Ashanti & I

[Maraoone]

((Matias Juarez continues from Night Moves))

Matias' blood-stained legs shuffled through the hallways, one stuttered, jolting step at a time.

Left leg.

Right leg.

Left leg.

Right leg.

If there was any way to move forward, whatever that meant, it was probably outside that room hidden away in the ship. Do your best, Leslie said. Even if you didn't know if it would be even close to enough. Even if you didn't know what your best was. Walk laps around the hallways, up and down stairs, fucking tearing yourself apart in pursuit of this 'best'.

The bandage around his wound had come loose again. It was still tight, but blood leaked, the tingly pulsating numbing pins and needles mingling with the itchy crackling fire scratch mingling with the sick sweet heartbeat warm around his wound, probably the only thing keeping him awake at this point.

The cold wet draining salt-soaked breeze of the night wrapped around him, weighed down his sweat-soaked orange shirt, this ice cold wind, and it was less an ice bath and more some force sapping him of what little energy he had, slowly taking the feeling away from his hot cold skin. But the pain was there. He could rely on that if nothing else. At least some feeling had come back into him, eh?

Anything for a few more steps.

He didn't want to stay in the room anymore.

He didn't want to be alone anymore.

Inertia was death.

He'd find something one way or another.

He'd find someone one way or another.

Someone would take him in or someone would take him one way or another.

Inertia was death.

Do your best.

Do your best.

Do your best.

Do your—

His worse foot rolled over on itself, and he crashed to the ground.

Maybe this was his best.

He didn't move for a bit.

[Brackie]

((Ashanti Baker continued from No Bel Canto))

While holing up in the captains quarters for an entire day, away from the only person she could speak in her own language to, keeping the partner of the most dangerous threat out there hostage in a hogtied bathroom, wasn't exactly the path to victory Ashanti envisioned in those fleeting moments of wake, she couldn't deny that it had been particularly effective thus far.

They'd remained completely undisturbed, as the circle of razor wire closed around the cruise ship. Noises were occasional, and occasional noises were loud, but it was as though there was already a proverbial danger zone keeping everyone else at bay. Again, this was good for keeping away Mandy's partner, but terrible for keeping away Ashanti's. Funny how it worked when you were keeping someone against their will.

The thing Ashanti needed the most yesterday was sleep, and she'd gotten it and then some. It wasn't exactly sound sleep, since she needed to keep checking to make sure Mandy was still locked in the bathroom, but that base of physiological needs was being rebuilt, brick by brick. She needed more food, though - she wasn't out, but she was definitely low, and the only supply she could raid was trapped behind a bathroom door.

It was some weird, perverted twist of fate that Mandy's own heirarchy of needs had grown faster than Ashanti's, but that was a regret for another time.

She didn't know how long it had been since the announcement, but Matias was once again not a name read from them. Some small miracle - if this weird saga ever came to a conclusion, maybe they could team up again. It was definitely possible, and Ashanti knew it was one of the only things she wouldn't overthink.

Eventually, she got tired of being stuck in the same room for another hour, and took a step outside, near-empty bottle of water clutched in her hand.

Her gaze tread down one way of the hallway. Nothing there. Took a large sip.

She shifted her head to the other side-

And lo and fucking behold-

Ashanti's words touched the air for the first time since her rant at a girl who would never understand her.

"FUCK-YOU-BEEN?"

The bottle had fallen to the carpet now that she could speak again.

[Maraoone]

His thigh hurt as much as it did the first time he'd been shot, itchy scratchy nerves igniting themselves once more, and he heard footsteps heading towards him, and at this point, it was his instinct that any noise directed towards him meant death. But he had heard many noises alone by this point, and his feelings regarding the matter had somewhat faded into this numbed, diminished 'Oh, I'm going to die' sort of realization.

And then he actually looked up from his position on the floor and

this bitch was asking him where he had been?

How dare she?

With a bit of a struggle, he pushed his torso off the ground and stared at her, slack-jawed, for a moment.

His face curled in on itself.

"FUCK - YOU - BEEN?" he signed, hands wide, pointer finger jutted at her.

And then,

"YOU - LEFT - ME."

