I Heard Yxu Were Lxxking Fxr Me

[Deamon]

((Arizona continued from Egx Kills Everything))

The gardens were eerily silent when she reached them. It felt unnatural. Everything was still. With there being no breeze or wind to speak of nothing moved aside from her. She had expected to be able to hear Jonah and Darlene talking. It set on her edge. Made her feel like something had happened while she was gone. Her heart started to beat faster as images of disaster sped through her mind. Visions of the worst-case scenarios caused her knuckles to turn white as she kept a grip on the Pancor.

She didn't call out as she moved through the undergrowth. Just in case. As moved deeper into the tangle of plants that made up the gardens however it was clear something was wrong. There wasn't any noise in the garden that sounded like other people. It was at that point she emerged into a clearing and saw him.

Jonah was lying still, flowers resting on his chest and eyes. All thought of caution or safety vanished from her mind as she sprinted over to him.

"No, no, no, no, no." She kept repeating the denial as she dropped her things and knelt beside him. Despite everything, she couldn't bring herself to touch him. He looked so peaceful and she didn't want to ruin it. Her hands clenched and unclenched as tears started to form in her eyes. "Why did I leave you?" She whispered, as much to herself and it was to him.

Her hands rubbed at her eyes but the tears didn't stop and her sobs became the only noise in the gardens.

Despite being grateful for the time they'd had, she wished they'd been able to have more. Jonah was the first person she felt fully natural around. It felt like he could see every aspect of her and he embraced all of it. But he was gone, and the worst part was she hadn't been there. She knew he wouldn't have needed comforting. He had been accepting of death. Hell, he had probably found some aspect of it beautiful. But that didn't help her accept the fact he was gone. It didn't make her feel better about not being there for him.

But then there were other questions that needed answering.

He had been shot multiple times. Jonah's gun was gone. Darlene was nowhere to be found. Someone had put flowers on his body.

With a heaving breath, Arizona forced herself to stand up and looked around the area. Trying to do what Jonah had done when they had searched for Quinn.

At some point in the process, the sleeve of her t-shirt caught on a patch of thorns. Wordlessly, Arizona grabbed them in her hand and wrenched on the branch repeatedly until there was a loud snap and the entire thing came free, roots dangling uselessly in the air. She tossed it aside before continuing with her search.

A short while later she returned to Jonah's side. She started to apologize to him but as she did she realized there was a faint stinging sensation coming from her arm. When she checked it she could small but angry-looking red scratches where she had been caught by the barbs of whatever plant she had destroyed. She sniffed and ran her hand over them, brushing any debris off.

"What happened Jonah?"

[Melusine]

"Day eight, uh," Angie told the group, "that's... something, I guess."

((Angie continued here))

She wore long sleeves today despite the heat. She didn't want Shauna to see. Angie knew that the girl was... not weak but susceptible. It was easy for her to be hurt, she just looked delicate and a drop could shatter her. But she had a lot of resolve and a lot of courage despite everything that had happened. Maybe Shauna could take it, but Angie kept it to herself, it was her pain to bear anyways.

Her hand, though, was wrapped around Shauna's. It was one weakness Angie allowed to show Shauna. She wanted her here, and she wanted her right next to her. She was tired of people running off and getting themselves killed. So, Angie kept her grip on Shauna because there was no way someone else would die just because they decided to fight this alone.

But then, she heard someone. It was a woman's voice. Or rather, a woman's cries that lured Angie in. People had been crying all over the island, but hers was different. It sounded as if something terrible had happened, which was probably what happened. Angie snapped her head back at Shauna and Matthew.

"Uhhh," she said softly, "what do we do?"

[Namira]

((Shauna continued from Night By Night))

Eventually, Shauna had stolen some hours back and managed to shut her eyes for long enough to rest. When you were exhausted, battered and bruised, a shield from the cold, the wind, even the sounds of the outside, was a force enough to overwhelm caution and anxiety both. Getting indoors had been a very good idea. Things looked... not brighter, exactly, but—well, how to phrase this... Shauna felt slightly less like she was going to shatter into pieces at any given moment. Trying to be brave was hard. Sleep made it a tiny bit easier. Physical and mental well being both, right? Coach Skinner had always, in that kindly but firm way of hers, insisted that the team get a good night's sleep before games.

