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~~(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)~~

Total Drama:

Hellebore Island

Labyrinth of Lies

Chapter 2

The water smoothly splashed up against the side of the dock, and it gave off the vibrant color of the light blue ocean, so transparent that one could see the seaweed and fish floating about.

On top of the dock, Chris McLean stood with his signature smirk on his face.

"Last time on Total Drama: Hellebore Island," Chris started over a camera shot of the entirety of the island, "we kicked off season seven of the hottest reality show on the market!"

A new shot opened on the introduction of Natasha, Nicky, Alma, and Zachary in swift succession.

"This time, we've landed ourselves on a brand new island! New cast, new island, one new million dollar prize!"

The shot shifted into one of an open briefcase with stacks of a million dollars collected all along it. In the background was a shining glow that emphasized the importance of the prize.

"Rivalries have started."

A shot of ViVi and Zachary.

"Friendships began to blossom.

One of Maggie and Willow.

"But in the end, only one of them will leave with a million dollars."

A brand new shot, something not yet seen, of the contestants pulling on a rope, one team on each side. On the left was Kyle, Carly, Natasha, Filima, Nicky, and ViVi. On the right was Jason, Willow, Penelope, Edward, Zachary, Maggie, and Harald.

"The challenge? An obstacle course of the less hurty variety. It wouldn't do to hurt our, uh, players, on the first day, would it?"

The camera changed to one of a dizzy Harald on the obstacle course.

"Followed by completing a puzzle that made up their team logos."

Then, the shot changed to one of Filima and Penelope grabbing their respective puzzle pieces.

"But, in the end, it was the Sadistic Scorpions that lost and sent the first member of their team packing."

Zachary was shown getting a vote.

"So long, Zachary!"

Finally, the camera cut back to Chris as he stood on the dock of the island.

"Thirteen remain! Who'll be next to be sent away? Find out here, now, on…

"Total!

"Drama!

"Hellebore Island!"

The midnight shade of the moon cast over Hellebore Island, and the shoes that belonged to the thirteen remaining contestants stepped over the dirt, weakening at every step they took.

Their feet crunched the leaves of the trees that had been blown off what it had once been a part of, and sticks that had snapped off from too much pressure of something they couldn't know or care about.

A few members of the Sadistic Scorpions looked downtrodden at the loss of one of their teammates off so early. But that was the game, and unless they pulled together harder, they would soon lose another one of them.

The Ferocious Foxes, however, felt thrilled as their win settled in. Their win deprived their opposing team of a member and they had gotten a reward for it. They had won the first challenge of the season, and while it may be narcissistic, there were some among them that felt unstoppable.

"Did Chris ever tell us where our cabins were?" Jason asked aloud, breaking through the silence of a voiceless night, though his question was primarily directed towards himself.

Their bags had been left on the dock and, after the elimination ceremony, they hadn't seen them. So they likely had already been moved into their cabins.

"I don't seem to recall," Edward said, internally going over his interactions with Chris in his head. He had said nothing about the sleeping arrangements during their introduction to the island, or during the elimination ceremony.

"Oh, you're funny!" Filima said, cutting into the conversation. She bounced on the balls of her feet in excitement. "Knowing how Chris is, he'll just leave you outside while we get to sit back and relax." She blinked. "By the way, mind dropping that whole 'gentleman' schtick? Flattery will get you nowhere in a game like this."

There were a few glares sent Filima's way, but she looked like she basked in it. She seemed to enjoy the others hating her.

"I can understand if y'all feel that way," Edward replied patiently, "but I'm afraid I must decline your wish."

Filima's eye narrowed at Edward.

"Come on!" she complained. "Be angry! Give me an actual reaction!" She scowled and stomped her foot, like a child throwing a tantrum.

As Filima became increasingly more angry, Harald exchanged glances with Willow. They both saw the unamused and flat looks being given to Filima.

"It seems that what Filima is doing may cause a shift in gears," Harald spoke, quietly enough so that only Willow heard him. He looked between ViVi and Nicky, the former glaring from a comment Harald hadn't heard.

Harald didn't know that Natasha, too, noticed it.

"At this rate, a schism is bound to ensue, though maybe it will alleviate our losses in the next challenge," Harald continued.

Willow pursed her lip and looked at the rest of Foxes. From Natasha to Carly, to ViVi from Nicky, from Alma to Kyle, and to Filima.

"That's good, right?" Willow asked unsurely. She wasn't good at strategy and she knew it. And Harald's…artistic way of speaking did not help.

Harald didn't answer her question, humming in thought and steepling his fingers.

A voice rang out of the group, one that didn't belong to any of the contestants, and into the area came Chris McLean.

"Actually, Filima," Chris said as he stepped into the group with his hands on his hips. He went past Maggie, who meekly stepped aside and ducked her head in embarrassment. "Flattery will get you everywhere."

Filima glanced from Edward to Chris, and her scowl dissipated, as though whatever woes she had were forgotten in an instant.

"I told you I had a special announcement to make! This season is gonna be a little bit different from our last ones," Chris told them, squeezing his fingers together for emphasis. He whirled around to look at each of the thirteen contestants. "But, like season six, you don't have sleeping arrangements!"

The contestants frowned.

"You're kidding, right?" Penelope voiced with a glare. "So, not only did we lose, but we also have to sleep in the fu- uh," she caught her curse and took a quick glance around for any cameras. "We have to sleep in the freaking cold?" she asked, flickering her eyes left and right before finally settling back on Chris.

Chris chuckled as a response and only grinned.

Jason groaned lowly to himself. "I've been here one day and I already hate this place."

"We couldn't make shelter as part of our first challenge?" ViVi asked, gnashing her teeth together. It was clear to everyone that she was furious with this turn of events.

But Chris didn't care.

"What would be the fun in that?" Chris asked with a nonchalant shrug.

ViVi's glare narrowed on Chris, like she was hoping he would burst into flames the harder she tried.

"Now," Chris said, clasping his hands together, "you'll find some flags leading you to your respective campsites."

"Oh, so you picked us a campsite but skimped on the things to put in it," Alma sassed.

Chris ignored her. "Since I know it's hard for you to remember: blue flags with a fox logo are for the Foxes; red flags with a scorpion logo are for the Scorpions."

"Well…" Alma started, but Chris quickly spoke over her.

"Will you guys remember that?" Chris asked with a grin. "Or do I need to say it louder?"

"We got it, dude," Nicky said.

"Good!" Chris said cheerfully. "Good luck!" He waved once, and then he walked away back the way he had come.

And the cast was left to their own devices once more.

Alma looked down the dirt path. "Where are we gonna go?" she asked. "To sleep, I mean."

Edward peeked up at the sky from under his brim, searching for any sign of rain. When he saw none, he released a breath of relief. He craned his head to look at the rest of the competitors.

"Perhaps we follow the path as Chris said. We have nowhere else to go," Edward said.

The air was rapidly beginning to cool, and some of the players began to rub at their arms in an attempt to warm themselves up.

Together, and just this once, they silently agreed.

The Foxes stayed back as the Scorpions stepped on ahead. It wouldn't do to discuss anything while the other team could hear them.

And so they waited.

"Should we follow them?" Nicky asked eventually. He tugged on his seashell necklace unsurely and looked at ViVi for confirmation.

"No," ViVi said. She gestured with one hand while her other held the wrapped loaf of bread Chris had gifted them for winning the challenge. "Just the path. We'll get to our campsite and see what happens from there."

"Poor planning and leadership," Filima said with a grin at ViVi that she didn't like. "Me likey!"

Confessional: The Wannabe Rockstar

"I don't think I'm in a very good position with my team right now, dudes," Nicky said to the camera. He wrapped a hand around his necklace and pulled at it gently.

He released his necklace suddenly and drummed his fingers on the wall of the confessional.

"And I only say that because ViVi has not been my biggest fan since I asked her to join my band." He stopped drumming. "I'm not stupid, guys! I know how this show works, and since I was askin' for an alliance, uh…" Nicky grimaced with a look towards the camera. "It's not good for ya boy Nicky Stevens."

The moon shone high above the island, the light shimmering across the ocean surrounding the island. The air slapped against the faces of the contestants as they walked. It made some of them more cold than others.

Maggie massaged her arms, letting out a breath into the cold air. Maybe auditioning for this show wasn't the best idea. Or at the very least, she should've picked out a thicker sweater.

But that was how the weather usually worked. Warm in the daylight, cool in the moonlight. Maggie scolded herself for not packing herself something better suited for it.

"Are you cold, Maggie?"

Maggie nearly jumped in her shoes at the sound of Edward's voice.

"Uh, a l-little," she managed to get out, if with a bit of a stutter. Maggie glanced at him before looking down at her shoes.

She never was good at socializing. How she wished that she was, though. How she envied people who could easily make friends, people who were outgoing. How she wished she could be like them.

Her thoughts were interrupted and silenced when she felt Edward wrap something over her shoulders. She almost jumped out of his reach for a moment, but she kept herself still.

It was strange, actually. She practically relished the feeling, sucking in a breath when Edward pulled his hands away, and leaving the clothing over her shoulders.

"Th-Thank you." Maggie blushed, reaching up to the sides to pull the jacket further onto her in an attempt to warm herself up. Though she did dislike the pieces of lint stuck to it, she forced her urge of pulling them off down.

"'Tis an honor," Edward said with a smile and a tilt of his hat.

It was only after looking at him that Maggie realized he had removed his vest and work shirt, revealing his brown canvas pants were being held up over a white undershirt by black suspenders.

Maggie blushed harder and watched his hands carefully as they folded his vest together neatly, and he slipped his pocket watch out of it and into his pants.

She clutched the work shirt closer and fiddled with one of the buttons. "But…w-won't you be cold?" she asked nervously. It felt so strange to be treated so nicely.

And in a way she didn't feel she quite deserved it.

"Maybe just a little," Edward replied honestly, though in a way that made Maggie's concern rise. "But if someone is cold, I shan't let anyone freeze."

A look of guilt appeared on his face and he glanced at the rest of the Scorpions.

"'Tis a shame I ain't able to help everyone."

Jason rolled his eyes at hearing that, while Penelope seethed with anger. She looked as if she was ready to explode at any moment.

Confessional: The Timid Perfectionist

"I…uh…" Maggie started uncertainly, swinging her legs back and forth. "I hope Edward and I c-can be friends," she said, somewhere hopefully. "I don't h-have too many friends back home."

Maggie pinched her lips and forced her legs to a stop.

"...I d-don't think I should've said that," she muttered.

Confessional: The Country Gentleman

"Maggie is quite a nice lady, if a bit shy," Edward said, his tone kind. "I do hope that I can befriend her and boost her self-confidence."

Edward hesitated and thumbed the brim of his hat.

"Not to say she ain't got none," he amended. "But somethin' I say that I hope I may be able to help redefine."

"So this is where it leads," Edward commented as he and the other five remaining members of his team stepped into the forest clearing.

They walked past the last of the flags, connected to a wooden beam that created an arch like where a doorway would be.

There wasn't much to the clearing, but all of their things had been placed around the edges, where the trees created a scattered perimeter.

