The next morning, Fatin was nowhere to be found, the girls noticed the two missing coke cans, and Toni had disappeared an hour prior for a run leaving Marley feeling vulnerable and nervous without them. In truth, Marley was nervous about Fatin particularly - especially given the fact that the girl had shown no previous desire to learn any survival skills - and could only hope that she was okay.
"Alright, look, can you fucking stop mumbling." Marley snapped at Shelby, effectively shocking the blonde into silence, who had been non-stop mumbling prayers for the last half hour. "You're not fucking helping."
"Marley." Dot uttered, warningly, having been made aware by Toni the day before how much her past would be affecting her and her moods, now especially. "That's enough, she's just scared like we all are."
"Doesn't mean I need to hear all the Christian nonsense spilling from her lips all the time." Marley snapped, wrapping her arms around her knees, which were pulled up to her chest.
"Guys!"
The girls all turned to see Toni running over to the group, clutching a piece of fabric in her hand, Marley's face falling as she realised exactly what it was.
"That's Fatin's..." Marley mumbled.
"Where did you find it?" Leah piped up, cutting her off, earning a glare from the girl and a disbelieving look from Toni.
"It was in the woods. I tried looking a little further but I couldn't find anything so I brought it back here." Noticing her dishevelled appearance, Marley ignored everyone else and moved in front of Toni, taking her face in her hands and checking her over for any injuries. Toni put her hands on the girl's arms, resting her forehead against hers and gave her a reassuring smile. "Mar, I'm fine. I'm alright." Marley simply shook her head and checked over the girl once more.
"Alright." Dot spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "Grab whatever you need and then we'll start looking for her. Best to start early so we can make use of the light that's available." The group dispersed, changing into more 'hike-worthy' attire that they could find from the remnants of Fatin's wardrobe.
"Mar, can we talk?" Toni asked quietly.
"About what?" Marley replied, back to avoiding eye contact with the girl once more, knowing exactly what she wanted to talk about.
"I'm not blind or deaf, Mar. Look, I know you've been through a lot. More than anyone should in such a small space of time. But we all have and you can't be taking it out on everyone here." Marley scoffed in disbelief, making to walk away from the girl and back towards the others when Toni took her hands in hers, stood so close that Marley was convinced she could hear the brunette's heartbeat against her own. "Mar, you can shout at me, push me, shove me, whatever you need to release all that built up aggression okay, but you can't take it out on these girls."
"I know," Marley mumbled, "I know I .. I'm just scared too," she admitted, resting her forehead against Toni's, holding her hands tighter. Toni wasn't sure how to respond to this as she knew it took a lot for Marley to admit any negative emotions and Toni didn't want her falling off the wagon, noticing how the girl's eyes continued to drift towards Dot, who was packing a few pills in case anything were to go wrong on their quest to find Fatin.
"Hey, Mar, look at me," Toni muttered, taking the girl's face in her hands, placing a light to kiss to her lips, ignoring the slight gasps and invested looks from the girls around them, "You still have me and you will always have me,okay?" Marley simply nodded, tears gleaming over her eyes as she refused to let them fall. "We'll find her. She'll be okay."
-----
The girls (minus Nora who stayed behind to tend to the fire) had been trekking through the woods for hours, coming to no successful conclusion on where Fatin could have disappeared to, and the pure silence surrounding them only worried them more. No rustling leaves. No moving branches. Not even the faintest trace of footsteps gave them any hint to where the girl had gone and Leah was starting to spiral.
Marley had made the decision to stay walking towards the back of the group, staying away from any temptation she may have felt had she continued walking besides Dot, who carried half of their medical supplies with them, and everyone noticed this but refused to speak it out loud after warning glances from Toni and Martha. Little did Marley know, the girls were all starting to piece together what had happened and her reluctance to sleep beside them the night before paired with her reluctance to walk closer to them was only adding to their theories.
With the heat blaring down on their shoulders, tension was rising and emotions were being heightened more than they had been in days, leading to an anxiety ridden atmosphere among them all. Eventually, Dot had had enough and tried talking Leah down from her high horse.
"The sun is going to start going down soon Leah, we can't all be out here after dark it's dangerous." Dot spoke calmly, standing in front of Leah who simply looked upon the girls in disbelief, a crazed glint to her eyes.
"We have to find her. We argued the last time I talked to her. We have to keep looking." Leah stated, not leaving room for debate. Marley had heard enough and made her way to the front of the group next to Dot, ignoring the warning arm she felt Toni try and put on her shoulder.
"I get that you want to find her, Leah, we all do. But putting our own lives at risk isn't what she would want," ignoring a warning look from Dot, Marley continued, "Fatin may not show it all that often but she knows how to handle herself. If she was in trouble she would have screamed and shouted up a storm until we found her way to her."
"You're only saying that so you don't feel guilty for giving up." Leah spat at her, Marley taking a step closer to her, seemingly not at all phased by the brunette's attitude. Unknown to all but Toni and Martha, who could sense the girl's brewing anger at the insinuation in Leah's voice. "You can pretend that you care all you want but I bet you're just fucking using us for your own personal gain."
