blacked out.
Jacques took a few breaths in and stepped into the bar by the main lobby. He showed the bartender his ID and was served his usual drink that he ordered in Montreal; apparently the United States had his preferred beverage after all. He downed it quickly; it was not enough to get him drunk - it took a lot to get him drunk - but enough to make him feel a little more relaxed after today's events.
That didn't mean Jacques wasn't angry, however, and that certainly didn't mean he didn't feel guilty, either. In fact, drinking some more made him rethink about what happened today, as well as what happened back in Indonesia. She had been off; well, he couldn't exactly blame Josée for being off this whole race - her mother was sick, and was probably going to die. Not that she knew that last part, which was where the guilt came in from Jacques' end.
But lately this was a different type of off from Josée. She was out of control, to the point where she'll sacrifice her health - as well as his - for a competition; and it was getting concerning to the point where Jacques didn't know how to help her. The thing was, he always did know how to help her; with anything. But this was starting to become something outside his expertise, and he thought Don's words about a mental breakdown was starting to become more and more true.
"Merci," said one of the bartenders, after getting a tip from a guest a few seats down from Jacques. The ice dancer's ears perked up at the familiar Quebecois accent. He turned to see the bartender with black hair that looked to be dyed. "I hope you enjoyed." That Quebecois accent was so familiar... in fact, a little bit too familiar. Jacques caught a glimpse of her face and his eyes popped open in shock. She looked exactly like her; except her hair was a different color - it was dyed. Jacques' breath caught in his throat.
No way...
That's impossible.
The bartender moved over to him. "Have you been help-" she stopped mid-sentence, recognizing the man in front of her. That's when Jacques knew that he wasn't imagining things; it was really her. Except her hair wasn't its usual shade of red. "Oh my god..."
"Alice?"
"Shut the fuck up," Alice hissed lowly, looking back and forth frantically to see if anyone had heard him. "In here, my name is Monica," she explained.
Jacques stared at Alice in total disbelief. "You look nice..." She had abandoned her natural red hair in favor of dyeing it black and cutting it right below the shoulders. Her face was a little more full; and she looked slightly thinner. "How have you been? What are you doing in Nevada?"
Alice snorted. "I could ask you the same."
"You first."
She let out a sigh and proceeded to go into a litany: "Oh, it was awful! So originally, I was supposed to go to New York - you know, the place you and Josée would never shut up about - but instead, we all went to California, which is definitely not my scene! I'm also sure you're wondering about my new do. Apparently, there are other people in the business who struggle way more than I do because of my red hair! Like... people of different cultures and everything!"
Jacques pretended to be shocked. "Oh really now?"
Alice nodded. "I know, I know. You hardly see it in Quebec. Anyway as I was saying, it didn't really work out. So I met this guy, this really, really hot producer - oh, and you know that they're just really scummy..." Jacques now understood this one hundred percent, and let her continue: "And he said that I could only be in this movie, if I flashed him. And I obviously didn't want to so I smacked him across the face. And after a few gigs later that wasn't really getting us any money, me and another friend I met decided we should go to Las Vegas - which is near California - to become showgirls! And it sounded amazing, but then when we got there, she met this sexy real estate agent - who was forty-four when she was only nineteen, but whatever - and they got married! So now she's living the rich life without doing anything while I'm slaving away."
Jacques blinked at that story and resisted a smile; though she changed her looks, she herself hadn't changed a bit. "Sounds like your life is a movie."
"I am truly meant for the big screen," Alice remarked. "It's a miracle Josèe was friends with me, wasn't it? I don't get it sometimes."
Jacques smirked. "To be honest, I didn't either." Alice didn't seem too insulted. Then, Jacques added: "Then I heard you sing, and I understood."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"There are two things Josèe values in a person," Jacques began knowingly, "The first is natural talent. The second is hard work and dedication. You had both... she liked that."
Alice smiled appreciatively, filling the silence. Then it disappeared as she murmured: "I heard that child services came to my house for my sister?"
Jacques nodded solemnly, this had taken a darker turn. "They arrested your stepfather."
"Good, good..." Alice said, biting her lower lip. "I'm just glad that she's safe. Before I left... I wanted to make sure that people knew who he truly was... which was a monster."
"I never understood why you never told the police earlier," Jacques said honestly.
Alice shrugged. "The same reason why you don't tell anyone about Leo and Liv; the business is risky - you can get yourself blacklisted over accusations like that."