"Finally," Jason drawled out, and he went to his case, grabbing it by the handle before crouching to the ground to examine his belongings.

Penelope rolled her eyes and shot a glare at Edward one last time, and then flung it to Maggie. He had given Maggie his work shirt to stop her from being cold.

And that struck Penelope.

She wasn't the only one. Maggie swallowed nervously as her mind began to work. The only person here that she thought she could become friends with had his head on the block…and for what?

Had Zachary made the same offer to Penelope that he had made to her and Willow?

Maggie didn't think she would figure that out anytime soon. She could never confront Penelope about it, so what could she do? Maybe just ignore it and hope for the best? Maybe…

"Then this is where we shall stay," Harald spoke up as he picked up his own things and moved over to one of the trees to sit under.

The sound of crickets echoed throughout the clearing as the Scorpions got settled into the best of their abilities.

Willow opened her suitcase and pulled a sleeping bag out. That had been one of the many things the show had told her to bring, and for that, Willow was immensely grateful, because she knew for a fact that she would've left it behind otherwise.

"I want her gone."

Willow glanced up as she unfolded her sleeping bag. Penelope was practically foaming at the mouth in barely concealed rage.

It was the most anger she had seen from someone in her life. At least, in person.

Penelope's fingers slipped through the blades of grass as she leaned back against one of the many forest trees. Her glare burned into the ground, like she was trying to set it on fire.

Willow brushed a finger through her hair, pink locks falling in front of her face, and she pushed them back again.

"Who?" Willow asked, and immediately she wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do.

But Penelope only looked up at Willow, her glare softening like she was excited that she had asked at all.

Because now, Penelope was the center of someone's attention.

She looked away from Willow and back towards Edward. He stood above Maggie as she tried to give him his shirt back, and squeezed herself inside her own sleeping bag.

Willow followed Penelope's gaze for a few seconds before she turned her head back to Penelope with confusion.

"Did Edward do something to make you mad?" Willow asked.

"No," Penelope replied with gritted teeth, her eyes narrowing at Edward as he continued to be ever so noble and decline his shirt, to keep Maggie warm. "He did something to make me furious."

Willow bit her lip and slowly zipped her sleeping bag open.

"That should be me," Penelope muttered to herself, yet loud enough for Willow to hear.

Willow looked up at Penelope. She didn't need to look at Edward and Maggie to know what she was talking about. "I think they're just friends."

But Penelope turned towards Willow with fury in her eyes. "That's what she wants you to think," Penelope said scornfully.

Willow doubted that was true.

"It's because of her that he led me on on international television," Penelope said. She tapped the side of her head and looked at Willow closely. "She's a liar. Remember how she got off the boat?"

Slowly, Willow shook her head. "I wasn't there by then," she said.

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Whatever. My point is that she made herself look so shy," she spat with derision, "so we wouldn't see her as a threat."

Willow pinched her lips together, unsure. Maggie was shy, yes, but she was friendly with her when they'd talked, even if it was brief.

"I bet she voted for me because she knew I was onto her," Penelope said.

Willow grimaced and ducked her head so that Penelope didn't see. That, she knew, wasn't true because she had been the one to vote for Penelope.

She didn't want to vote for anyone, but she didn't think anyone would bother to vote for Penelope at the time.

"I can see through it," Penelope said with some confidence. "Edward will wanna take me back for showing all of them the horrible person that Maggie really is."

Total Drama was all about strategy. That's how to win. And allies were needed in order to do that. Willow wasn't completely stupid, and she knew she would need one of those to actually win the competition.

She had an option here. To go along with Penelope, or find someone else to be friends with.

"If we lose the next challenge," Penelope started, and she didn't bother to even look at Willow this time, "I'll be voting for Maggie. You should do the same."

Willow scratched her cheek and laid down in her sleeping bag, zipping it back up just a second later. She contemplated everything Penelope told her.

Could there be a chance that, if she accepted that, they could form an alliance together? Or even get to the final two together?

It was a leap, and a very hopeful one, but it could be possible.

Would they be the first alliance of the season? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure about a few things.

"I'll think about it," Willow told Penelope, not looking at her, and so she failed to see the dirty look Penelope gave her in return.

She had two options.

The first was to accept the potential alliance with Penelope, although she didn't give the best vibe. It wasn't what she'd hoped for and she wasn't sure if they were even compatible friends.

But the second option was to tell Maggie what Penelope was planning. Because Maggie seemed friendly enough in their brief encounter, if a little awkward.

What to do, what to do…

Confessional: The Selfie Enthusiast

"I know that I'm not too smart or anything," Willow told the camera. "Too much of a…prefer kindness over strategy kind of girl."

Willow threw her hair back, letting it drop down her back. She ran her palms up and down her legs.

"But I think having an alliance could really help me." She frowned. "I don't get Penelope. Everything she said about Maggie sounded one-sided, I think."

Willow bit down on her tongue as it stuck out of her mouth slightly.

"But I don't know what I should do."

Confessional: The 'Nice Girl'

"All I need is at least three votes against Maggie," Penelope stated bluntly.

She crossed her arms over her chest and she glared at something beyond the wall.

"Then she'll be the next one gone." She huffed and shook her head, and finally looked at the camera. "I would prefer it if I had Willow's vote, so I think I'll need to keep a close eye on her."

Penelope tapped her lips, her eyes drifting away from the camera and back at the invisible spot on the wall.

"I need to get someone to vote with me. And then I need to split their votes apart." She hunched forward. "How would I even do that?"

The night sky was almost soothing to those that began to try to sleep around the forest clearing. A river lay just beyond it, and the sound of water lapping and swishing was far enough to be soothing, but not bothersome.

Jason had moved from his spot to get closer to the river. He shifted his suitcase to the side, pulling out both a flashlight and a book.

He flipped the book open and turned his flashlight on to its lowest setting available, casting only a dim light at the book in his hands.

"'A History of Poisons'," someone said from beside him, and Jason tore his attention completely away from the book.

Jason glanced at Harald from the corner of his eye, spotting as he slowly sat down at the edge of the river.

"Night, Harald," Jason acknowledged, turning his attention back to the book in his hands. He flipped the page to the proper chapter he was looking for.

"And to you," Harald returned, crossing his legs and dipping his fingers into the river. He pulled them back a second later and watched as the water dripped down his fingers. "Mind if I hand you a proposition?" he asked.

Jason squeezed his eyes in annoyance. He was always welcome to talk with someone about almost anything…but he swore, whenever he wasn't in the mood, then someone decided to talk.

"What would that be?" Jason asked, and he didn't bother to try to make eye-contact with his teammate.

"An alliance," Harald said, and that got Jason's attention quickly.

"Not wasting any time, are you?" Jason quipped, but he shut his book and turned his flashlight off to show that he was listening.

"Strategy waits for no one!" Harald exclaimed, extending his arms. "I had in my mind, the issue of other players acting as weights on us."

Jason paused and he deciphered what Harald was saying. He slowly put his book back into his suitcase as he thought, weighing the pros and cons in his head.

There were very little issues that could arise in terms of an early alliance, he didn't think. A useful vote that could expand into a majority alliance on his team to control the votes.

But something like that would require to get Edward, Willow, Maggie, or Penelope in the alliance, as well, to even form a tie. That was at least one of the benefits to Zachary being eliminated.

Yes, having an alliance could help him very much in the near future.

"Yeah, sure," Jason agreed flatly, and the expression of slowly building annoyance on Harald's face vanished just like that.

"Wunderbar!" Harald said excitedly, he hopped to his feet and skipped to Jason's side. "I scratch your back," he said, and dropped his voice to a more quiet disposition, "and you scratch mine."

And with those parting words, Harald was gone and left Jason to watch him as he found a spot amongst the clearing.

He had an ally. An especially odd and eccentric ally, but an ally nonetheless. Just one more and the votes could at least be tied and prevent him from being voted off that way.

Jason should've been ecstatic at the development.

So why did it feel so much like he'd just made a deal with the devil?

Confessional: The Weapons Aficionado

"Did you know that Gaston Glock, the inventor of the handgun, started off in manufacturing by making curtain rods in the '60s?"

On Jason's lap was a knife that he started to polish with a handkerchief. He wiped it down, flipping it over this way and that to make sure he got every side.

"His seventeenth patent was, of course, the Glock 17, hence the seventeen in the name," Jason told the camera without looking at it. "A polymer injection model frame with a striker fire design."

Jason stopped polishing and grabbed his knife's sheath from off the floor. Carefully, he wiggled it inside and snapped the button shut, sealing it inside.

"Now that I have an ally that I can depend on, I gotta wonder how I can get another," Jason said. He eyed the camera and placed his sheathed knife beside him. "I want to get the majority vote from my team, but I don't know how I'm going to do that."

Jason's mouth clicked shut.

Then he raised his hand and finger and started to extend them one by one as he spoke, "Edward is too much of a risk to even ask, he wouldn't want an alliance, he wants a team." One finger. "Willow is an idiot." A second finger. "Maggie's weak." A third finger. "That only leaves Penelope."

Jason frowned, slouched in his seat. The prospect of Penelope clearly did not excite him.

"As much as I dislike what is becoming constant whining, she will have to do."

He muttered a curse under his breath, and picked his knife back up, stood, and went to exit the confessional.

Confessional: The Poisonous Poet

"How peculiar!" Harald began, steepling his fingers together. "An alliance with Jason? So it would seem! I wonder which between him and Willow will be my favorite roach to play with?" he pondered. He smirked. "Oh, the fun we'll have together!"

Day soon replaced night as the second day of the competition began. ViVi strolled through the clearings that the forest provided, careful to forage for food. Far away from anyone else. She didn't need to be close to her teammates all the time. Especially not ones that she didn't think were adequate for strategy.

ViVi stretched her back, popping something into place. Chris had provided them no shelter other than a campsite, and it had been so incredibly uncomfortable. She was fortunate that she- and most of her teammates- brought a sleeping bag.

Yet, despite it all, ViVi found herself beaming. Zachary was gone. Eliminated first, nonetheless. She wondered if the Scorpions eliminated him because they knew that she would not stop until he was gone. She smirked slightly at the idea. Then she frowned. How much of a threat would they perceive her as? What about her own teammates?

She had limited options in terms of allies. Nicky was an idiot, Natasha was mute, Filima was obnoxious more than anything, Carly was afraid of her own shadow, and Kyle was too much of a wildcard. And that left…Alma. The one person that ViVi actually had a small amount of respect for.

A distant strumming noise captured ViVi's attention. Someone was playing an instrument? She wondered if it was someone on the Foxes or the Scorpions. It didn't sound like anything Nicky would play, at the very least. ViVi altered her approach and walked towards the sound.

Besides Zachary, did anyone on the Foxes use instruments? ViVi's mind went blank as she thought it over. Not even Zachary used instruments, not really. She smirked again as she recalled his elimination.

She approached the sound of what ViVi could tell was a guitar as she came closer and closer. She moved leaves away and spied her teammate, Alma, turned away from her on a rock as she expertly played something beautiful.

Alma sang the words in Spanish. Words ViVi didn't understand but found herself swaying to. Alma's fingers danced along the chords of her guitar, and a soothing melody sounded out through the clearing.