She was gone too.

Adding another person to their travails changed the dynamic some. A fair bit, actually. Shauna hadn't realised how comfortable she'd grown in Angie's presence until it wasn't just Angie, and that threw into relief the unsettling reminder that she'd already spent longer with Angie than she had either Danny or Tanisha. Matthew himself was fine, more or less, but Shauna couldn't help from feeling that things weren't quite the same. Still, he was keeping a button on the rude comments, so she couldn't complain too hard, especially not when most of her focus remained on Angie. She'd been glancing the other girl's way every so often, and after the first brush of knuckles, Shauna had realised that Angie wanted to hold her hand. She'd let her, and though the physical contact was comforting, Shauna didn't think that was the whole story.

Words were going unspoken between them. Shauna would have liked to say it was because of Matt but it would have been the same even in his absence, and perhaps Angie didn't know that Shauna knew, but maybe she just didn't care. They weren't far away from each other last night. Shauna had heard the crying. Shauna had heard the raw pain. She didn't know how to even begin to talk that through and help Angie. She'd sort of been aware that the hurt of what happened to Ramsey had to still be with her but—that was animal—not even animal, human, brutal. There was no way Shauna could ever be up to a challenge like that.

So instead she held Angie's hand.

Soon enough, there were more cries in the garden, more pain and—wait, hold on, that voice, that couldn't be...

"Arizona!" she broke into a run, pulling Angie along, then letting go and breaking clear. "Arizona! I... oh..."

[Super Weegee]

So, everybody from his original group is dead now apart from himself and whatshisface?

((Matthew Hunt continued from You Never Said Goodbye))

"Hooray." Matthew responded dryly to that line of thought and to Angie.

After sleeping on it the other day, he figured that he should stick around with the two girls for a little bit longer. Some protection on hand in case shit goes down far outweighs the negatives of going it alone, especially since they're supposedly at the halfway point now. The girls seemed fine with him tagging along, so he supposed that it's a win-win situation for them somehow.

The temperature was too high for him to tolerate wearing his red hoodie, so he just took it off, revealing his short-sleeved blue shirt in full. Once they got moving, they didn't talk much. Angie seemed nice enough from what he could gather, but so was Julien initially, and something about her felt shady. He couldn't really see why, but his attempts to bury that gut feeling was failing. Maybe it was because she was a total stranger while he met Shauna before, and she didn't shoot him when he was pissed off about Regina? Who knows.

He was taken out of his thoughts when the sound of a woman crying entered his ears. Sounds like it's coming from the garden.

"Well," Matthew said, "I don't see why we shouldn't look. If someone's crying, then-ooooookay then." His voice trailed off when Shauna apparently recognized the voice as Arizona and rushed over with Angie in tow. Wait, Arizona as in Arizona Butler? The girl who killed Quinn?

His lips moved around, mostly trying to find the right words telling them to wait, but only silence escaped his mouth. After a few seconds, he simply sighed and followed them. When Arizona came into his view, he can see her crying near a corpse he didn't recognize. It looks recent, too.

"Uh...hello?"

[Deamon]

Arizona looked up at the sound of the voice. Recognition dawning on her face as she saw Shauna rushing over to her. She stood, her eyes lighting up. Happy to see someone else from the team. She wasn't as close to Shauna as she was to some of the others. She spent more time with Sam, Luca and Rhonda more. But at that point in time, seeing someone who she trusted was just what she needed. Shauna was one of the quietest members of the team, she was more animated around them casually, but she still lacked confidence. Despite she was loud and animated as she ran over. It had to be the excitement of seeing her. Arizona wanted to able to reciprocate and she did to a degree. She stood, and there was a smile on her face. But Jonah still lay next to her.

