Chapter Text
Before Greece, Eighth Loop
Noah awoke to a hand shaking his shoulder gently.
Not quite gently enough for him to not shoot up on his chair in a panic, biting back a scream as he scrambles upward.
“Noah, relax,” Alejandro said quietly, hand lingering for another moment before he released Noah, standing upright and glancing around the room.
“Oh, hi.” Noah muttered as he placed a hand over his chest, sucking in a deep breath to collect himself, slowly shifting and pushing himself to his feet.
“Come with me, we mustn’t wake anyone else,” Alejandro explained before grabbing Noah by his hand, slowly tugging him past a still slumbering Owen and toward the door of first class.
“Good thinking,” The cynic commented as he was pulled along, turning to press himself against the wall as the duo came to a pause. Alejandro once again retreated his hand, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down at Noah.
“Do you have a plan?”
Noah snickered quietly, nodding his head as he pushed the door beside him open, slipping through the door, it shutting quietly behind both boys as Alejandro followed in his footsteps.
“It’s stupid, really, really stupid. But seeing as we’re dealing with two incredibly stupid people, I think it has a chance.”
Alejandro raised an eyebrow at this, a small smirk crossing his face as Noah turned to quickly make his way down to economy class.
“We’re gonna need some help.”
While Noah was naturally quiet and Alejandro had a talent for being stealthy, it still served a challenge to quickly and quietly get Gwen from where she was passed out on a bench with Courtney. The goth had a similar reaction to being awoken as Noah, but managed to fumble her way out into the hallway without waking any of her teammates.
“Okay, what the hell is going on? It’s not even dawn outside yet!” She hissed as her gaze darted between the two boys who had scared the living daylights out of her only moments ago. Noah held his hands up in front of her to shush her, grinning moments later.
“Don’t you think it would be nice to have a day off from this show? A day where…our beloved co-hosts were at each other's throats rather than ours?”
This certainly caught the Amazon's attention.
The plan was quickly put into action, the trio sneaking up to where Chef was piloting the plane, not surprised in the slightest when they found the veteran passed out on the controls.
Alejandro cringed at the sight, muttering at the lack of safety presented on the show.
Noah didn’t miss Gwen’s eye-roll at the comment, matching his own.
His narrowed gaze at her was ignored as she pushed past him, slowly grabbing a pen from a holder near the front window of the plane.
“I’ll write the note, I’ve seen Chris’ handwriting, don’t worry. It’s actually really girly,” She managed to stifle a giggle as she pulled the notebook resting by Chef’s head toward her.
She clicks the pen once before beginning to scribble on the paper, it being dark enough in the small area that neither Noah or Alejandro can make out what she’s saying. She finally lets out an evil giggle as she quietly puts the pen back down, pushing the notepad closer to where Chef’s head lay, thankfully still in a deep state of sleep.
Gwen backs up slowly, turning to nudge both boys forward as they continue attempting to get a glance at the words on the paper. They concede after a moment, not willing to take the risk of Chef waking before they had exited the room.
Stepping back into the main hallway, Alejandro turns to Gwen with a small quirk in his smile.
“Are you going to tell us what you wrote, amiga?” He questions quietly as he holds the door slightly ajar with one hand, the other resting on his hips.
Noah nods, equally curious to how truly evil Gwen could be. She shakes her head as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Nope! You’ll just have to trust me that it’ll work. This is my third season here, believe me when I say I know how to get under Chef’s skin.”
Noah releases an amused sigh as he shakes his head, glad he decided to involve the teal-haired girl. While he was sure he would be able to piss Chef off enough to refuse to fly the plane, Gwen sounded as though they would be in for some sort of fun.
“Alright, run as soon as I slam this door, got it?” Alejandro whispered, ducking slightly as both Noah and Gwen placed their hands over their ears, nodding seriously.
“Three.. two..”
BANG!
Noah and Gwen take off in a sprint, Alejandro close on their heels as they make a break for it down the hallway. Noah could faintly hear a scream of surprise from inside the pilots cabin as they rounded a corner.
Gwen shoots a little thumbs up as she slips into economy class, Noah getting shoved into first class by Alejandro before he has a chance to respond to the action.
“Careful!” He seethes as he’s pushed onto a couch, scooching himself backward as Alejandro quickly places himself next to him, darting his head toward the smaller boy.