Idly, ViVi wondered if the reason Alma was this far away from the rest of the team was because she wanted to be alone, and ViVi felt a stab of guilt. She was intruding. Then she reasoned with herself that this was all being recorded anyway.

She stepped further into the clearing and leaned against a tree, digging one of her feet into the soil in the ground. Who were they going to eliminate should they lose? She didn't want to eliminate anyone, but it was inevitable that they would.

"Alma," ViVi finally spoke and Alma tore off the rock she was perched on, turning around to look back at ViVi with wide eyes.

"ViVi," Alma breathed as she put one hand on her chest over her heart. "You scared me."

"Sorry." ViVi grimaced. She unconsciously cracked her knuckles and Alma's eyes darted to her hands, then back up again. "Who're you voting for?" she asked bluntly.

"I…uh…" Alma trailed off. She hadn't thought about who to eliminate should they lose. When they lose. ViVi was certainly intimidating. Alma recalled how ViVi threatened Zachary when they first met each other on the island. There was a past there and Alma wasn't sure if she wanted to know the details. She swung her guitar around to the front of her chest and her fingers played with one of the many strings. "Nicky, maybe?" she said at last. She barely knew the rest of her teammates but Nicky had offended her and Alma had decided she didn't want to be around someone who offended her.

The edges of ViVi's lips tugged upward into the smallest of smiles. She wasn't fond of Nicky after he so blatantly tried to pull her and Alma into an alliance. An alliance that would have favored himself and no one else. ViVi had met people like Nicky before.

"Good," ViVi said. "We need to keep an eye on him. If he was quick to invite us to an alliance, who else has he asked?"

Alma placed her guitar gently down beside her. "Anyone at camp," she said slowly. The thought sent a jolt through her heart. That meant that she or ViVi could be in danger.

She squinted at ViVi and her expressiom told Alma that she was thinking similarly. The idea sat uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach. If that was indeed what was happening, then she could be kicked off before she had even gotten settled on the island.

"Are you asking me for an alliance?" Alma finally asked. Her previous surprise faded away, replaced by intrigue. She had not expected ViVi to play strategically.

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?" ViVi asked as she crossed her arms.

"No!" Alma said quickly.

"Good. I'll get Carly with us, too." ViVi nodded at Alma and pulled herself away from the tree. She started to walk off, resuming her foraging.

As ViVi left, Alma let out a breath and slouched forward, putting her hands on her knees.

Confessional: The Latina Musician

Alma awkwardly looked at the camera. "So…I'm in an alliance with ViVi." She sighed. "She is probably one of the last people I wanted to be in an alliance with. But if she helps me get a little bit further, then so be it," she finished, sending the camera an uncertain smile.

Confessional: The Rocker Chick

"I've got my first alliance," ViVi said. She stretched her neck left, then right. "I don't want to lose any of my teammates, but I know that I'll have to at some point." She sighed. "So when we do, I need to keep this team together by eliminating the weakest link."

"Y'all ready for this?" Nicky asked with a grin.

"We're just on the edge of our seats," Filima mocked, causing Nicky's grin to instantaneously disappear.

In Nicky's hands were two flaming sticks. Ones that he hovered above a bonfire that he slowly, ever so slowly, inched the flames toward.

"ViVi warned us not to light that until tonight," Carly protested, stepping as far away from the bonfire as possible. Natasha stood beside her, his arms crossed.

"It's just sticks! We can gather more!" Nicky stated confidently. He looked at Natasha. "You agree with me, right, bro?" he asked, earning a flat look from Natasha.

"Oh, I agree with you," Filima said with a smirk.

Nicky grimaced. "Maybe I shouldn't…" he decided, pulling the flaming branches away. "Ugh. This took so much time to figure out how to do!"

The prepared bonfire sat at the center of the clearing, far away from the trees and anything it could possibly alight. Each contestant had placed their belongings around the edge of the clearing, just as far away from the bonfire. Carly and Natasha stood at the edge of the area as Nicky backed away from the unlit center. Filima frowned as she watched him edge away.

"Oh well," Filima lamented. "I guess we can't roast Carly over an open flame," she said with a snicker.

Carly squeaked and backed away, breaching the clearing as she ran away.

Natasha looked after Carly and sent a glare Filima's way.

"Sorry about your girl," Filima mocked. "She's just so easy to scare!"

Natasha's eyes narrowed at her before he darted after Carly.

Nicky tugged slightly on his seashell necklace. "Hey, that wasn't cool," he said to Filima. He dropped the flaming sticks and swiftly stomped out the fire.

"Has the egotist finally decided to speak to me?" Filima asked with a fake gasp. "I am so honored! Whatever will I do with the Nicky Stevens talking to me?" she continued, grinning as she spoke.

Nicky scowled at her. "You're gonna regret talking like this to me," he told her.

"Am I?" Filima questioned. She began to use a tone that sounded as though someone was talking to a child. "Nobody cares about you, Nicky. You're a loser!"

Nicky's lower lip wobbled. Filima's smirk grew.

"Gonna cry, loser?" she pressed.

"[CENSORED] off!" Nicky glowered, before he stomped off past the clearing. The last thing he heard as he retreated from the campsite was Filima's cackling laughter.

Confessional: The Bringer of Misery

"What an idiot," Filima jeered with a chuckle. "Nicky Stevens. Nicky Stevens. The only thing he is gonna be remembered for is when he sobs and cries as he is voted out."

She put her finger on her chin, a devious expression filling her face.

"Or maybe I'll be able to pull that out of him tonight by having his guitar join the embers of our bonfire…" she said, trailing off with a wicked grin.

Confessional: The Wannabe Rocker

Nicky's eyes were red-rimmed and he looped his fingers through his necklace. "Nicky Stevens is not a loser!" he said with a trembling voice. "I'll show her! Filima is gonna regret making fun of me when she comes to me for help asking for votes!"

He took a breath, attempting to forcibly calm himself down.

"They don't realize the threat that I'm gonna be, and I'm gonna show them. Oh yeah, you ain't seen nothin' from Nicky Stevens yet!"

Natasha trailed after Carly, careful to keep her in sight as she slipped behind trees and bushes. He wondered if aligning himself with her was the correct move, but swiftly stomped that doubt out. If he was to succeed, he couldn't doubt himself.

"A Shukoff never loses," he muttered, almost imperceptibly, to himself.

He had to play Carly. Make her dance to his tune. He could use her fears against her. Make her vote a certain way. Perform a certain action. All for his benefit.

Carly disappeared from his vision and Natasha frowned, quickly picking up the pace until he was where he last saw her.

Natasha had been ready to deploy numerous strategies when he had reached Hellebore Island. But the only one that would work for the moment was the current one. The subtle option. The option that allowed him to fade into the background as much as he possibly could.

He heard a rustling noise to his left and Natasha stopped walking. Then he heard the whimpering sounds of a girl. She was hiding in a bush.

"Carly?" Natasha asked, taking slow steps toward the bush. "What are you doing?"

Carly's head emerged from around the other side of it. "Hiding," she replied with another whimper.

"It's just me here," Natasha reassured her. "Filima is still at camp."

Carly paused. Then, slowly, she rotated around the bush until she shyly stood in front of Natasha. She raised one of her fingers to her lips and started to chew on the skin. "I thought I heard her following me and I thought about how if she started a fire and tried to burn me! And I knew that wasn't likely, but then I started to panic if I had a heart attack-"

"I understand," Natasha interrupted even as he didn't. Carly's pantophobia was unlike anything he had ever seen. Perhaps if he knew the root of it… "How did this come to be?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "All of your fears must have stemmed from somewhere."

Carly bit down harder on her finger, pulling a small chunk of skin off. She winced briefly, then sighed. "My mom is an ER nurse, my dad's a safety inspector, and my brother is an adrenaline junkie."

Natasha nodded, making a silent gesture for Carly to continue.

"Well…" Carly stuck another finger into her mouth. "I grew up seeing all the horrible ways things could go wrong," she finished.

"And you signed up for this show to help get over your fears," Natasha deduced.

Carly pulled her finger between her lips, then pulled at dead skin with her other hand. "Yeah," she said. "I, uh, told the confessional that yesterday," she revealed. "So this is all some kind of immersion therapy."

Natasha's second eyebrow joined his first.

"What about you?" Carly asked.

"What about me?" Natashe asked coolly.

"Why don't you want anyone to know that you can talk?" Carly said, wilting beneath Natasha's stare.

"They just assume I can't talk. As you did," Natasha responded.

Carly frowned slightly. "I guess. But is that it? I'm the only person you talk to, unless…" She trailed off, tilting her head to give Natasha a skeptical look.

"Yes," Natasha told her immediately. "You are the only person that knows." But that wouldn't be enough to satiate her, Natasha guessed. "I like my privacy," he half-lied.

"Oh," Carly said. "Well…privacy might be hard to find here," she acknowledged. She knew that cameras were placed all over the island to capture any possible moment of drama. A fact that Carly tried not to think about. But she suspected that there was something Natasha wasn't telling her.

Confessional: The Mastermind

"The amount of social engineering that a game like this requires is a headache," Natasha admitted. "But it's worth it. A million dollars?" He scoffed. "Is there any doubt that it's worth it?"

Natasha leaned back, putting his back to the wood of the confessional wall.

"Carly is the first domino. The second…" He smirked. "Nicky."

Confessional: The Shrinking Violet

"I don't know how to trust anyone!" Carly said in a panic-filled voice. She clasped her hands together before sticking her thumb into the corner of her mouth. "Everyone here wants to win the money and I don't know if Natasha has an ulterior motive for talking to me!"

Carly stopped, then took a deep breath.

"I hate being afraid of everything," she bemoaned. "I wish I wasn't and…and I wish I could see what it is like to be brave for just one day."

The sound of the sudden blare of loudspeakers caused Carly to squeak in surprise and fear. Then, Chris McLean's voice rang out of all of them. "Good morning campers! It's time for today's brawl- I mean, challenge!"

Carly and Natasha looked skyward. The former with a terrified expression and the latter with one of intrigue.

"You might have noticed a trail leading away from your campsite. Follow it to get to this season's challenge area! McLean, out!"

When the silence returned, Carly looked at Natasha. "What do you think the challenge is?" she asked nervously.

"Nothing pleasant," Natasha responded, much to Carly's chagrin.

The obstacle course was gone. Every trace of it was removed. In its place was an empty field that Chris and Chef stood in as they waited for the teams to arrive.

The Sadistic Scorpions arrived first, stepping upon a red mat with their team's logo on it.

"Chris didn't waste any time," Jason said as he observed the empty area. "What will today's challenge be?" he wondered aloud. "Something not physical, I hope."

"Yeah…" Maggie agreed timidly. "I'm a-about ready for some math…" she said, picking at lint on her sweater.

Penelope rolled her eyes at Maggie. A feat that Willow noticed and had her frowning in consternation.

"We got this, team!" she said, attempting her best to lift spirits. She turned to face the rest of her team. Each of their reactions varied, from Jason's raised brow, Penelope's clear skepticism, and Harald's tilt of the head. But the ones that Willow focused on were Edward and Maggie's appreciative smiles. Willow started to grin, confidence thrumming through her. "We're the Sadistic Scorpions and we're gonna win!"