Shauna caught sight of him and slowed up. There were two others with her. But Arizona would have been lying if she said she recognized them. One of the things her experience on the island was crystalizing was that she had a very limited social knowledge of her school. Not that it mattered much anymore. She could get their names later. Arizona rubbed her eyes with one of her wrists then slipped the strap for the Pancor over her shoulder and stood up. The situation called for her to say something.

The other three were stood looking at her. But she had no words. There was nothing she felt like she could say at that moment. The wound was too raw, she had only just been processing it alone. It wasn't something she wanted to go through with two people she didn't know around.

There was still the faintest hint of a smile trying to break through as she stood there. A powerful mixture of conflicting emotions battling inside her. A goodbye and a reunion occurring simultaneously.

Then she walked over to Shauna and pulled her into a tight hug.

[Melusine]

Arizona.

Like the tea and like the state.

And a name that both bring joy and fear to Angie. It wasn’t anything too complex: having your name on the announcement meant something. You had either died as a victim or survived as a killer and both herself and Arizona were just that.

There wasn’t anything too hard to compute when it came to her feelings. Angie was just that: feelings. For once, she wasn’t sure what exact feeling she was supposed to act upon.

Her joy would be an easy one, really. Arizona was alive. She was right there in front of them and she wasn’t going to kill them. Angie knew better than to trust her, but she was too exhausted to be paranoid. She had to shut her brain off once in a while or else it would overheat.

The last time it happened, she killed someone.

And then, there was the fear. It was clear she wasn’t going this option, but it was worth - no, had - to be mentioned. There was a body. There was Arizona. Arizona has a gun. It didn’t take a lot to add one plus one and get a two. It wasn’t anything too complex either, but Jonah laid dead and Ari stood alive. There would be another list of names out on the announcement with the grim reaper happy with its harvest.

“Ari?”

The words came out by themselves. Angie’s knot in her stomach began to unravel. The valve in her brain with the control suddenly let all the emotion flow through at once. She wanted to believe Ari without asking any questions, but that was impossible. She had to prick and she had to ask and she had to poke, or else another Ramsey would be taken away.

“Ari, you didn’t do this, right?” She should have voted for them. “Please, you didn’t do it, right?”

She just needed a yes and a time machine to be happy with herself.

[Namira]

Shauna could pretend for a second that things were okay.

Then she felt the weight of the weapon bumping against her leg, where Arizona had pinned her arms to her side with the hug.

Just for a second.

She hugged back with her free arm, resisting her first instinct to bury her head in Arizona's shoulder and cry, because she'd started to doubt she'd ever see her again, because she'd dreaded that she'd wake up in the morning and hear Arizona's name joining Cheridene and Rhonda's.

Shauna didn't. She saw the pain written on Arizona's face. She saw the boy dead on the ground, and she remembered a goofy little basketball cupcake and a prom invitation.

Jonah was gone, and the agony Arizona, strong, powerful Arizona had to be in--Shauna couldn't, wouldn't burden her further. She had to stand on her own two feet. More than that, she had to be there for her friend. She had to be. Better started here.

"Glad you're okay," Shauna said softly.

Angie spoke, and Shauna winced. She didn't for a second believe that Arizona would have hurt Jonah, but Angie didn't know her like Shauna did. She had reason to doubt.

"She wouldn't do that," Shauna answered for her friend, turning out of the hug, but not breaking it. "Not--she just wouldn't."

[Super Weegee]

Ok, so Arizona and Shauna are friends apparently. A nice little reunion.

Matthew would've called it a happy one as well, but he remembered that they were standing next to a corpse.

Judging from the look on Angie's face, she looked conflicted if he had to wager a guess, a sentiment that he shared. Arizona seems genuinely heartbroken, but there's also exists a social skill that some people here are using effectively:
lying. She might be weeping crocodile tears to either justify her murder or wait until the right moment to strike while their defenses are down.