[Brackie]

"YOU WENT DOWN. I GOT SHOT AT. I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD."

It was surprising how little it took to go from stuttering to yelling for Ashanti. Yeah, it was probably overblown, but Ashanti didn't care, she was honestly just somewhere between happy and exasperated that she'd finally run back into Matias, and not a moment too soon. Never mind the fact she was currently in a screaming match with him, she'd have tim to apologize later, like she always did.

"I didn't know you were still alive until the announcement."

It was probably not the time to be doing this whole song and dance, not with things coming down to the wire as they were. Standing in a hallway silently yelling wasn't the path to victory right now.

"Anyways, get in here."

The path to victory probably involved making sure her partner was as close to 100% as he could get.

[Maraoone]

Anger bubbled at the back of his throat at the thought that he'd been wandering around these fucking boats senselessly, almost dying several times, because of a fucking misunderstanding. He could've done so much with all this fucking wasted time.

It fucked with him even more that they were just gonna move past it and he was just gonna fucking go along with her anyways. Because he didn't have any right to complain. She was his last option. His best remaining option. This is what he wanted. So here he went.

Frown still set on his face, jaws clenched, he leaned against the wall and shakily pushed himself up with his hands and his one working leg.

"WAIT."

And then he slowly, slowly limped his way towards her.

[Brackie]

Ashanti didn't notice how fucked up Matias looked before the call to reprieve - she supposed there had to be a reason she thought he went down initially, and that reason was he took that bullet in the leg - so she did the necessary thing and waited for him to get there, before scooping him under her shoulder and helping him into the cabin.

She didn't have to take him far before the bed, where she dropped him so she could speak again.

"Been here the entire time. Nobody's even checked."

She motioned towards the bedside table.

"Finally got a gun as well."

She also motioned towards the cord tied around the dresser-blocked door of the bathroom.

"Stole it from Seo-yun's friend I have hostage in there."

[Maraoone]

It had been humiliating being carried around by Luanne, and it was humiliating still to be carried around by Ashanti. Wasn't like he would've gotten to the room any faster by himself though, so there was just a small grunt of displeasure being lifted, and a small grunt of displeasure being dropped like a sack of hot potatoes, or a long-forgotten metal jetpack.

There was yet another wave of pain emanating from his leg, so he kinda missed the first half of her words. He noticed the gun, nodded approvingly, head all wavy and wobbly in his semi-sleep-deprived way.

He caught more of what she said next, but, like. Maybe he wasn't seeing things right, like, maybe his wound had gotten all infected and shit and he just misinterpreted it, or like, maybe he was nodding off and just making shit up because he was so fucking tired, or, uh.

"WHAT?"

[Brackie]

"I just said, I said I stole it from Seo-yun's friend, who I have hostage in the bathroom."

[Maraoone]

He slowly turned his head over to the door. The jammed bathroom door. The door that currently, according to Ashanti, had an entire person behind it. The door that had the companion to the arena's most prolific killer behind it.

His jaw dropped. He covered his mouth with both hands, his chest started shaking with silent, horrified laughter.

He felt light-headed. Like this was some fucked-up dream, like he would just faint and wake up back in the room he slept in by his lonesome. Like the world was about to collapse, kinda. The shaking of his chest lessened, and, wide-eyed, finger shaking, he jutted his finger to his side.

"THAT - DOOR?"

Jutted it again.

"THAT - DOOR?"

Turned to Ashanti.

"WHY? - YOU - DIDN'T - KILL - HER - WHY? - YOU - DIDN'T - RUN - AWAY - WHY? - YOU - DIDN'T - KILL - HER - YOU - DIDN'T - WHY? - WHY? - WHY?"

[Brackie]

"I thought I could use her."

Ashanti had a big and vibrant inside world to which Matias had not been privy since they last saw each other, but she was going to do her best to catch him up.

"I thought if I found someone who had a bone to pick with Seo-yun, I could trade her, get some weapons, some food, something. I''m not used to having things here. Just lugging that fucking jetpack around. I didn't have much of a choice, I kill her and I have nothing."