Edward's grin grew and Maggie timidly smiled. Losing the very first challenge was not encouraging. But at Willow's simple words…maybe they could do this!

The footsteps of the Ferocious Foxes reached their ears and Harald said, "And here comes our acidic opponents."

"Harald…" Edward said, his smile disappearing into a frown, disapproving.

The Foxes entered the area before standing on top of their blue mat. ViVi threw a smirk at the Scorpions, seemingly incredibly pleased.

"Still riding the high of our loss?" Penelope asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yes," Filima said immediately, stepping to the edge of the mat. She held a slice of bread in her hands and slowly started to bite into it. "Oh, so good!" she said exaggeratedly. "You're really missing out!"

Edward and Penelope frowned at Filima while Jason hungrily eyed the bread in her hand.

Chris cleared his throat. "Foxes, looks like you're missing someone."

The team gazed around at each other. "Yo, has anyone seen Kyle?" Nicky asked. He looked at ViVi. "I thought he went foraging with you?"

ViVi raised a brow and agitatedly rapt her fingers along her arm. "I thought he was with you?"

"Nope!" Filima said with an unrepentant grin.

Chris scowled. "Well, if he doesn't show up-"

"I'm here!" a voice interrupted. Everyone looked back towards the source to see Kyle emerge from the forest. "I was foraging!"

Filima turned back towards Chris. She crossed her arms smugly as her eye began drifting around the area. "These things wouldn't happen if you were a good little host and gave us food and shelter."

Chris frowned at Filima, offended and annoyed. "Unless you want a one-way ticket back home, you keep that attitude to your teammates or enemies only." He glared and Filima froze, her eyes going wide. Within seconds, however, it shifted back into its regular size. But that didn't stop Alma and Jason from smirking.

"Everyone listen up!" Chef snapped, snapping his feet together and folding his arms behind his back. At his snap, the cast still. Carly squeaked in terror and Kyle put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're only gonna explain this once! So shut your mouths!"

Nobody said a word and Chris grinned. "Thank you, Chef. Today's challenge is simple! You will be building your own shelter!"

Jason groaned. "We couldn't have done this yesterday?" he complained.

"What would be the fun in that?" Chris retorted before continuing, "You will be returning to your camps to build your own shelter using whatever material and supplies you can find within the forest!"

"What's the catch?" Alma asked suspiciously.

"No catch! Shocker, right? But, if you want one…"

"That's not necessary!" Alma spoke quickly, her voice tinged with panic.

Chris grinned. "If you say so. Now, at the end of the day, your shelters will be judged by moi," he went on, gesturing to himself as he spoke. "The team with the best shelter wins! And! Wins a hot bowl of…" He quickly reached into his breast pocket, producing a cue card. "Rice!"

Both teams mumbled their desire for the reward. They couldn't just forage for days on end. They simply couldn't!

"And of course," Chris added, slipping the card away, "someone from the losing team will be eliminated tonight!" His smile grew larger. "Begin!" he said, clapping his hands together.

The Scorpions went down the path that led them back to their campsite. There wasn't yet a reason to hurry. This challenge would last most of the day. But how would Chris judge it?

Jason and Harald led the front while Penelope stood at the back. She glared daggers into Edward, but she was not the only person to watch him. Maggie stared longingly after him.

She felt it within herself to talk to him, but she hadn't any idea what to say. She wanted so much to get to know him, but she simply couldn't do it.

From beside her, Willow looked to Maggie, then followed her gaze to Edward. It was just enough info for her to connect the dots in her mind. Willow softly nudged Maggie, causing her to halt her thoughts, stopping in place as Penelope brushed past them. Her own gaze too busy glaring into Edward to pay either Willow or Maggie any attention.

"H-Hello," Maggie said to Willow, giving her a small, nervous smile that quickly disappeared almost as soon as she finished speaking.

Willow's smile, however, did not dim. "So, do you like him?" she asked, nodding her head in Edward's direction.

"W-What!?" Maggie stuttered in shock, her eyes going wide.

"Come on," Willow said, as reassuring and comforting as she was able, "I saw the way you looked at him. I may not be very smart, but I can tell when someone likes someone."

Maggie bit her lip uncomfortably, shifting on her feet. She wanted to escape from this conversation. She didn't know what she thought. Edward was kind to her. But he was a gentleman to everyone, it seemed. She wasn't unique to his kindness. And yet…Maggie felt…something. Maybe it was attraction. But regardless, she stood no chance. The fact was, being on a reality show would be a big problem. She didn't want to be noticed by the viewing world, but what other choice did she have? She wanted to meet people and maybe it would have been smarter to think longer about auditioning for a show such as Total Drama. The most recent seasons had been brutal. What was to say that this one would be any different?

"Well, I'll help you!" Willow smiled cheerfully, oblivious to Maggie's inner turmoil.

Maggie briefly locked eyes with Willow before darting away. She rubbed her fingers together awkwardly. "Help me?" she repeated, scratching her nails together. She skipped her gaze from Willow to Edward, who was much further away than before.

Willow gave Maggie a thumbs-up and smiled cheerfully. In return, Maggie smiled awkwardly and swiftly resumed her pace.

Confessional: The Selfie Enthusiast

"I really feel bad for people who find it hard to talk to people," Willow explained to the confessional. "I don't feel sympathetic- I mean, I do, but it's not something I've ever had an issue with. But that won't stop me from helping Maggie!" she finished with a sweet smile.

Confessional: The Timid Perfectionist

Maggie began with an awkward chuckle. "W-What Willow said was…e-embarrassing. I hope they c-cut that part out…" She trailed off and worriedly looked at the camera. "I sh-should not have s-said that…"

She drops her head and puts it in her hands.

"I should not h-have said that…"

Jason kicked at a stray rock. "This should've been the first challenge…" he complained to Harald.

"So you say," Harald replied. "Are you not comfortable sleeping in the same manner our ancestors did?"

Jason scoffed. "No. I prefer sleeping in my cozy, warm bed," he answered.

Harald nodded. "As would I. I deserve such luxury."

"Yeah?" Jason asked, crossing his arms. "Why?"

Harald grinned at Jason. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but held himself back. Instead, he said, "Do you think there will be a distortion in our challenge?" He tapped his chin with one of his fingers.

Jason shrugged. "Don't know, and I really don't care." He rolled his eyes. "As long as it isn't something that involves physical strength, I don't care."

"Wouldn't most of us agree?" Harald asked with a smirk, folding his hands behind his back as they walked.

"I don't know. This show usually gets insane people in it," Jason replied. Then he glanced back over his shoulder. Edward was the closest person behind them, but he wouldn't hear anything. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Harald looked at Jason. "Oh yes? Spin away!"

"We only have two votes between us," Jason started, "so if we want any chance of lasting longer, we need to bring in someone else."

Harald hummed. "And who do you propose?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Jason admitted. Then he added, "As much as I hate her whining, Penelope."

"Unexpected!" Harald remarked with a grin, his purple-contacted eyes piercing into Jason.

Jason felt a wave of unease, but quickly tried to shake it off and he rolled his eyes again. "Nobody else is good enough of a fit," he said. He sped up his pace, ending his conversation with Harald.

Harald watched after Jason. He began to smile.

Confessional: The Poisonous Poet

"How interesting!" Harald said to the camera. "Jason dislikes the athletic challenges. What a fortunate weakness that he is making no attempt to hide," he continued with a grin.

Harald steepled his fingers together and he tilted his head back, rotating it to make his joints pop.

"I am going to tear my team apart. I'm going to cause a schism to leave myself as the swing vote. All the power in the hands of someone who deserves it!" He smirked, folding his steepled fingers together so that one hand in on stop of the other. "And if that fails, which I'm confident it won't, I have a backup plan."

Penelope stormed past Edward, gnashing at her teeth as she sent a glare back at him. She wanted him to see her. She wanted him to see how upset he had made her. And she wanted to make sure he knew what he had missed with her.

"It seems that you are still mad at me," Edward commented solemnly as Penelope went past. It was exactly what she was hoping for.

"You know what you did to me," Penelope snarled, unconsciously squeezing her fists out of rage. "You made me a fool on international television, you as- erm, jerk!" She carefully cut herself off, stopping just before she cursed. "Did you enjoy doing it?" she questioned. "Well, just know that you will never meet someone as nice as me ever again!"

"I am sorry," Edward apologized once again. "I ain't expected such a negative reaction from a fine lady like yourself. I didn' enjoy it. I felt horrible doin' it." As he spoke, Penelope became more and more aware of the Southern drawl in his voice. She decided that she didn't like it anymore.

"Don't try and flatter me!" Penelope snapped, crossing her arms with a fierce glare. "You already lost your chance, you Southern sh- jerk!"

Edward merely bowed his head in response. "If that is what you believe, then I wouldn't dare change your opinion."

Penelope growled. "Know that you just started a war!" Edward opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. He determined from what he had seen that Penelope wasn't someone that could easily change their mind, especially when it was already set on something.

She started to turn around, but stopped and spun to face Edward again. He had to try again, Edward decided. "Please, if we could come to an accord-"

But Penelope shook her head. She glared harshly at Edward. "I am the spider and you fu- uh, you are in my web!" Penelope said.

Confessional: The Country Gentleman

Edward sighed. He removed his hat and placed it on his knee.

"Sometimes there ain't anythin' one can do to convince someone to forgive you." He sighed again. "But that's Penelope perogative. She hates me right now. As much as I would like for there to be, there ain't gonna be any fixin' that," he finished with a frown.

The Ferocious Foxes moved through the forest, stamping on sticks and leaves as they went. It wouldn't take them long to return to the campsite. But the fact that Chris had called them all down just to tell them to return to their camps was incredibly annoying.

Kyle led the team back to camp, looking this way and that as he went. Nicky was just behind him, speeding his pace until he was right beside Kyle. Alma and ViVi walked at a slower pace, paying no mind to the back of the group where Filima was isolated, left only to watch in amusement as Carly made a terrified noise by every sound to come from the forest. With each noise, she edged closer and closer into Natasha's space.

"I don't trust that guy," Alma said, mostly to herself, but loud enough for ViVi to hear, as she glared into the back of Kyle's head.

"Why?" ViVi questioned.

"He was unaccounted for," Alma told her, glancing discreetly at ViVi. "Not at camp and not with us. What if he was canoodling with someone on the other team?"

"He-" ViVi started to speak, then stopped as Alma's words caught up with her. "Did you just say 'canoodling'?" ViVi asked, her lip quirking in amusement.

"Shut up!" Alma hissed in embarrassment, her cheeks flushing. "You heard me!"

"What are you? Eighty?" ViVi teased as her smirk grew into a smile.

"Maybe I just age gracefully," Alma shot back. She put a hand on her hip and raised a brow at ViVi.

"Weird to sign up for a show with teens, then," ViVi quipped.

"I just wanna feel young again!" Alma said as she started to smirk, the flush in her cheeks fading. As she finished speaking, the rest of the team glanced at them.