Then again, that just raises some questions. Why would she be crying as if she was expecting them to show up? The only real answer is that she's trying to lure people in, but that would just paint a giant bullseye on her even if her target was alone. Also, there's the fact that she freaking killed Quinn, aka the girl who murdered Ned and had the second highest body count!

So she's probably not planning on doing anything for the time being, and Shauna putting in a good word for Arizona made it far more likely, but that didn't stop him from feeling cynical nonetheless.

"Considering everything else that happened," Matthew said to himself, muttering under his breath, "it wouldn't surprise me if she did."

[Deamon]

"You too."

There was a relief that came with seeing a friend and the comfort that provided. Shauna was there for her. She returned the hug. Normally Arizona would have bristled at the idea of showing weakness in front of others. She had a rep, one that she had put effort into cultivating. It served as her sword and shield. She'd used her persona to cover for her own confidence issues and fears. It had worked too. For all those years on the court and around school she had been Arizona. A singular idea, as much a force of nature as a person. It had helped then, and it had helped against Quinn.

Now though none of it mattered. She didn't care if the other two saw her real emotions. Jonah was dead but Shauna was there to provide some relief and comfort. She wasn't too proud or too deep in her own ego to reject it. None of that would help her anymore. With Jonah gone and Darlene missing, she was going to need to handle social situations, they had been Jonah's strength. He had tried to be kind to everyone and everyone had liked him, he had excelled at that.

But then came a question that only served to rile her up. Angie asked if she'd killed Jonah. Shauna, to her credit, instantly defended her. But when Arizona looked up she saw Matt muttering something.

It was a lit fuse. Grief turning into anger like the wind in a storm. Her mind was dark as she released Shauna and stepped around her.

"What the fuck question is that?" She began. "Why the fuck would I..." She broke off, unable to finish the thought. Her shoulders slumped and she hung her head before continuing.

"No, I didn't."

[Melusine]

"I-"

Ramsey's bloodied face came back to the forefront of Angie's mind. His bloodshot eyes, crying and pleading for Angie to stop and to continue, his mouth drooling a mixture of blood and saliva. He was right there, he was right in front of her.

"I'm sorry," Angie raised her hands to her face, hiding her embarrassment.

She took two then three steps back to put her back against the pile of shattered pottery. Tanisha had died here. She had just remembered her. Her friend had died here and she couldn't even be bothered to cry for her anymore. There wasn't any point.

"I've seen what the island does to people," her voice wavered, "I wouldn't have blamed you, it's just.."

Her hands were getting wet from the sweat she was shedding. She wouldn't be terrified of Arizona, but she was. She would forever be scared of people with weapons. There wasn't any taking back from that. A second they could be a crying and the next, they could be killing you.

"Nevermind."

[Namira]

Shauna tried not to flinch as Arizona suddenly came alive in exactly the wrong way, the temper that had done so much for them on the court and here would be disastrous. The last thing she wanted was for Arizona to detonate all over someone she'd actually found herself coming to trust.

Thankfully, Arizona subsided, and equally thankfully, she spoke at the same time as Matthew seemed to say something that was, to be light, less than tactful. Shauna wasn't sure the exact words, but she'd seen his lips and, uh, well, hopefully he'd said something else.

Angie's next comment came at a harsh angle, Shauna winced.

"Angie's been through a lot," she said. After a second, she had the awkward realisation that she had no such excuse for Matthew, but well--well, maybe she hadn't heard him right. Arizona didn't seem to have heard him, anyhow.

"So anyway! I--maybe we should move a little bit? Talk about what we maybe want to do next? Safety in numbers."

'cept for when there were three of them and one Erika and she walked out alive--stop. It. Shauna.

She couldn't let her emotions run away with her. She had to keep a cool head. Coach always said she was a glue player, so be the glue. If they stuck together, maybe things would turn out better this time.

[Super Weegee]

"We're not saying you did!" Matthew said, taking a step back and raising his hands when Arizona stepped around Shauna. He only put them down when she simmered down and denied shooting the blue-haired guy.

Opening his mouth to apologize, Angie beat him to the punch and essentially said that the island changes people and, apparently, that's enough to excuse some of their actions.

