You thought it was Kimiko but it was me, Jerry!

[Iceblock†]

"Good luck, though," Mel offered out the window. "Pretty sure they'll still be good people - better than hanging out with Jerry, anyway. And... yeah."

She trailed off. She'd spoken without thinking, and in the next moment had realized she'd served herself a reminder of where she had failed - or if not exactly failed, at least where she had fallen short of what she wanted.

Nothing much. Just a stray thought about Astrid. Things they could have settled, one way or another. Words she could have said. At least with Sandy she had only left the distance that had grown between them unbridged. She could assume the conclusion, if they'd just been given the time. With Astrid, it was like kicking a soccer ball but never getting to see where it came down.

It was a pretty bad analogy. Aiden was the one who'd know about soccer balls coming down in the wrong place, if he hadn't suppressed that memory by now. She'd keep it. It was good for a laugh, and she'd need a laugh probably sooner than later.

There was no one left for her to find. Bart might at least get some closure. If he did, it wouldn't really matter to her. If he didn't, it wouldn't matter either - so she'd just stick with hoping for the better of the two.

[Ohm]

She listened to him as he stuttered out his plans, of which there were none. There were people still running around with no idea or purpose it seemed, like him, at least till he blurted out about his friends. Aiden had the answer to that. She knew what he was getting at. "Might be better for you to retrace your steps then and find them." There was a part of her that wanted to say screw it and tell him to come along, but she couldn't afford it, trust was a valuable commodity and she wasn't about to hand it out willy nilly to anybody she could "save". Maybe not even her friends at this point.

"Take whatever you want from his bag Bart.... good luck." She said before she walked over to where the dead Fury laid in the grass. An up close view of his broken body, ruined to pieces. It was almost amazing in a horrible way, how much damage hitting someone at mach 10 would do. As she got down on her knees beside him, she noted he looked disturbingly similar to Barry. She tried her best to ignore it. There was a complete different context t it, Barry was a victim. Fury was a murderer. And yet, they looked remarkebly similar after death. Didn't matter what you were in life, it all ended the same.

She turned back and set her hands together, and prayed. She prayed for the broken boy in front of her, a good passage to whatever afterlife he believe in, but it would be a lie to say that was the only thing. She prayed for Aiden and Mel for the road she had dragged them along, willingly or not. But she saw it as the lesser of two evils. It was better than hiding about crying their eyes out and bemoaning their fates. They were not going to be victims of a wannabe winner.

She will keep them alive. Even if it meant getting more blood on her hands.

((Serena Waters continued in Open Your Eyes and Look North]]

[Aura]

Yeah, it was probably best if he got out of there as soon as possible. Bart had almost died, watched someone die, and been abandoned by another person. All of that in the span of around three minutes. Looks like he had walked right into yet another unenviable scenario. Somehow, it seemed that this island just had a knack for making things go as wrong as possible.

It was a small comfort that they let him keep some of Jerry's supplies. It felt wrong, no doubt about that, but he didn't have the time to waste dwelling on what his morality code had to say about graverobbing. Jerry didn't need his food or water anymore, and Bart did, so that answered the question then and there. Of course, not all of his supplies were in good condition, or even visible thanks to how they had been scattered around after the crash, but Bart managed to scrounge up a decent bit of rations, at least a day's worth in any case.

"Uh... bye." He waved to the group as he left the way he came, or at least his best guess as to which way that was. Once the coast was clear, he would get his map out and try to find a way to the others. He wasn't sure whether he would go back to the library, or maybe somewhere else they had touched upon, but he needed to find them.

And if that didn't work, then he would have to get used to being alone again.

((Bart Cappotelli continued in All Artists Talk to Their Creations))

[D/N]

(I saaid you could move me out but OKQUICKEXITPOST)

And so what, somehow that'd all worked out?

He wondered if it was really that simple. Y'know. Just show up, run over a killer, talk it out, be on your way. Hell. Maybe it was. Maybe they could pull themselves all the way to the end here. Fuck off terrorists, we'll do it.

Aiden scooched back over to the passenger seat to make room for Serena. She prayed and honestly, Aiden was regrettin' that part of it at least. It was just his dumb ass trying to make a remark so he'd have something to say. But... hey, maybe. Again with the maybes. Maybe it had helped or something.

"You need me to do some driving, let me know, k?"

(Aiden Slattery continued elsewhere)

[Iceblock†]

Things had wound down again. Not paying attention to much anymore, Mel slumped back in her seat and closed her eyes.

She'd get some sleep while she could. After what had just happened, if she had dreams, they would be nightmares - still, it was better than thinking about the end. Not death, although she knew that was coming too, but what might happen if they were too successful.

They had made it this far already. There was still a ways to go. What would stop them from going all the way if given the choice? When the reward was just within reach... who really cared that it was the terrorists who offered it?

Maybe just her stubborn self. And she was starting to think she couldn't even trust in that anymore.

((Melanie Beckett continued in Open Your Eyes and Look North))