Alma snickered to herself as, slowly, everyone started to look away, paying attention to their own conversations. Or lack thereof. A comfortable silence fell over Alma and ViVi.

Eventually, ViVi said, "He could be scheming with someone on the other team." Her voice grew bitter as she continued, "We can vote him off after Nicky. Although I'd prefer not to eliminate any of my own team at all." She took a backwards glance at Natasha and Carly, before looking forward again at Nicky and Kyle.

"Who does?" Alma asked, her voice taking on an irritated tone.

ViVi shrugged in response, electing to ignore the irritation in Alma's voice. Otherwise, ViVi worried she might unintentionally insult her. Something she did not want to do.

As the team continued their pace back to their campsite, Carly's nerves kept eating at her. Was there something out there? She fearfully looked around but no matter how many sounds she heard, she saw nothing.

It couldn't have all been in her head. Natasha glanced in the direction that she looked. Was it a killer!? Was there someone else on the island that they didn't know about!?

Another snap of twigs caused Carly to whimper and she stepped back into Natasha, accidentally twisting their legs together. Instantly, Carly started to panic and she tried to widen her stance in order to catch herself. But her balance had gone and she fell on top of Natasha as he, too, failed to catch himself. Her legs went over his waist and the air in her lungs fled her when her chest landed against his.

Filima scoffed. "And I thought Nicky was a loser," she commented as she walked past.

Carly blushed. She stared at Natasha as redness crept up both of their faces. This was so humiliating! Even as she straddled his waist her fear paralyzed her. What was this? Her heart started to beat hard against her chest and Carly finally rolled off of him, standing straight as an arrow as she did so.

Natasha didn't move for a moment. He stared up at the sky for a long few seconds, before he finally stood up. "Let's not speak of this. Ever," he said at last, the redness in his cheeks finally gone.

"Never!" Carly agreed quickly. But she didn't move. Her legs felt heavy. "Don't hurt me!" she said, raising her arms to protect her head.

"What?" Natasha asked confusedly, raising an eyebrow at her.

Carly wrapped her arms around her waist. "I fell on top of you and now you're angry at me! Admit it!"

Natasha slowly dipped his hands into his pocket as he spied Carly. "It was unexpected…" he replied slowly. "But I am not angry."

"How do I know you're not trying to get me to lower my guard!?" Carly asked fearfully. Her eyes darted this way and that and she stepped away from Natasha slowly.

Natasha watched Carly for a few seconds before he started to smirk. "Are you embarrassed?" he asked.

"No!" Carly protested, but the flush that returned to her gave away her lie.

"You are," Natasha said, his smirk growing. He spoke with a sense of familiarity.

"...Maybe…" Carly admitted. "Please don't make fun of me…"

Natasha sighed. He hadn't anticipated that it would be so much work to keep a useful pawn at his side. "I won't," he said at last.

"Promise?" Carly asked.

"Promise," Natasha confirmed.

Carly relaxed slightly. Her pantophobia would cling to her like a shadow but in this brief moment, she seemed to be fine. Natasha watched her, eyeing her carefully.

"If you signed up as a form of immersion therapy, do you expect to win?" Natasha asked her as they started to walk again.

"No," Carly answered immediately. "But I…I should try since…" She stopped speaking, trailing off.

"Since?" Natasha prompted. Whatever Carly said could give him more information needed in order to manipulate things appropriately.

Carly raised her finger to her lips, lightly chewing on the skin. "Since…nothing really matters anyway?" she said softly.

Natasha almost missed a step. That was not what he was expecting. "What do you mean?" he questioned.

Carly flushed again. "Just that…that our lives are short so we might as well make the most of them," she said, biting down on her finger and splitting the skin.

"And yet, you're afraid of so many things," Natasha said, his footing found. He didn't quite understand.

"Yeah," Carly said quietly. "So…immersion therapy!" she told Natasha weakly.

Natasha watched Carly. The more information she gave him, the more interested in who she was that he became.

"Hey, yo!" Nicky said from the front of the pack. "It's our campsite!" he announced. He ran ahead, finding the brand new tools that had been left for them.

The trees blocked out the rays of sun, and there were several pieces of equipment to build a place to sleep. Although it wasn't much. A few axes for chopping wood, a hammer and some nails that were not many. There were only a couple pieces, eleven or twelve, at that. It definitely wouldn't be enough to build an entire shelter.

Although neither team knew it, they both had the exact same amount of equipment.

"Some wood, hammers, and nails!" Nicky announced, holding up a hammer to the rest of his team as they arrived. "Think I could make a guitar with this?"

"You'd better not," Alma said. "Those are our supplies."

"Chill!" Nicky said, reaching for the seashell necklace around his throat. "Was just joking."

ViVi kicked over one of the pieces of wood, moving it with her foot to examine it. She hadn't exactly known the differences of what wood would be preferred in this kind of situation, but that wasn't really her problem. Her problem would be to keep her team in line.

"I'm team captain," ViVi declared, her eyes scanning her team as she faced them. "Live with it, deal with it." She saw Filima pout, but decided that she didn't care.

Kyle shrugged. "I'm cool with it."

ViVi nodded. "Good."

"Do we need a team leader?" Nicky asked, dropping the hammer on the ground. "Like any good band, they don't got a leader. We could be like a democracy!" he said, grinning slightly. "Then everyone's idea is heard."

Alma raised an eyebrow. Natasha and Carly exchanged a glance. ViVi crossed her arms with an eye roll, her eyes scanning the pile of supplies that lay on the dirt ground. Filima, however, chuckled.

"So, how many of those words are yours and how many of them were Kyle's?" Filima asked, putting a finger to her chin in mock thought.

"Hey, don't drag me into this," Kyle protested.

"None!" Nicky responded with a scoff. "Because I can be insightful when I want to. And I think if we all vote on our decisions, I'll be happy."

"Well, find out how to be happy," ViVi replied, tapping her fingers along her arm irritably. "Nicky, you take-" She stopped as Natasha raised his hand. "-Natasha with you to find some firewood or something else useful."

Natasha nodded, satisfied. ViVi started to turn her eyes to the other five members of the team when Carly spoke, in a terrified voice, "Can I go with them?"

ViVi swallowed down the retort that burned on her tongue. After all, her time with Zachary on the first day wasn't the best idea for first impressions; so now she was going to have to keep herself from going overboard. She needed to stay in the game somehow, and making up for what she did to Zachary was going to take a lot of work. "Sure, whatever, Carly. Just make yourself useful," she said, doing her best to shrug uncaringly. "But stay here for a second, I need to talk to you."

"O-Okay," Carly stammered, full of fear.

ViVi stepped forward and took Carly's shoulder. She steered her away from the group. She could almost feel the rapid pulse of Carly's heartbeat. When they were a decent distance away from the rest of the group, ViVi spun Carly around and hissed, "Alma wants to vote for Nicky. You. Me. Vote for Nicky. Got it?"

Carly nodded with a heart full of fear. ViVi released her and Carly darted away. She quickly joined Nicky and Natasha before they slipped into the forest together.

"I wonder what they were talking about…" Filima said slowly before she turned towards Kyle and Alma.

Alma did her best to hide her nervousness with a shrug.

Confessional: The Latina Musician

Alma groaned. "Why did you have to do that in front of everyone, ViVi!" she bemoaned. "That was so [CENSORED] suspicious!"

Confessional: The Bringer of Misery

"I can see the alliances forming~!" Filima sang with a grin. "Now the question is, who are they voting for?" She hummed in thought. "I better make myself useful."

She sighed in annoyance as she frowned at the camera.

"So unfortunate. I can't overdo things because then I'll get kicked off early and I'll be forced to see my dumb mom!" Her grin returned to her face. "God, she's so stupid! She still doesn't understand that she was the reason my uncle committed suicide!" Her smile widened even further. "The next time I want to see my mom is when her name is written on her gravestone," she finished, before cackling.

Confessional: The Mastermind

"Auspicious," Natasha stated with a pondering expression. "Quite the opportunity has just landed in my lap."

Natasha rapt his fingers on the side of the confessional wall. A slow smirk starts to appear on his face.

"ViVi just made my plan so much easier. Carly told me that Alma and ViVi want Nicky gone. Yet, Alma has the potential to be a dangerous social threat."

A dark grin appeared on his face.

"And ViVi just gave me the pieces I need to eliminate her."

"Does anyone here have any preferences about what they're doin'?" Edward asked the team. They had quite the task ahead and he didn't want anyone to do something they were not comfortable with. "I won't ask anyone to do anythin' I wouldn' willingly do myself."

"Yeah, well, you're stronger than some of us," Jason said. Then he sighed. "I'll stay here."

"Thank you, Jason," Edward said, smiling appreciatively.

The camp was rather dull. Nobody had set up anything even the night before. Sleeping bags and other things brought from home were scattered around the area. And now they were all going to have to sleep under one roof, using all of the supplies that they could gather.

It was going to be a laborious experience.

"I will gather food," Harald volunteered. "Something more sustaining than berries, yes?" he said, which earned another appreciative smile from Edward.

"That would be excellent. Thank you, Harald."

"Kommandant," Harald replied, his eye twitching slightly as he spoke. He walked away without waiting for a reply, passing through the edge of the clearing and vanishing from view.

"Oh, that's great," Penelope spat. "Forcing all of us, even me, to do all the work for you! So gentlemanly!"

Maggie and Willow shared an awkward glance. Jason looked away, seemingly deciding that the branches on the ground were suddenly very interesting.

"Penelope," Edward said sadly, "I know you have your issues with me, but we need to work as a team."

"So naturally, you stepped up to be the leader?" Penelope sneered.

"No," Edward denied with a shake of his head. "I ain't a leader. But I want all of us to work together so we can beat this challenge. I know all of us want that."

Penelope scowled at Edward. She wanted so badly to throw the challenge to make sure Edward was eliminated. But she wouldn't do that. She might want Edward gone, but she would endure him until they lost legitimately.

"Fine," Penelope said. "I'm staying here." She tilted her chin up at Edward, as though expecting him to try to deny her.

But Edward simply nodded. "Very well." He turned his gaze toward Maggie and Willow. "What do you think?" he asked kindly.

Before Maggie could speak, Willow looped her arm around hers. "We'll get stuff!" she declared. "A lot of stuff!"

"W-We will?" Maggie stuttered in surprise. This was the first she was hearing of this.

"Yup! Come on, Maggie!" Willow tugged on Maggie, pulling her through the vegetation, and the two disappeared from sight.

Edward dusted his hands together. He glanced one more time in the direction Willow and Maggie had gone and he said, "Let's do this, team!"

"It's just us here now," Jason said, gesturing with one arm to Penelope.

"I am aware," Edward responded, examining a thin, short tree. "We are a team, collectively."

Jason rolled his eyes. Maybe they were, but they wouldn't be for long. Not at the pace they were going. He walked over to the pile of food that had already been gathered from earlier in the day. He could change his mind and go looking for food instead. It would be less physically taxing than putting together the actual shelter.