She thought to ask about what happened to the jetpack she'd left in the ballroom after it became an active threat to her safety with the gunshots flying around. The smile that came across Ashanti's lips was lifeless.

"But of course, nobody fucking found me here."

Her eyes flittered towards the gun on the bedside table.

"I was thinking about how I was going to do it, and then you showed up," Ashanti lied.

"So how do you want to do this?"

[Maraoone]

Matias' nails dug into his arm. She was being a bit too pointed for his liking.

"COULDN'T - LOOK - COULDN'T - FUCKING CHECK."

He said this hard-faced, pointing at the bandage around his thigh splotched with large rust-brown stains.

He then took a moment to, like, deliberate his options.

Just a moment.

"KILL - HER."

Sounded pretty fuckin' easy to him. Way he saw it was, he had a bone to pick with Seo-yun's friend, he had his leg shot out by Seo-yun, he wanted to kill her. A threat to the island is taken out of the equation, all their chances of living go up. Simple math.

"I - KILL - HER - AND."

He thought for another moment.

"S - E - O - Y - U - N - LOSES - ALLY - SHE - DIES - LIKELIER - WE - WIN - LIKELIER. GIVE - ME - GUN - AND—"

[VoltTurtle]

"Mandy? Are you-"

((Seo-yun Lee continued from "I know every story has to end, but that doesn't mean I won't hesitate before the last word."))

"Oh, hello."

There were a lot of different thoughts running through Seo-yun's head before she stepped into the captain's quarters. She couldn't shake the icky feeling she was left with after killing Leah. The persistent thought that in another universe, maybe they both could've lived much longer and happier lives. That all of them could have, if it weren't for this show. She was far too deep into her grim task to stop the violence now, but more than anything she wanted to be done with it.

Unfortunately for her, it seemed like violence followed wherever she happened to wander.

That brought her to the present moment. There were two individuals occupying the captain's quarters. Two individuals whom she had shot at previously. Two individuals whom she had last seen when Mandy disappeared. Two individuals she was now pointing her gun at.

"Remember me? Stupid question, I know. We're about to get very familiar with each other, but before that I want to make very clear that if you do anything stupid, I will kill you. So try not to startle me, okay?"

Neither of them were getting out of this situation alive even if they cooperated, of course. She'd be lying to herself as much as them if she even pretended that were a possibility. There were only two items left on her macabre list of chores, and right here was the opportunity for her to cross them both out. She was actually certain of that much this time, unlike she had been before with Alaska. Once all that was taken care of all she'd have left would be to find Mandy, and conveniently enough these two could easily help her with that.

"Do you two happen to remember the other girl that was with me, Mandy? She went missing after our little spat in the banquet hall, and I'm looking for her. Since you two were there, have you seen her?"

Her eye was drawn briefly to the injury she had previously inflicted on Matias. Someone had clearly done a decent job patching him up in the aftermath of the gunfight. She'd have to make sure to kill him good and dead this time.

[Brackie]

Ashanti was expecting what Matias was saying, but she wasn't expecting the new intruder.

Of course, what were the odds? They'd been undisturbed for over a day, nobody came along to find them or help them or hurt them and then suddenly, within a minute of each other, Ashanti's best hope and her worst option came in through the same door. It happened every single season, yet somehow, Ashanti thought it would never happen to her, which she was sure was what everyone who tried to ride it out in hiding thought before being blown away by a sudden shotgun blast or tranq dart overdose or misfire.

The thing was, though, Ashanti knew what she knew. She didn't know what Seo-yun knew. Matias was going to be speaking on her behalf, probably against her will, but even then she was too frozen to move her hands.

Her eyes went around the room. There was cover, another door, and a gun, all within running distance.

But Ashanti's calves weren't going to move as fast as she needed them to, at least if things remained as they were.

[MurderWeasel]

"Seo-yun!"

There was a heavy thud as something slammed into the bathroom door. It didn't give at all.

((Mandy Gross continued from Calenture))

"Ashanti locked me in the bathroom. Watch out! She has the gun!"

A second's pause, and then another thud echoed through the room.

[Maraoone]

Speak of the devil.

Didn't even need to think about what to do.

Just leap to the table, grab the gun, and,