"But you were his stepdaughter, obviously people would believe you."
Alice laughed bitterly. "You'd think. You want another reason? Because I was the school whore, okay? People expect me to want these things."
"You weren't the school... you know what... of the school."
"C'est la vie."
Then it became awkwardly silent again.
"But never mind me, how are you? How is Josée? Do you still talk to her? I heard about what happened in the olympics and I'm so sorry that happened, but if it makes you feel better - you guys looked really good when you accepted your medals. You guys were always so graceful and showed good sportsmanship unlike those assholes that won gold."
Jacques felt a tug on his chest. "Josée is fine... we... we're actually here together in Nevada."
Alice perked up visibly and smirked. "Ooh, is that why you two are here? Tying the knot now, are we?"
"Non, we're not together in that way," Jacques interrupted; though he felt his cheeks heating up a bit. However, it went away as the events of today replayed in his mind and grew sad. "We're here for ah... an ice show."
Alice looked at him skeptically. "Ah, okay. It..." She saw his face falter considerably. "...talk. Something's wrong." Jacques raised a shocked eyebrow at her, so Alice groaned and proceeded to explain: "Being a bartender means I have to listen to other people's problems. Talk."
Jacques almost smiled a little at that; Alice was more of a talker rather than a listener. Despite this, Jacques spilled: "I... I can't go too into detail, but Josée has been really, really strange lately. You know how she loses her temper sometimes, and how she struggles with her..."
"Eating disorder?"
Jacques grew uncomfortable. "I would prefer if you didn't use those words together."
"We've discussed this, Jacques. It's not a quirk. It's an eating disorder. You can say those words together, it won't hurt you," Alice said honestly. "Oh sorry. Continue."
He did, sighing deeply. "She's just a lot more controlling, a lot more meaner, a lot... I don't even know. Something isn't right, and I don't know how to help her. We had a huge fight, and I'm wondering if she even cares about me at all! Everything is just winning, winning, winning! And I want to win too! And I feel myself going crazy because of this."
"She does care about you," Alice said right away. "I... I never knew what kind of relationship that you two had, it's... it's always been rather odd to me, but one thing I know is that you two cared for each other a lot... I've... I've seen more care into your friendship than I've seen between most couples."
"That's another thing, I... I..." Jacques stammered, then shook his head. "I don't know."
"...You're leaving something out," Alice said, giving him a look. "I don't know what it is, but you're leaving something out, and whatever that is... is why you're truly bothered."
Jacques let out a bitter chuckle. "When did you become so observant?"
"Bartender, remember?" Alice said, with a gentle smile. "Now dish."
So he did. "I'm... maybe feeling things for her I haven't felt before..." Alice's eyes grew wide. "...or maybe I have... I don't know. It doesn't matter, because I can't feel that way toward her - it is impossible."
"And why is it impossible?" Alice pressed.
Jacques took a breath. "Because... because I can't! And, well, it wouldn't be fair to her! She's in a bad emotional state. And I don't want to use her."
"I knew it, I always knew it."
"Non. I'm... I'm probably not feeling anything toward her, or maybe I'm making myself do it without knowing... Nathaniel said-"
"Nathaniel's a moron."
Jacques glared at her. "Nathaniel was my first love."
"He dumped you last minute to head to New York," Alice stated, matter-of-factly. "He made the big stage."
"Did he?" Jacques asked, a little surprised. Well, he wasn't too surprised - Nathaniel was extremely talented. "Good for him."
Alice rolled her eyes. "He just got lucky," she said enviously. "But really, Jacques, like I've always told Josée, you can love who you want to love - guys, girls, guys and girls-"
"Why would you put something like that in her head?" Jacques said, with a snort. "That last part isn't really a thing..." Even though Tom and Jen insisted it was; Jacques still couldn't shake it off.
Alice huffed and rolled her eyes again. "Keep telling yourself that-" Then she stopped mid-sentence, realization dawning on her face when she saw Jacques. It took her a few minutes, almost like she was recalling some information, and then changed the subject: "You know, there are promos for this show that will be released in a few months."
Jacques blinked at the abrupt shift. "What show?"
"It's this... race show. We don't know who's competing, of course. We just know their titles... like, the Police Cadets, the Sisters, the Ice Dancers..."
Oh shit.
They're promoting it already?
Jacques chuckled nervously; Alice probably cracked the code. "Well, ah, that's strange. I hope ah, the Ice Dancers win."