“You trust her?” He asks, ignoring Noah’s complaint in full as he leans forward slightly. The cynic could just make out the green in his eyes, averting his own gaze before he can think of any kind comments about the feature.
“Yes. This will work,” He replies, honesty dripping from his words as he does.
Gwen had been there for him since she first knew something was wrong. She had been the only contestant other than Owen to truly go out of her way to check on him, to ask if he was alright. Even before she had gotten hurt herself.
The sun was just making itself known as Noah felt his stomach drop, processing what was causing such a feeling a moment later as Alejandro grabs him, practically yanking him against his own body.
“Oh shit,” Noah breathes, air being pulled from his lungs as the plane begins to nosedive at an alarmingly quick pace. The other three members of team Chris wake up with a yell caught in their throats.
“WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” Owen cries from his chair across the room, Noah choking on a scream of his own as Alejandro keeps him firmly held down in the seat, the gravity of being dropped from the sky threatening to send them all slamming into the ceiling.
It was over after a few terrifying long moments, the plane coming to a harsh stop as they jolted along unknown bumpy ground. Noah takes a couple panicked breaths in, finally realizing he had his own arms clutched hard around one of Alejandro’s own.
“Wow, that worked almost too well,” He remarks as he pants, receiving a small laugh from Alejandro as he allows Noah to untangle himself from where they were sprawled out on the couch.
Sitting up, they can hear faint yelling coming from across the hall, no doubt the Amazon’s freaking out about the sudden landing themselves. Noah prays Gwen has good acting skills as Owen stumbles up from his seat.
“We- we just- almost DIED!” He screams, clutching his scuffed blonde hair as he whips his head around the room in a daze. Duncan is groaning off in his own usual corner, a defeated seeming Tyler simply laying on the floor.
Noah is pulled from where he sat and into a panicking Owen’s arms, being shaken around like a ragdoll as his friend continues rambling about their “near death experience.”
The scene is only interrupted by a crackle of a speaker overheard, a tired yet clearly furious voice coming out of it.
“Everyone to the dining area, NOW!” Chris’ unmistakable voice demands from above, Owen dropping Noah back onto his feet out of surprise.
“Ow,” Is all he manages to blurt out before he was being spoken over, both Duncan and Tyler having made their way toward the rest of their team.
“It’s way too early for a challenge. It’s barely light out!” Duncan grumbles as he rubs the side of his head, mohawk looking a little droopy as he did. Tyler nods in agreement, yawning along with the movement.
“We should go,” Alejandro says from behind Noah, walking to open the door of first class open for everyone as they sluggishly make their way out of the room, down toward the dining hall they were called to.
They run into the similarly slow moving Amazon’s, Gwen hanging behind the rest to walk besides Noah, poking his shoulder.
“Think it worked?” She asked quietly, cheekily. Noah bit back a grin in return, giving a quick nod toward her instead. They managed to control their humor of the situation as all the competitors filed into the large room.
Chris stood inside already, his hair, for once, looking completely unbrushed and unstyled. Noah couldn’t help but snort loudly at the sight, slapping a hand over his mouth just as Gwen reaches to whack him in the arm.
Chris sends a burning glare Noah’s way, who turns his head as if he hadn’t done anything at all. A small huff of disapproval comes from the host as everyone gathers around the table closest to him.
“What? Seriously, what?” Heather is the first to speak, nearly everyone else nodding in sleepy agreement. The sun had finally made its proper appearance, but it was still much earlier than the cast was used to for most challenges- no matter the time zone.
Chris ignores her, only increasing speed in his impatient foot tapping. The cast exchanged confused glances, a few people shrugging to each other.
“CHEF!” Chris suddenly yells, hands balling into fists as he goes silent, waiting for his co-host to make an appearance.
“Did something happen to Chef? Where are we?” Courtney finally dares to ask, stepping up with a scowl on her face while Chris frowns at her.
“Just! Stay here, okay?” He snaps before turning on his heel, disappearing to who knows where, leaving the dumbfounded teenagers alone.
Noah watches as Gwen slinks up next to Alejandro, holding her palm out low next to his. Alejandro looks at her strangely before his eyes light up, a grin taking over his face as he quickly low-fives her, celebrating the success of their scheme.
Noah smiles widely at the scene before he catches himself, wiping the look off his face before anyone can catch him looking sincere.