"Excuse me." Marley sneered, the girls tensing behind her, nervously watching the clashing duo. "Go on, Leah, say what it is you're thinking. Why would I possibly be using you, Fatin's my friend, you asshole."
"Girls. Let's all calm down, alright, we won't find her any quicker with the two of you acting like this." Shelby piped up from beside Martha and Toni.
"Shelby, don't," Martha muttered, "it'll only backfire on you if you try to talk them down." Shelby scoffed slightly but still backed down, the group watching on with Toni ready to step in and help Marley if need be.
"You try and hide your little habits," Leah looked Marley up and down in disdain, the latter quickly uncrossing arms to stop herself from habitually scratching at the skin of her inner elbow.
"I don't know what you're insinuating Leah, but you had better fucking keep quiet." Marley threatened, sensing Toni step forward joining her at her side, Leah merely scoffed.
"I've seen the symptoms before. And we're on a deserted island Marley so all you're private conversations aren't truly private."
"Leah, you had better stop talking before you say something you regret." Marley warned.
"You're a crazed junkie, Marley!" Leah shouted, "Secret's out so let us all stop tiptoeing around you as if you're so fucking fragile!"
Within a split second, the girls were astonished when Marley had Leah pinned against the tree, arm slung across her neck just tight enough to be uncomfortable, rage clear as day in her eyes.
"You don't know shit. You claim to care so much about finding Fatin and yet all you're doing is looking for someone else to blame for shit so you don't feel as responsible for being the reason she left in the first place! Maybe you're the fucking crazy one!"
Another split second passed and the two girl's positions had changed, Leah kicking Marley's legs out and switching the higher ground. Pinning Marley to the tree, Leah was shocked at the look of resignation on the girl's face, the dulled light in her eyes that was only getting worse the more time they spent on the island. Dot and Toni sprung into action, pulling the girl's apart. Dot dragged Leah away and they had a muttered conversation the other's weren't able to make out.
"Mar," Toni mumbled worriedly, cupping the girl's face as she checked her over, similar to how Marley had done for her earlier that very same day.
"Marley are you alright?" Shelby timidly spoke up, worry hidden behind her bright eyes.
"I'm fine." Marley uttered, not even trying to sound convincing, the weight of Leah's words resting heavy in her head as she relived all her mistakes over the last year alone.
"Well," Rachel spoke up from the middle of the two groups, "not that this isn't a riveting scene to watch but I'm gonna head off-" Leah cut the girl off before she could finish.
"You as well, huh? You're just gonna bail because this doesn't fit your little Rachel agenda!" Rachel turned to face the tall brunette in annoyance.
"I wasn't going back. I was just panning out our search to give us a better chance at finding Fatin." Leah simply stood there dumbfounded.
"Well .. I .. um I didn't know that." Leah stammered.
"Of course you didn't" Marley mumbled, wrapping her arm around Toni's waist, leaning into her for comfort which Toni gladly reciprocated, just happy that the girl wasn't pushing her away.
"I'll go with," Dot spoke up, awkwardly raising her hand as she stood next to the swimmer. "You know, the whole no lone musketeer bullshit."
"No lone soldiers, Dotty." Marley spoke up, her confidence slowly returning to her. Dot simply gave her a mocking salute in response as her and Rachel wandered off to continue their search.
"I'm not fucking crazy!" Leah called out after them due to the mocking gesture sent her way by Rachel.
"Screaming that doesn't help your case." Marley stated before her and Toni walked ahead, followed by Shelby, Martha and eventually Leah.
*** Meanwhile at the Dawn Of Eden Retreat ***
"Leah is not crazy, at least not in any clinical sense. The distress she is displaying is simply a response to stress. Toni angers, as we have seen. Marley tunes further into her former addict ego. Fatin, when cornered or upset, disappears seemingly without a trace. This is why we are holding off on any kind of intervention. Leah has her sense within her. Fatin is doing her solitary independence. Toni has Marley and Martha there to ground her. And there are no drugs for Marley to turn to at this point in time. No harm nor self destructive behaviour will fall upon these girls."
"They are not following their typical behaviour patterns. You sent in the fake pilot bag with enough pain medication and narcotics to cause damage if the consumer knows what they're doing and what they're taking. And she doesn't disappear."
"No. Fatin does not disappear when provoked. And Marley has not even thought about that sort of self-sabotage in six months." Gretchen looked up worriedly at the screens before her.
---
Marley kept her arm wrapped around Toni as they walked, not wanting to let go in fear of what she would do to the tall brunette at the back of their smaller group. Toni kept, mostly, silent as they walked, feeling the slight shake to the girl's usually strong posture.
"Hey, are you sure you're okay?" Shelby asked, "Leah had no right to go off on you like that. I mean we're all scared for Fatin." Shelby ignored the nudge Leah gave her before continuing to call out Fatin's name.
