This Is Your Captain Crashing

Red Soil, Forever Stained

It felt like the plane was getting more and more swallowed into a deadly storm the more the show went on, especially as Team Chris lost more and more members, and everyone on board knew why.

Izzy.

She was the sole reason for it, but no one knew why. No one knew why it was turning out like this, not even Chris knew the answer. But considering the circumstances, no one wanted to figure out why. And it's because Merida was being massively hostile and defensive of the wild child. Something happened after Eva was eliminated, and no one saw what happened.

Although Tyler did mention he heard someone yelling in the elimination area, and Izzy never left when they did...

Still, no one wanted to poke the literal bear with the stick. At the moment, Izzy was on the couch in First Class, curled up on a blanket and completely unresponsive. Merida had brought her in earlier, and was sitting at the bar, watching her like the hawk. Despite Heather's complaints and Chris saying Izzy couldn't be in the winner's area, one swift and very dark glare from the princess shut them up instantly.

And so, that's how things were. Izzy was silent, presumably asleep on the couch, Merida was watching from the bar, and Team Amazon were all sitting together, sans Heather.

The Queen Bee was missing, while Gwen, Courtney, Cody and Sierra all sat together. The quartet glanced over at Izzy in worry, then faced each other.

"I honestly think she should go home", Cody said sadly, his gaze lingering on Izzy the longest. "And I mean home home. She needs to go back and just talk to someone, because I'm really worried for her..."

"Yeah..." Sierra said quietly, looking down. "I researched all I could on you guys, but after Action Izzy's life was a complete mystery. Nothing was out there, aside from the whole movie deal falling through."

"I really want to know what is going on..." Gwen said as she glanced at Courtney. "Maybe we could use this as leverage to sue Chris in the future, if she ends up... you know..."

Courtney paled and shivered. "I really would rather not think of something like that. Izzy's attitude and behaviour is bad enough as is, but she thought she could do that... Is really concerning. But yes, we could... Only hypothetically."

The goth nodded sadly, and things became quiet after that. At least until Heather walked by and leaned between Courtney and Gwen's chair with a plate of cookies. "You guys want one of these?"

Each of the four took a cookie, and the Queen Bee frowned when she saw Gwen and Courtney being surprisingly calm with each other. "Okay, what happened after you two ran off when we got on the plane?"

The two girls looked at the teammate/rival, at each other, then back to Heather. "We talked", Courtney said. "What Merida said in the minefield... was a perspective change. And when told me she and Duncan broke off just to at least wait till after the show... I realised going after her would just make me lose like in Action. I'd be shunned and stuff, so we made up... for the most part."

"We both are still off about the kiss", Gwen continued. "So we both decided to just... Be better teammates, and see how things go from there."

Heather looked momentarily distraught, but before she could say anything Sierra spoke up. "Well, that'll bum out all the Duncey and Gwuncan fans, but in the end, it's better for all of us!" Cody nodded with a grin, which left the Queen Bee speechless. She masked it all though and simply got up to sit at the bar, leaving her dubious teammates to ponder what had shifted.

But everything came to a halt when the bundle on the couch shifted, with Izzy rolling over so everyone could see her face. The sight made Gwen, Courtney, Cody and Sierra's hearts break.