"So do I," Alice said, with a wink. "I'm sure they're wonderful people, who can get through anything, they're probably the best team." Yep, she definitely did. "I wish them luck."
Jacques cleared his throat loudly. "I, ah, I should get going. Merci." He handed her money, before Alice waved it off.
"It's on the house." Jacques furrowed his brows in confusion at the expression. "It means it's free. It's amazing how many funny American expressions I picked up on." Alice then reached over to give Jacques a hug, which he happily returned. "And Jacques? Just be you. Tell Josée I said hi."
"Of course," said Jacques, smiling. He felt a little better. Just as he was about to take the stairs opposed to the elevator, two voices from behind him caught his attention, calling his name. Jacques turned a little to see Devin and Carrie, wide-eyed and afraid. Jacques rolled his eyes at them. "What do you want-"
"You need to get upstairs to your room now!" Carrie shrieked desperately.
The fear in her voice told Jacques that something was wrong. He turned around fully so he was facing Devin and Carrie. "I was just about to go there. What happened?"
Devin gasped. "You mean you didn't hear!?"
Now Jacques was sure something was very wrong. "What is it?" Devin and Carrie just exchanged a frightened look; which did not calm Jacques at all. "What's going on!?"
Jacques felt him stomach drop in horror at the scene.
A lamp was tilted over to the side and destroyed, along with cushions that were ripped out of chairs that had been thrown across the room. The television set was not in its usual spot, instead it was laying on its side with a cracked screen. Decorative picture frames were either tilted slightly or were torn off completely. Two of the blankets belonging to the beds were thrown, and as for the beds themselves, their mattresses were tossed and sprawled all over the floor. There was at least three holes in the wall, and managed to have a few dents as well.
And in the middle of it all was Josée, who was staring into space, her eyes wide - but had an utterly clueless look to them that Jacques hadn't seen before.
It made him very uneasy.
Just like that, Jacques forgot all about the fight they had. He rushed over to her side. "Josée..." he said softly. "What is it? Can you hear me?" He tried to hide the panic in his voice when he saw her bruised hands. Josee frowned deeply as she blinked, snapping out of the daze she was in. Jacques felt something in his stomach shift; this wasn't an ordinary tantrum. He couldn't help but feel that something was very, very wrong. "Josée?" When she stared up at him, this only made the alarms go off in his head. There was fear in her eyes. Whenever she had a tantrum she would fall asleep immediately after, especially a tantrum this bad, but no, she was wide awake - and frighteningly so. "Can you hear me?" Jacques repeated. Josée nodded slowly that she did. "What happened?" he asked urgently.
Jacques watched as Josée's eyes drifted to the floor, avoiding his, almost like she was ashamed. She began to wring her bruised hands guiltily, like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar before supper. He had never seen her this way. "Jacjac..." Josée said, in a small voice so unlike her. "I think... I think I did this..." she muttered quietly, referring to the mess. Jacques furrowed his brows in confusion, Josée usually knew whenever she had a tantrum, unless...
Jacques' heart stopped just for a moment. Oh, no. He hoped that he was wrong, he hoped to god that he was wrong...
"I don't remember doing this..."
...Fuck.
Jacques watched as Josée's eyes brimmed with tears as she said in a hushed voice, "Jacjac, I'm scared."
That was all Jacques needed to hear. He immediately put his arms around Josee's frame and drew her close. "It's okay, chouchou..." he murmured softly into her hair.
"No it's not," Josée muffled into his chest, sniffling loudly. "I forgot... I did a bad thing... I'm bad, awful, terrible-"
"No, Josée! You are none of those things. It's okay..." Jacques interrupted before she could berate herself any further. He grabbed her arm and gently guided her to the mattress that was now on the floor. He settled down with her on it, holding Josée as she cried into his chest. "I'm here. It's okay, shh..." he continued to comfort.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Josée kept repeating guiltily. Jacques wasn't sure if she was talking about the hotel room, the fight they had, or Josée nearly getting him killed during one of the challenges. Either way, Jacques didn't care - Josée was upset, and he had to fix it. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"
"Shh, it's okay." Though Jacques appeared calm on the outside, on the inside was a different story. His heart was beating so unusually fast. No matter how bad Josée's tantrums got, she never ever forgot that she had them, nor did Jacques ever see her so frightened after having one. "I'm sorry too."
Angry? Yes. Sad? Of course. But this was something entirely new.
The million dollars couldn't come soon enough.