He heaved a sigh of annoyance. So stupid. This shouldn't have even been a challenge. Chris should have given them shelter. Not force them to build their own. Jason shook his head and stood up. It was no use complaining about it, as much as he would have liked to. Instead, he walked around the edge of the clearing, looking for sticks that had fallen off any trees.

He cast a glance at Edward to see as he drifted his hands between two trees growing from one stump. As though he was trying to measure how much wood they would need to create a suitable shelter.

Jason looked away, bending down to pick up a stick. If they lost tonight, who were they going to vote off? He had thrown out the idea of Penelope joining them to Harald, but it was just that. An idea. An uncomfortable one. She wasn't exactly useful, if all she did was glare at Edward. Maybe Willow would be better suited? She was an idiot but at least she could be a useful idiot.

"Alliance," a soft voice spoke out in a whispered tone to him.

Speak of the devil…

With a groan, Jason turned around to face the same contestant that had been circling his thoughts. Looking at her, he pointed at himself with a raised eyebrow and a flat look on his face.

"Yes," Penelope hissed, venom shining in her eyes. "Who else would I be talking to?"

Jason cast a look around the clearing. Besides Edward, it was just him and Penelope. But she irritated him. So he shrugged.

"Now, would you like to join an alliance?" Penelope asked, her tone taking on an almost urgent aspect. She crossed her arms and looked expectantly at Jason.

"That depends on who we vote for," Jason replied dryly, glancing at the dirt under his nails.

"Maggie," Penelope cut in almost as soon as Jason was finished.

"Maggie?" Jason repeated, surprised. He had thought for sure that Penelope was gunning for Edward. After all, Edward had the potential to be a bigger threat. Both physically and socially. The thought made Jason glance in Edward's direction. What was Penelope's plan, then?

Jason contemplated it in his head. As long as he could get Harald to vote for Maggie, he may nearly have the majority vote with him. All he would have to do then would split the other votes of his other teammates. But, the question was, who would they eliminate once Maggie was gone? He had absolutely no intention of staying by Penelope's side this entire competition. If he absolutely had to keep her around, it would be until the merge.

"Maggie," Penelope confirmed.

"Sure, fine." Jason shrugged as casually as he could, and before Penelope could start speaking, he continued, "Who'd be next to go?"

Penelope frowned. "I never said that this was going to be a long-term alliance partnership, did I?"

Jason clenched his jaw and sighed. "No, you didn't. Though, I suppose that is fair, isn't it?" he said insincerely, and Penelope saw through the clear lie in his voice.

"Glad we've come to an understanding." She paused. "Do we agree on voting for Maggie?"

"Yes, absolutely." Jason offered a fake smile, and once Penelope returned to the center of the campsite, he let his smile fade and his eyes roll.

Confessional: The Weapons Aficionado

"Maggie?" Jason voiced, bewildered. "Does Penelope know something I don't? Why does she want Maggie eliminated?"

Jason squeezed the bridge of his brow. He leaned against one side of the confessional.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter. I have one more vote with me, which means less of a chance for me to get voted off."

Jason straightened up in his seat, disconnecting his fingers from his brow. His previous bewildered look had been replaced with one of focus.

"I would've preferred Willow to Penelope, but I'm not picky. I'll take what I can get and if it's someone who lacks intelligence, then I'll be all for it."

Maggie and Willow groaned as they carried a log to the rest of the team. It hadn't been hard to find. In fact, it looked perfect for what they wanted to use it for. But carrying it presented a more difficult challenge. Willow was ever so stronger than Maggie was, and the latter felt dismayed at her inability to be so helpful.

They stepped over two stumps in the ground and dropped the log, balancing it just for the moment until it rolled over, pointing straight up. Maggie palmed the side and tried to force the log into the ground, but it wouldn't go any further. It was as balanced as they were going to get it.

"Nice job, Maggie!" Willow said cheerfully, sweat at her temples.

"Th-Thanks," Maggie replied. She panted, shaking her hands out before she slouched her shoulders forward and placed her hands on her knees.

Despite the exhaustion from carrying the log, she found herself irritated that the balancing was off. A small fact she would keep to herself. It felt embarrassing to admit aloud.

With an oblivious smile, Willow dropped herself on the log, wobbling slightly. She took a quick glance up at Maggie, who, once again, found herself looking in Edward's direction. Her budding attraction to him had come so quickly. She had of course felt things similar to other people, but they hadn't manifested so fast before.

"Here, sit down." Willow's voice broke her train of thought and Maggie looked back at her. Swallowing, she complied, sitting on the very edge of the log.

One thing she hated about these emotions, however, Maggie had come to discover, was that they felt to be unsuitable to her. There were a lot of things wrong with her. Things she didn't like. So why would anyone else?

"Soooo," Willow started with a notable drawl and a knowing smirk. It made Maggie feel much more uncomfortable than she already was. But not with Willow. "Do you want to talk to him?"

"I guess so, y-yeah," Maggie stuttered, her head facing away from Willow's. She didn't see Willow smile at her, leaning in just on the boundary of her comfort space, but never breaching it.

"Then just go do it. Be confident," Willow said, much louder than originally intended, and it caused the head turns of both Jason and Penelope.

"How?" Maggie asked, her hands shaking as she bit her lip. Her eyes wanted to wander over to where Edward stood, but she forced herself to not do it. "Actually, w-we shouldn't be talking about th-this. Just forget me."

Maggie made to stand up, but she was caught by the arm by Willow, harshly forcing her back down on the log. "Come on, you can do it. I believe in you!" Willow exclaimed in a way as though she were coaxing a small child.

"Why?" Maggie asked, almost unaware the words were escaping her lips. She paused for a moment, wishing she could stuff the words back into her mouth. "Just...I don't know, this is different than at home. And I have millions of people watching me and waiting to see what I'll do and how I'll fail." She let it out in one long breath, unaware that she had managed to say it without stuttering.

"See, you're already doing it!" Willow smiled reassuringly. She put her hand softly on Maggie's back. A gesture of comfort.

Maggie whimpered.

"I mean, you're starting to lose the stutter, it's only a matter of time before I find you the perfect comfort zone!" Willow beamed, causing Maggie to blink in confusion.

"It doesn't w-work like that," Maggie replied in a soft voice, only just slightly louder than a whisper. "I can't just l-lose it." She decided against elaborating, instead standing up before Willow could get another word in, and hurrying away with her head low and embarrassment in her eye.

Willow opened her mouth to speak, but closed it once seeing that Maggie was a bit too far gone now. Willow didn't see much of a point. This may take a lot more work than she thought.

That could be annoying. She wasn't a miracle worker! Plus, she wanted to win this million dollars as much as the next person. But Willow had decided that she wanted to help Maggie. Though, it was proving difficult from how…standoffish Maggie was making herself appear. Yes, this could definitely take some time.

Harald thrust his self-crafted spear into the water, then pulled back with a fish attached to the end. Impaled. It twitched before it eventually fell still, and Harald grinned.

He stepped back onto the rock he had been perched on. His efforts for food had been successful. Harald tilted his head in thought as he examined the fish on the end of his spear. Then, he lowered it and walked around the perimeter of the lake.

A proper meal was collected. Now he could do what he truly wanted to do.

His silver boots went across the ground with his every step and Harald wondered how many microscopic organisms that he killed with his every move. The thought made him stop momentarily, then he stomped his feet.

Harald chuckled and he resumed his walk. He gazed around at the forest, looking for what he knew was there. Slowly, his purple-hued eyes landed on it. A camera that stuck out of a tree.

He approached it and grabbed the camera from its resting spot. He tilted it up so that the end was pointed directly at him. "I have a surprise planned," he told the camera. "No peeking!" he added playfully.

Harald's hand grabbed the camera lens, and he started to twist. He twisted and twisted until the camera popped and the lens cracked. Harald yanked it free from its hiding place.

The last thing the camera caught was Harald raising a silver boot and bringing it down with a single, harsh motion.

The sticks and leaves cracked underneath their feet, the group themselves searching for firewood, just like they had been asked to do.

Nicky led what was almost entirely a one-sided conversation with Carly and Natasha. The latter of which hadn't said a single word, while the former was too distracted by any and all noises that came from the woods.

"So you're saying that you've never heard of me before?" Nicky wanted to clarify. It wasn't the first time he had asked that question. Natasha doubted that it would be the last.

"No," Carly said, repeating the same answer she had given him every time before. "You keep asking that, is this a test?" she asked fearfully. "It is, isn't it!? Oh, no…" she continued, panic settling in. She dropped the sticks she had collected and started to breathe heavily. "I'm not good at tests under pressure!"

Nicky bent down to quickly collect the sticks that Carly had dropped. "You're not good under any pressure," he said, somewhat callously, shooting Carly a glare.

Carly squeaked. "Oh no, I've said something wrong, haven't I?" she whimpered. She started to walk backwards, away from Nicky, when Natasha put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her in place.

"Wow," Nicky said. He could barely comprehend what he was seeing. "And Filima targets me over you?" he questioned aloud.

Carly looked worriedly at Nicky. Maybe Natasha was doing her a favor. She could face her worries if there was someone beside her…or she could die from a heart attack. And that very thought sent another spike of panic through her mind.

Nicky backed away and he tried to mute Carly's panicking from his brain. Instead, he picked up some of the useless sticks that lay on the ground. He ignored how Natasha rubbed circles into Carly's back in an attempt to calm her down.

"Sorry…" Carly eventually apologized. "I'm…" she started to say, but trailed off. "I don't wanna die…calm down, Carly," she said, taking in deep breaths. She started to count down from ten, using the same trick Natasha showed her the previous day.

Natasha released Carly and Nicky looked at him. "How many sticks did you find? I don't wanna keep looking for much longer." Nicky held up his sticks to show Natasha. In response, Natasha held up his own sticks with a shrug.

Nicky glanced at the sticks curled in his fist. About half of which were Carly's. Why were they even doing this? They had plenty of firewood at camp. A bonfire was even ready to go for that night.

"Think we should head back?" Nicky asked, looking back at Natasha. "Do you get why we're doing this anyway?" At his second question, Natasha cocked his head at him. "Since we have plenty of firewood at camp and stuff."

Natasha seemed to consider Nicky's question. Then, he slowly turned to Carly and gently elbowed her, who looked at him in surprise. Her eyes gained an expression of dawning realization.

Nicky frowned in confusion. "What's going on?" he asked.

Carly raised one of her fingers to her lips, but before she bit it, she lowered it again. "Alma wants to vote you off and ViVi scared me into voting with them!" she said, her voice tinged with fear the closer she got to completing her sentence.

"What!?" Nicky exclaimed. All his previous annoyed questions forgotten. "Alma wants to vote for me?" he asked, a dumbfounded look on his face and a glimmer of concern in his eye.

Nicky was too focused on Carly to notice the smirk cross Natasha's face, but then it was gone. "Yeah…" Carly said, nervous and afraid. She looked like she was ready to run away at a moment's notice. "She-" she started to say, when Nicky interrupted her.

"Carly!" Nicky shouted at her, and causing her to wince and take a step back. "Stop talking! I want to know for sure that it was Alma who wants to vote me off." He grabbed at his seashell necklace and tugged lightly on it.