“What’s going on?” Noah faintly hears Sierra mumble, turning his attention to see her shuffle closer to where Heather was standing with her arms crossed. The raven haired girl shrugs, unfolding her arms to place one over Sierra's shoulder, drawing her in closer as she glares across the room.
Following her gaze, Noah’s eyes land on a disgruntled looking Cody. A storm was practically brewing in his usually calm eyes, directed in full force at where Heather stood. The girl in question held her ground, waiting for Cody to break their eye contact before returning her attention toward Sierra.
Shaking his head slightly, Noah snapped to attention as yelling was suddenly heard from where Chris had vanished to.
“I'M NOT DOING YOUR DIRTY WORK ANYMORE! GET ANOTHER CO-HOST TO UNDERPAY!” Came Chef’s gruff voice, an equally pissed Chris shouting something back before a door slam was heard, cutting off the conversation sure to follow.
“Well damn,” Duncan laughed from the side, bending over to cackle at the absurdity of their “professional” hosts getting into a petty argument in the middle of their show.
Noah walked over to where Gwen still stood near Alejandro, leaning to whisper to her.
“Seriously, what did you write?” He asks without laughing too much, receiving an eye roll and another devious smile from his friend.
“Don’t question me,” She replied teasingly, and Noah sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to tell anyone. The plan had worked and he had more pressing matters at hand, so he let it go.
“Remind me to not ever piss you off,” He ends the conversation with a slight smile, excusing himself for once before beckoning Alejandro over to where no one else was.
“Next step?” The charmer asked upon being called away, jumping right back into the business of the day when Noah nodded.
“Yeah, everyone will be distracted and wandering around, so we shouldn’t seem out of place.”
He pauses to look around before quietly exiting the room, making sure to avoid the pilots cabin, as that’s where their hosts' loud yelling appeared to be coming from.
“Let’s go,” Noah mutters under his breath, slinking down the hallway and toward where he knew the stairway leading to the second floor was. Alejandro followed behind him without so much as a question.
He trusts me. He actually trusts me.
The fleeting thought had Noah nearly trip over his own feet, grabbing at the wall to steady himself as he shakes his head slightly. Thoughts of Alejandro had been seeping into his brain more than he’d like to admit to himself.
He had immediately dragged Noah into his embrace when the plane had first gone down, even seemed to shove away whatever strange jealousy he seemed to have toward Gwen in order to work alongside her.
HE trusts ME.
Noah came to pause when they reached Chris’ quarters, earning a cute confused head tilt from his companion. He nearly slammed his head into the wall at the sight, and how distracting it was.
“Stop that!” He huffed, looking away and tugging on the collar of his shirt as Alejandro furrowed his eyebrows.
“Stop what?” He asked in confusion, and Noah waved the question away before reaching for the well hidden handle blended into the wall nearby.
Alejandro gasped quietly as Noah yanked the door open, revealing the small staircase he had discovered the last loop he had lived through. He nodded once to himself before walking up the stairs slowly, unsure of what he’d find.
Floor creaking under them, Noah popped up into a relatively clean looking hallway. Doors were lined up and down, a lone one standing at the far end of the long area in the upper part of the plane.
“Huh. I suppose I never questioned where all the other workers of the show stayed,” Alejandro says quietly, taking his place by Noah’s side as they took in the new- empty- sight.
“The doors have nameplates. Perfect,” Noah noted as they slowly began walking down the hallway, keeping his eye out for a certain name.
One of the doors caught his attention, the silver nameplate screaming down at him.
Gina.
He hesitated as he raised a hand to knock on the door, not wanting to get the attention of any other interns in their room. They were likely all recovering from the sudden landing after all.
Instead, he reached for the door handle, happy and a little concerned when it turned immediately. He slowly pushed the door opened revealing a little bedroom, and a familiar, confused looking girl.
“Noah?!” Gina asked in shock, jumping up from her bed as Noah and Alejandro entered her room, shutting the door behind them before turning to face her.
“What are you doing here? I thought Chris kept this place hidden from y’all?” She questions as she rubs at her eyes, long hair looking a bit frizzy. Her southern accent slips into her words enough to make Noah chuckle quietly, not used to the sound of it.
“Sorry to barge in, but I have questions for you.”
“For me? Okay…”
A uncharacteristically nervous expression crosses Gina’s face, causing Noah’s stomach to twist itself into even more anxious knots than it had been when he first had the realization the night before.