While he does agree with part of that, there's a big difference between killing one person quickly and as painlessly as possible to be able to go home and continuing to kill a ton of people to satisfy their bloodlust. No excuse would be even remotely good enough for the latter.

Shauna's quick to change the topic and suggest that they get a move on, as well as figure out what they want to do next.

"Good idea." he answered, nodding his head at her, "What plan are we talking about, though? A 'who are we going to target' kind of plan, I assume?"

[Deamon]

They weren't saying she did. Arizona could have easily called bullshit on that statement, but instead, she stayed quiet. Starting an argument with Shauna's group wouldn't solve anything. She didn't know how Jonah had managed it. He had always been so patient with people. Always able to understand them or at least try to. Arizona wasn't sure if she had that ability. Although she was also aware that wasn't good enough. Deciding she couldn't do it would have been the easy way out. She needed to learn. Jonah was gone. She had to be able to stand on her own. There was no way she was going to get far if she started a fight with everyone who said something she didn't like.

"It's alright," She eventually managed as a response.

Shauna picked up the ball to keep the conversation going. She asked about what they wanted to do next. Arizona already knew what she was going to do next. There was only one thing she could see herself doing. Her head turned as she took in Jonah's body again. It never got any easier. Despite the time they had she wished for more. She'd have given anything to just be back in Chattanooga with him. None of that was going to happen, not really. There was a chance she'd dream about it. Her only image of Jonah being him as he'd been that way. No matter what happened to her he'd always be frozen in her memory.

Finally, she spoke again.

"I don't think I'll be staying," She began, turning away from Jonah and back to Shauna. "After the next announcement I'll know who I have to find."

[Melusine]

"I'm sorry," she fumbled.

It didn't mean a lot but she wanted it to get out. There was a part of her that wanted to please Arizona and another that wanted to run. They conflicted, but they agreed on one method to fix, or at least manage, the situation.

"I'm sorry."

This time was clearer, her hands weren't on her face anymore. She was wiping them on her pants. They were soaked and it just felt like the more she rubbed, the less dry it would get, but she didn't stop. Angie wanted this to be thorough, through and through, until there wasn't a feeling of residual moist between her fingers.

There was this ball of anxiety in her stomach as Arizona revealed her plan. It was a fair one, really. Angie had done the same, and in the end, the girl in front of her had fixed her problem. She looked down. She was supposed to thank her but it didn't feel right.

This is fine, she reminded herself, this is juuuuuust fine.

[Namira]

Shauna thought that was still Erika, the uh, the 'target', even though she didn't feel quite right putting it that way. Not inaccurate though? It wasn't as if they were trying to track her down in order to civilly discuss what she'd done. They couldn't just assume everyone was an evil bastard but--Shauna had been there. Erika was a mass murderer. One way or another she had to go.

But Arizona's response kind of put a dent in that because, right. Jonah. Of course she'd want to go after whoever did that to him. Just... well...

The selfish part of Shauna didn't want her to go, didn't want her to separate. They'd just met, and Shauna hadn't forgotten the improbable good fortune of seeing Matt and Faith twice, alive and well. Hoping to get that same luck twice seemed naive.

"Nothing says you have to go anywhere. We can look together."

As she spoke Shauna realised how that had to sound to Arizona. Shauna, telling her that she had the guts and the, the... not-Shaunaness to stick by her side for something that would only end in blood. Arizona, the person who had put down Quinn, and Shauna, the person who'd got spared, got lucky, got lucky again.

She set her jaw. That was the point, though, right? If she was telling herself that she was the kind of person who could hunt down someone like Erika, then she was the kind of person who could help Arizona, who could have those guts. This wasn't school, this wasn't basketball, this wasn't what it had been a week ago. She wasn't who she had been. She wasn't. She wasn't.

"Matt's right," she said quietly. "A plan of attack. For whoever did this and for Erika. With the four of us."

Please, she didn't say.

Trust me, she didn't say.

Her pleading eyes said plenty.