Carly whimpered. "That's what ViVi said," she told him, clearly afraid of being yelled at again. She twisted her feet and her heart pounded in her chest.

Nicky placed his hands on his head. He didn't want to be eliminated this early! There were still so many things he wanted to do! "And she what? Threatened you into voting with her?"

Carly's face went pale and her fear and panic spiked for the second time during the last few minutes. She resisted the urge to bite at her fingers and she nodded.

Nicky's frown deepened. "Don't," he said. He grabbed at his necklace again and gave it another tug. "Yo, that won't happen. It is really not cool I'm being targeted like this! If we lose, I'll be voting for Alma!"

"Okay," Carly said shakily.

Nicky looked at her and Natasha. "You guys better vote with me because you know if you're here with me, then they're probably plotting to vote you guys out next," he said, visibly confident in his assumption.

He turned around and started to walk back to camp. Nervously, Carly walked after him. Natasha grinned again, before he forced his expression into neutrality, and he followed them.

Confessional: The Mastermind

"All according to plan," Natasha said with a dark smirk.

The sun above the island had long reached its apex and began its descent. The sky had started to turn a gorgeous pink. Darkness was going to cover them soon, and it gave everyone the sign to hurry up building. They only had so much longer before Chris judged their shelter.

Just the thought of it alone made Edward want to hurry. He couldn't let his team down two days in a row. If he had, would he be the next one to be voted off? He hoped not. There was still so much he wanted to do while he was here. He still had to prove himself.

As Edward tied one of the long leaves above the wooden platform he and his team built, his eyes wandered over to where Maggie stood, a grimace on her face as she used a canister of water to clean her hands as best she could.

He found her interesting. Someone he could form a tight bond with, should she want to. The reason he joined the show in the first place was to find a possible friend. And, of course, to win the million-dollar prize.

Though he did feel sympathy for Maggie. From what he saw, her self-confidence appeared to be quite low. But she did make occasional conversation with Willow. However, that only happened when Willow was the one to go to her first. It was never the other way around, as far as Edward had observed.

As his thoughts continued to wander, his eyes gazed over to the two figures standing across from him, both of them using several long vines they found to tie the wooden planks still. Harald had returned less than an hour ago with little to show for it. And Jason hadn't once left camp at all.

"Remind me why you wear such a…" Jason trailed off, looking to find the right words. "Strange sense of clothing." He didn't speak like he was interested. Rather, it was in quite the flat tone, almost as if he didn't actually care.

"Perhaps I should be asking that same question to our mutual Freund," Harald replied, tilting his head away from Jason and his eyes locking with Edward's. "Edward," he prompted. He said it with…something in his expression, but before Edward could decipher what it was, it was gone.

In return, Edward offered a polite smile. "This is just my attire, gents. Nothin' wrong in dressin' like how you want to express yourself," he replied. "How about yourself, Harald?" he asked. Then added, "You don't have to tell us anythin' you ain't comfortable with.

Harald stared at Edward for a moment, and he felt a rising panic in his chest that he said something wrong. That he had pushed harder than he intended. But then Harald smiled and Edward's anxiety was quick to melt away.

"Well, I suppose there could be many answers to that question," Harald started, tightening the tie made of vines around the wooden planks, testing how sturdy they were within his grasp. "But I'll tell you that my past is rather...complicated. However, the shortest answer I may be able to give you is that I am an acrobat."

Edward cocked his head to the side in intrigue. "Acrobat? That is quite interestin', Harald. Perhaps you could tell us the whole story sometime?"

Harald offered a light smile, but again, Edward noticed something in his expression. But just like the first time, it disappeared before Edward could figure it out.

"Why, of course." Harald nodded, then he took a step away. "I think it's about time someone cooked our delicious meal, don't you?" he asked and without waiting for a response he walked off, leaving Jason and Edward behind.

"What a freak." Jason rolled his eyes, ignoring the frown from Edward. Then he, too, stepped away before anything more could be said.

As Harald walked, he bent down to pick a rose from off the ground. He took care not to grab up any hellebores. Not directly. His fingers had already started to blister from the one he picked up the day previous.

Satisfied with the flower in his hand, he changed directions and walked to Willow, who was carefully sorting through a basket of fruit and berries. "Good evening, Freunde," Harald said.

Willow looked up and beamed at Harald. "Harald! Hello!" She darted a look down at the basket. "Just making sure none of this stuff is contaminated.

"That would be most terrible. So much effort, gone to the void," Harald said. He crouched down beside Willow. "That's not what I wish to harmonize our thoughts on, however."

"It's not?" Willow asked. She tilted her head, confused.

"No. Who shall we be voting off?" he asked, twirling the rose along his fingertips. Willow watched the flower dance, her heart lurching slightly in her chest with expectation just before it would fall. But it never did.

"I don't know," Willow said, watching Harald's movements. "Penelope wants Maggie eliminated, you know?"

"Does she?" Harald asked, sounding interested.

"Yeah. But I don't want anyone eliminated." Willow frowned. She pulled her gaze away briefly from the flower and tossed away a berry that she could tell wasn't healthy anymore.

"Of course not!" Harald said and the exclamation made Willow look at him again. He momentarily stopped with his flower and he extended his arms in a striking pose. "However, we'll always have to eliminate someone. It's just how things are. Think of it like clockwork."

Willow pursed her lips and frowned, crossing her arms. "So, who are you voting for? Maggie or someone else?" she asked carefully

Harald pondered for a moment, lowering his arms. "Maggie. If Penelope wants her gone, then who I am to deny her that?"

Willow's frown dipped further. "I really don't want to eliminate Maggie," Willow protested.

"Don't worry, Willow," Harald responded. "Use your stage presence. Master it. Why not convince Penelope that her wish is yours to grant. But then flip at the last second.

Willow bit her lip. "I don't know. That sounds…devious."

"Sometimes a bit of deviousness is encouraged. You can't win without it."

Willow looked at Harald. She still didn't know. She was devious once, and the guilt she felt from it was insurmountable. "Who are you voting for, then?"

Harald smirked, spinning the flower among his fingers once again. "I'll be voting for Jason, actually. He isn't the most subtle. I know that he has an arrangement with Penelope. Furthermore, he's a threat. If he is in an alliance with both me and her, then he has most of the votes on our team."

For a very long moment, there is a pause between the two of them. Neither of them said a word. Then, with narrowed eyes, Willow asked suspiciously, "How do you know that?"

"Observation, dear rose, observation," Harald answered. "And if you tell me that Penelope wants Maggie gone…then so does Jason. Should it really take that much thought to put the pieces together?"

"I guess that does make sense." Willow scratched her lip. "Fine, you got a deal. If it affects me, then you got an agreement. I guess I'll vote for Jason with you."

"Glad we could come to an understanding together." Harald held the flower firmly in his palm. "Now, let us hope we don't lose today's challenge."

Confessional: The Poisonous Poet

"Willow is shockingly easy to manipulate," Harald said. He didn't look at the camera, continuing to play with the rose in his hand. "The perfect little minion."

Harald grinned, snapping his fist shut around the flower, so all that emerged from his hand was a few petals.

"Alas, she won't be useful forever. Just some extra weight. Just like every other roach." His grin turned devilish. "It's obvious who's going to win this game. All that matters is how I do it."

He holds his hand out in front of the camera.

"It's up to me to decide which roach is stomped out, and which flower…"

He opened his hand, allowing the rose to appear fully.

"...flourishes."

Dusk finally came, the stars just starting to twinkle im the sky.

The challenge was almost over. The Ferocious Foxes had done all that they could. But now, they sat around the bonfire, the heat from the flames poking at their bodies. It was almost numbing.

Most of the team sat around the fire, some of them with legs extended, and others with their legs folded up to their chest. Filima might have been missing, but nobody cared to mention it. Anywhere where she was absent was far more pleasant.

"Think it's gonna rain?" Alma asked with a glance up to the sky. Fortunately, she didn't see many clouds, if any at all. She pushed herself further from the fire; from its intense heat, but placed her arms out in front of her as if to warm them up.

"Nah. I doubt it," ViVi replied. "Not many clouds in the sky." She glanced over at their newly created shelter. "Hopefully the shelter can withstand some rain."

"It's fine. Strongest shelter ever created. And it was all thanks to us," Kyle said, adopting the same pose that ViVi sat with. He jerked his thumb at himself and ViVi.

ViVi smirked. "You got that right, Kyle," she said. She picked up a fish she had gotten from the lake and took a bite from it. "Oh, that's good."

"All for yourself," Nicky said with a sour look.

"Should've gone fishing, Rocker Boy," ViVi responded, then glared at him.

"If that's not the pot calling the kettle black…" Kyle started to say. Then he shook his head. "Have any of you guys seen Filima around?" he asked in an attempt to avoid the ensuing argument between ViVi and Nicky.

This time it was Alma's turn to give a dirty look. "Who cares?" she asked with a huff, crossing her arms. "She can sleep in the cold for all I care, she hardly deserves to be close to this." She gestured towards the fire.

"I'm right over here, Almond!" came Filima's voice from behind, causing Alma to roll her eyes in annoyance.

But because of being behind Alma, Kyle, and ViVi, the only people who could see Filima were Carly, Natasha, and Nicky.

They realized too late what was happening when Filima tossed three musical instruments into the epicenter of the fire. In an instant, they started to burn. And the fire grew wider.

Everyone immediately took to their feet and leapt away from the crackling fire. It fell onto the ground, setting the grass alight. After all the meticulous planning to avoid this kind of scenario…for nothing as the fire started to spread, bit by bit.

"You [CENSORED]!" ViVi yelled. She jumped at Filima and her hands wrapped around her throat as she cackled. ViVi used all of her strength to pull Filima from the ground and pin her against the nearest tree. All the while, Filima kept laughing.

"ViVi!" Alma yelled, her eyes flickering from ViVi to and then to Filima. She looked back to the fire as she saw that the flames completely consumed her guitar and she felt herself to drop down to her knees against her will.

As Nicky and Alma stared into the fire in disbelief, Kyle and Natasha raced to ViVi's side, grabbing at her elbow just as she started to raise her fist to break Filima's nose.

"Somebody get Chris!" Kyle shouted. He saw Carly nod nervously, then sprint away.

They pulled hard at ViVi's elbow and Filima's laughter came to a stop as she stared nervously at ViVi's fist. All humor gone from her face.

"Don't! She isn't worth it! Do you wanna be disqualified for breaking her nose?" Kyle asked. He was strong enough to stop ViVi, but he wasn't sure for how long.

ViVi looked back at Kyle, his hands tightening around her elbow joint as hers did the exact same thing to Filima's throat. Filima looked between ViVi and Kyle, curious and nervous as to see what their next actions would be.

Then, finally ViVi let her hand loosen. She let Kyle and Natasha pull her back. "Fine, sure." ViVi took a few steps back in order to attempt to calm herself and breathe normally again.

Filima rubbed at her throat. She didn't say anything, but she did look at ViVi with a new form of wariness. Then she looked at the bonfire. "Fire…is…spreading…" she managed to say.

"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Nicky snapped. "You know what? As soon as Alma is gone, you're out of here!" he yelled at her. "You get it!? You're gone!"