Her eyes slide to where Alejandro stood, confusion only growing on her features as she pulls her hair back behind her shoulders, slowly taking her seat once again on her bed.
“Go ahead,” She prompts upon Noah’s silence, raising an eyebrow at him as he returns to where he stood. He rocks back on his heels for a moment before clearing his throat.
“Are you friends with Sierra?”
Gina pauses at this, laughing and wiping at her forehead in a dramatic show of relief.
“Oh, that’s all? I guess you could call us friends, we’ve talked a couple times.”
“Just… talked?”
“Yeah, she actually pays attention to us, so all the interns are pretty nice to her. She even knew our names, well not the new people for this season, but us, the ones who’ve worked on previous seasons.”
Noah nods slowly as Gina explains, his suspicions of the interns somehow being involved in this strange death loop only growing.
Unfortunately, Gina wouldn’t retain any helpful information past the confirmation that Sierra had it in good with the interns. So, he moved on to his risky question.
“Can I look around where you all keep your information? Tools, things you use for challenges?”
Gina gawks at him momentarily. Blinking rapidly, she looks off to the side before sighing.
“Did you have something to do with the sudden plane landing? I got a message from Chris on my walkie-talkie, saying we had landed somewhere in Romania? Which I know is definitely not where we’re supposed to be.”
Noah smiles almost guiltily at her, nodding a bit, hoping for a somewhat positive reaction.
She does crack a smile, but still hesitates in giving Noah a go ahead, which he needs.
“Gina, please. We’re friends,” He tries next, playing up a bit of the vulnerability he feels being trapped in his drastic situation.
The intern stays silent as she pushes herself up off her bed, rummaging under her pillow before producing a small key from underneath.
She holds it out to Noah, still without a word. He takes it from her slowly, nodding his head in understanding.
She wouldn’t tell them it was alright, but she would give them the means to do what they needed to.
“Thank you,” He whispers as Alejandro opens the door behind them, Gina giving a halfhearted smile paired with a wave as both boys leave her to her small room.
Noah gives a deep sigh of relief as the door closes with a click, sparing Alejandro a glance as he holds the key tightly in his hand, digging it into his palm to reassure himself it was still there.
“Are we to assume the room down there is the one we are looking for?” Alejandro asks, pointing to the furthest end of the hall, toward the lone door standing so far away.
“Yeah, I guess,” Noah replies, shaking slightly at the anticipation running through his veins.
Just as they began moving again, a creak behind them caused Noah to whip around, eyes widening in surprise- and horror.
“Gwen?!” He shouts just a bit too loud, cringing at the volume of his own voice as the member of team Amazon approaches with a confident gaze.
“Why won’t you tell me?”
Noah blinks at her, sharing a panicked look with Alejandro right after.
“Uhhhhh,” He stalls, mind racing as he tries to gauge what she could possibly be referring to.
“Tell you what, amiga?” Alejandro panders for him, crossing his arms behind back and flashing his famous blinding smile toward the girl in front of them. She scoffs at him, sticking out her tongue before looking back to Noah.
“I know,” She continues with her ominous tone, glaring slightly as Noah laughs nervously, stuttering over his words as he attempts to find something to say.
“Urgh! You’re in a time loop!” She finally declares, stomping a heavy platform shoe onto the ground hard as she stares down the duo.
Noah’s jaw drops as Alejandro’s does.
“Whaa..?” Alejandro mutters just as Noah snaps, asking “How the fuck do you know?!”
Gwen lights up, all previous disdain directed toward her competitors completely vanishing as she pumps her fist in the air.
“Yes! Yes yes! I knew it! Oh it feels so good to say something!” She squeals a bit as she grins toward Noah, running up to him to grasp him by the shoulders.
“I was only like seventy percent sure, you were just so weird yesterday! And the strange deja vu I keep having? I totally knew it! This is so cool!” She rants on and on, squeezing Noah a bit too tightly before releasing him, sending a sheepish smile as an apology.
“I really, really like time loop movies. Besides, Courtney being super into me all the sudden? You and Alejandro being all buddy-buddy? It was staring me in the face!”
“Okay, okay. Good job Gwen. Now leave,”
Her face scrunches up at this.
“Leave? Why? If your partner of choice for a situation like this is him- no offense Alejandro- then you must be desperate for help, right?”
“Um,” Alejandro interjects, looking incredibly puzzled as Gwen immediately shushes him.