"Look, Shelby, I appreciate what you're trying to do but don't bother. We clashed. It's what people do. I get that she's scared but I'd had enough of her shit as well."
"Guys, did you hear that?" Martha piped up, worry lacing her tone. "It sounded like Dot."
"Help!" The echo was heard clearer now they were silent. Without thinking, Marley broke away from Toni and hurried through the woods, following the distressed screams coming from Dot and the unfiltered rage from Rachel. Bursting through, the group found Rachel up to her chest in quicksand, Dot trying her hardest to help her out.
"Whoa," Dot told them, holding out a hand to keep them back, "Be careful and go around." Without complaint, the girls made their way over to Dot and worked as a team as though nothing had happened previously. After a rough few minutes, they managed to pull Rachel free - Martha working as the mediator to keep Rachel calm and focused on freeing herself in the most effective way. After a few minutes of regaining their breath, the group stood up and moved away from the quicksand, no one wanting to experience that sort of terror again so soon.
"We have to keep walking if we want to get out of here before it gets dark." Marley spoke up, her voice strangely void of emotion. "We can keep our eyes and ears open for Fatin on our way out." None of the girl's argued with her, they all simply looked at her, perplexed at her sudden change of outlook. Continuing their trek back towards their camp, the girls were intrigued by a faint rustling, Marley stuck behind the group, mentally making sure they all remained safe as they headed cautiously towards the noise.
"Hey-oh!" Fatin called out, practically waltzing into a view, a smile plastered clearly on her face.
"Fatin..." Leah rasped out in disbelief, as Marley watched on with tears gathering in her eyes, thinking that what she was seeing was a result of her instability.
"What the hell happened to you lot?" Fatin spoke up as the girls all gathered around her. Marley stood arms crossed, ignoring the tears that started falling down her cheeks. "Mar?"
"Is that nail polish?" Shelby questioned, pointing to the open bottle in Fatin's hand.
"So what? You were just planning to let us worry until we lost our minds whilst you were out here giving yourself a spa day?" Marley added, her voice raspy, sounding a lot more broken than any of the girls were used to, sending waves of deja-vu through Toni's mind at the last time she heard such a tone. Fatin's smile faltered slightly as she looked over the girl's broken demeanour, before clearing her throat and quickly clicking that shield back into place as all the girls fired questions at her.
"Okay, are you all done? Because there's something I have to show you." With that, Fatin turned on her heel and let the girls further through the woods to an open clearing revealing nothing other than a clear, beautiful waterfall.
Worried for Marley, Toni stuck by her side, swinging her arms by their sides, their fingers brushing one another, sending a strange wave of comfort through both girls. The others all hollered with joy, before following Fatin down the slopes as they all headed into the fresh water, sighing with relief.
"You go with them, T," Marley muttered, sitting with her legs dangling over the edge, "I'll meet you down there."
"If you're not down by the time I count to 200 I'm coming back up alright, babe?" Toni replied, placing a small kiss on the girl's head before following the other's down, the pair ignoring the casual nickname from when they were together. Waiting until they were all out of earshot, Marley let the tears fall freely as she scratched at her arms, unsure of where the sudden waves of emotion and instability had come from. After she was sure she was done with crying, Marley stripped to her tank top and spandex-style shorts before diving gracefully into the water, earning surprised cheers from the other girls.
Toni swam over to the girl, lacing their fingers together beneath the water once they had both removed the mud and dirt from their hair and bodies.
"You alright?" she asked quietly, earning a nod and smile from the girl before her as Marley confidently wrapped her arms around the girl's neck despite the faint marks and scars from her previous struggles, ignoring the whistles and hollers from Dot and Fatin.
"Yeah, it's just been a long day." Toni nodded in understanding, resting her forehead against Marley's as they stayed wrapped in each other's worlds, happily oblivious to the curious gazes from the others - along with the shared smiles and smirks between Fatin and Dot. "But I'm glad I have you. I'm always glad to have you."
*** Meanwhile at the Dawn Of Eden Retreat ***
"Water. Everyone intact. Reunited. Sober." Gretchen sighed in relief, watching the large screen in front of her, still warily eyeing Marley's slight but visible change in form and attitude. "For now at least."
A/N: Alright and I'm back (hopefully!). I hope you guys like this update, it was one of the harder ones for me to write hence the months with no update as I have not been in the writing mood but I am back and ready to keep telling Marley and Toni's story.
I don't know how obvious it is in comparison to everything else I have written but from this point I will be trying to stray a little from the dialogue in the show as I felt that my writing process was a lot slower and repetitive as I had been writing as I was re-watching the episodes and I felt like none of what I was writing was truly my own (if that makes any kind of sense). I hope that having more of a sense of 'creative freedom' will allow you to enjoy this story just as much and maybe even more.
As I am writing this (June 7th 2021) I am on writing episode 5 and am in such a big writing mood so fingers crossed for a few updates in the coming weeks :)) Thank you again for your patience and support of this story.
Also please keep voting and commenting and I really appreciate all your support :)