The area went thick with silence and Nicky realized too late that he had just revealed his intentions. He looked at ViVi to meet her gaze, who frowned back at him.

Alma's face twisted in fear. Her hands curled nervously as she looked at Nicky. He wanted her gone. Then who else wanted her gone? Who else had he managed to convince to eliminate her!?

"Well…" Nicky shrugged. "I don't see much of a point denying it now, so, yeah."

ViVi shook her head at Nicky with a scowl. Alma, however, simply swallowed nervously. She was already on the chopping block and she had barely even done anything yet. Her time in the game would be cut so short and it would all be because of Nicky. Well, she wasn't going to just give up. No, she was going to try her best to keep herself in the game and get someone else out.

Filima skulked around the perimeter of the clearing. The fire was contained for now. She quickly made her way over to Nicky's side.

"I'll take a slice of the cake with you on that," Filima whispered into Nicky's ear. "I'll gladly eliminate Alma."

Nicky shot her a quick glance, and then turned away from the group. He didn't believe her at all. But it would seem that that was going to be a chance he had to take.

ViVi gripped Kyle by the collar, pulling him close to her to speak just loud enough that only he would hear. "You're voting for Nicky with me. Got it?" she whispered.

What she wanted was to get Nicky eliminated, and so far, that had completely failed. It fell apart all around her so quickly, and it was such a shame too. But she wasn't going to let Alma be eliminated. She was going to do her own personal best to keep Alma in the game for as long as she wanted, of course, before she ran out of use for her. Which was going to happen sooner or later.

"I don't care!" Kyle said. "Sure!" He pulled away. "Priorities, people! Where's Chris!?"

The moon rose further and further into the sky. The members of the team sat around the clearing, eating their food. The shelter was built. They were ready.

Then came the sound of footsteps on crackling leaves as Chris McLean stepped into view. "Everyone, listen closely now," he said, almost mockingly.

"Did we win?" someone asked.

Chris frowned. "If you won, I'd have told you when I feel like it." There was a pause. "I'd like to say it was close, but it wasn't. You should've seen the other team. They set their camp on fire." Chris snickered. "And now, I feel like it. Yes, you won today's competish…

"Sadistic Scorpions!"

Nobody did anything for a moment. And then the clearing broke out into cheers. Edward clapped politely, a large smile adorning his face. Maggie smiled, giving an almost imperceptible rock of her fist. Penelope rolled her eyes and her head seemed to fall further into her shoulders. Jason smiled but shrugged. Willow released a girlish cheer. Harald smiled, very clearly satisfied.

Chris smiled. "Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow! No elimination for you tonight. Rest easy, you'll need it for tomorrow. Seriously."

And with that ominous warning, he left.

Confessional: The Country Gentleman

Edward smiled at the camera. "We won! I had faith in my team and we pulled through! I worried the other team had been doin' better than us and I can only wonder how they managed to set part of their campsite on fire?"

"We lost!?" Nicky whined.

"Why is this a surprise? You burnt your campsite," Chris said, gesturing at the charred center of the clearing. Much of the area was burnt. What remained of the bonfire was the husks of logs and sticks. "Head on down to the elimination area, you guys are voting someone off."

ViVi glared at Nicky, who returned the favor. This was not good. Not good at all…

Slowly, the team began to follow Chris. However, as Carly made her first step, Alma quickly snatched her by the arm and pulled her face-to-face, inches apart.

"What's going on?" Carly asked worriedly.

"Please don't vote for me," Alma begged, quietly, her voice just above the sound of a whisper and her eyes pleading with Carly's.

Carly chewed on one of her fingers uncertainly. She knew that she was the swing vote. She saw them get Kyle on their side, and Nicky only had Natasha and Filima. This was not a position she wanted to be in.

And Natasha and asked her to vote with him.

"Please, I can still be of some use to our team. I don't know if Nicky will, and...I really just want to stay here," Alma begged quietly. Even she hadn't expected this to happen to her. This was a surprise to her. Everything about this was a surprise to her.

Carly opened her mouth to say something, closed it, and then opened it again. "I'll think about it," she said.

Alma smiled faintly, glancing over to where the rest of the team were and quickly scurried after them.

Carly let out a breath. What was she going to do?

Confessional: The Shrinking Violet

"I don't know what to do!" Carly cried, panic-stricken. "Natasha wants me to vote with him and Alma wants me to vote with her!" She brought her finger to her teeth and put her second hand against the wall. "What do I do!?"

Confessional: The Mastermind

"Am I worried about this elimination?" Natasha asked calmly. "No. I would've preferred we hadn't lost, but everything will go according to plan." He gave a slight smile. "I know Carly will vote for Alma with me."

Each member of the Foxes made their way to the elimination area, each of them sitting on a stump in the ground. Nobody said a word.

Chris grinned from where he stood, Chef right beside him. "Welcome, players," Chris said.

"Why's Chef here?" Alma asked as she sat down on one of the logs, crossing her left leg over the right. In return, all she got was a death glare from Chef. She swallowed, beginning to swing her leg back and forth uncomfortably.

"You guys know the deal," Chris said. "Write your name on the slip and put it in the container. The person with the most votes leaves via the Boat of Losers, never to come back…unless we decide to bring them back."

Nobody said anything. They wanted to get this over as quickly as they possibly could.

"I think a few of you are on the chopping block tonight. Wouldn't you say, Chef?" Chris asked.

Chef nodded. He pointed at Filima. "That one thinks burning stuff is funny."

Filima shrugged. "In my defense…it was," she said, snickering. She ignored the glares from Alma, Nicky, and ViVi.

Chris chuckled. "Anyway. Get voting!"

There was a long pause as no one dared to move, letting everything sink in. Finally, just when Nicky stood up, Alma hurried over to the container, circling around it to face her team and she forced herself to swiftly scribble a name down on the page. When she was done, she hesitated briefly before depositing the name into the container. Then she hurried back to her spot refusing to look at anyone.

One by one, each of the six other team members wrote down a name on the piece of paper. Carly, however, hesitated the longest as she debated which name to write down. Then, finally, she wrote down one. The one that she was condemning.

Chris yawned and Chef scratched his stomach as ViVi made her way back down to her seat. Chef mumbled something under his breath, picking up the container and brought it back to Chris and opener it.

"The person with the name written the most is the second player voted off of Total Drama: Hellebore Island," Chris said with a grin. "And the first vote goes to…"

Chris reached into the container and pulled out a slip of paper. As the Foxes all glanced around at each other, Chris read the paper, then flipped it around.

"Nicky."

Nicky frowned. He grabbed and palmed his seashell necklace.

Chef pulled out the second vote and handed it to Chris. "Second vote goes to…

"Alma."

Alma let out a Spanish curse and tilted her head backward. She curled her hands and pressed her thumbs together.

Chef handed the next vote to Chris, who turned it to the contestants. It was covered in scribbles that created a somewhat accurate sketch of the person's face.

"Alma."

Alma bit her lip, glancing over to Filima who smirked at her own drawing, tapping her fingers together excitedly. Alma glared at her menacingly, her teeth very nearly drawing blood.

"That is one vote for Nicky, two votes for Alma. Four votes left," Chris said.

ViVi scratched her neck, her eyes locked on Chris as he read yet another one of the votes.

"Nicky."

Nicky leaned forward, his heart pounding in his chest. He rested his elbow on his knee and his fist on his jaw.

Natasha frowned at each of the votes that read for 'Nicky'. He looked over at him briefly before up and at the fifth vote of the night.

"Nicky."

Nicky mouthed a curse, looking at Alma and ViVi, and then to Carly, who bit down on the side of her thumb.

"Alma."

ViVi coughed, covering her mouth as she glanced to Alma, who looked increasingly worried, and to Carly, who tore a piece of dead skin from her thumb.

"That's three votes for Nicky. Three votes for Alma. One vote left." Chris smirked malevolently, his hands tight on the final vote of the night. He slowly turned it around. "And the final vote goes to…

"Alma."

Alma gasped, sitting straight up and turning her hurt gaze to Carly, who couldn't look her in the eye.

"I'm sorry," Carly apologized with what was almost a whimper.

Alma looked as if she wanted to say something, speechlessly looking to ViVi, who twisted her head back and forth uncomfortably.

Natasha relaxed in his seat. He smiled, just barely. This had been exactly the outcome he wanted.

"So long, Alma!" Filima waved as Alma stood up, grabbing her briefcase and making her way towards the Boat of Losers. She didn't want to look back. But then she did…

And she watched as ViVi stood up, grasping at her neck and panting, foaming out the mouth. Clawing at her neck, she collapsed to the floor twitching uncontrollably.

It had all happened so quickly that almost no one had any time to register what was going on. Chef dumped the votes into the container, letting it drop to the ground, miraculously not breaking as he hurried down to ViVi's body.

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, kicking her legs and clutching her neck in pain.

Without much thinking, Chef picked up ViVi's unconscious form and hurried her over to the Boat of Losers, pushing past a shell-shocked Alma as he softly loaded ViVi onto the boat.

Opening a medical kit, Chef dumped a pill into ViVi's mouth. Her body began to slow the twitching, the foam dripping onto the floor but not as prominent as it was before.

"Okay, uh, never mind!" Chris pointed at a frightened Alma. "Guess you're staying! She's not gonna be able to continue."

To the shock of the rest of the team, Chef hurried over to the front of the boat and within an instant, was already off and gone.

"What just happened?" Alma questioned, hurrying over to the end of the dock to watch as the boat disappeared.

Natasha stared in shock at the events unfolding before his eyes. He looked as though his brain had broken. "What?" he said aloud.

"What's happening?" Nicky asked. He looked at Natasha. "Yo, you can talk?"

"That's not really the pressing concern right now," Kyle said. He stared off after the Boat of Losers. "That wasn't…" he started to say, but stopped.

Nobody noticed the figure in the distance who had watched the scene unfold with them. He spun a flower in his hand and said, "I know what happened…" He grinned.

Confessional: The Poisonous Poet

Harald plucked a petal off the rose in his hand. A devious smirk played at his lips. "I said I had a plan. A plan where no one can get in my way."

He chuckled and plucked another petal off.

"Hellebores are so useful when you know how to use them. Get enough of them in a lake and now the useless scum that is ViVi Venom has no possibility of getting in my way."

Harald tore the last petal off the flower, then crushed it in his hand.

"The game is only just beginning."

Chris stood at the end of the dock with his signature smile, however it was visibly strained.

"Well, this was a first! We're two down and the drama just keeps rising. Who's the next to go? Why would I spoil the fun? So come and find out next time on the next episode of…

"Total!

"Drama!

"Hellebore Island!"

Sadistic Scorpions: Edward, Harald, Jason, Maggie, Penelope, Willow

Ferocious Foxes: Alma, Carly, Filima, Natasha, Nicky, Kyle

Questions!

1. What do you think of the teams?

2. Do you have any favorites?

3. What did you think of ViVi?

4. Did this elimination surprise you?

5. Who do you think/hope will be eliminated third?

Elimination Table:

14th- Zachary: The Sensation

13th- Vivianne: The Rocker Chick