“Wait, wait. What kind of loop is this? If you were being weird yesterday, but we’re all here today, then… how does it reset?”
The trio falls quiet at the question, and Noah catches the flash of panic in Gwen’s eyes.
“Oh no,” She mumbles before getting an answer, and Noah nods slightly.
“Wait, wait. You’re… you’ve been,” She trails off, stepping back in fear as she pulls in on herself a bit.
“Dying.” Noah finishes for her, unable to waste anymore time on the conversation. He’s sure they’re on a time limit, it’s only a matter of time before someone mentions their missing presence and chaos ensues.
“Oh shit,” She says weakly, all excitement of the reveal getting killed, just as she had been before.
“Now please, go.” Noah asks again, turning around and grabbing Alejandro by his wrist to start down toward the room they’ve been after.
He’s surprised when he hears Gwen following from behind, glancing behind him with a questioning look.
“I can help,” She says softly, pushing Noah slightly on his back to nudge him forward.
They walk quietly until reaching the door, Noah sliding the key Gina had given him into the slot, turning it before opening the door itself.
The room was big, although almost every inch of space was covered in seemingly random objects. A large table sat in the middle, papers thrown about randomly, red circles and scribbles all over almost every sheet.
“Wow,” Alejandro comments at the mess, allowing both Noah and Gwen to enter before he did so himself, Noah slipping the key to the room into his pocket. There were cabinets and shelves nailed to the right and left walls of the room, junk cluttered so tightly together items were sliding off and onto the floor.
“I can’t imagine how bad this place gets when Chef flies poorly. Which is… well, almost always.” Gwen says as walks around the length of the table, Noah nodding in agreement.
“The interns definitely have their work cut out for them.”
The three split up without any more comments, each taking a different space in the room to rummage through. Noah began peering at the shelves lining the left side of the room, Alejandro opening cabinets on the right. Gwen took to the papers sprawled over the table, flipping through them.
There were tons of just… random things thrown on the shelves Noah was observing. Random pieces of wood and metal, decorative things such as ribbons spilling out of cardboard boxes. Chris tended to be a bit of a hoarder, but having this many meaningless objects was absurd to Noah.
A soft hum echoed from Gwen as she shifted papers around, a glance from Noah showing how quickly she scanned over each sheet before tossing it aside. She seemed to keep track of which ones she’d read within her own mess, somehow.
Returning to his task, the cynic gently pushed things aside to see what was near the back of each shelf, though nothing in particular was standing out to him. A lack of comments from Alejandro made Noah think he was in a similar boat.
“Hey- guys check this out,” Gwen snickered in amusement, propping her elbows up on her knees from her place on the floor as she held a report up to her face. There were a few sentences that stood out, circled aggressively in bright red ink.
The goth cleared her throat before speaking in a deep tone, Noah smirking lightly when he realized she was doing a terrible impression of Chris himself.
“Parts of the plane have gone missing- need to keep a closer eye on Isabella ,” Gwen switched back to her regular voice as she rolled her eyes up at Noah. “You know he’s serious when he uses Izzy’s government name, huh?”
“Pardon? Parts of the plane? The very machine we’re currently staying in?” Alejandro piped up from his half of the room, tone an equal mix of horror and pure bafflement. Noah frowned lightly.
“Yeah, did I not mention that yesterday?” He questioned, turning his attention to the other boy in the room, who rapidly shook his head.
“No! I would have remembered that! Joder, I knew that chica was loco, but still, that’s extreme…” He muttered, voice trailing off as Gwen peered up at Noah with curiosity.
“Is there something you’d like to share with the rest of the class?” She prompted after a beat of silence, and Noah shrugged.
“No. I have no idea what it means. She confuses even me , but I’m sure it has something to do with my situation.” He sighed before waving her concerns off, turning back to the shelves he was searching in order to avoid her gaze.
Quiet fell back over the trio as they went back to work, Noah speeding up slightly in his search of anything suspicious.
I don’t have any idea what I’d even be looking for here. Maybe this is all just a huge waste of my time. All of our time.
Fingers absentmindedly skimming items as he walked along, Noah took in a sharp breath as something sharp prickled along his skin.
Alejandro practically materialized at his side after his minor wince, grabbing Noah’s hand to pull it away from the shelves as Gwen sprang up from her position on the ground.
“What is that?” Alejandro questioned as Gwen stepped up to the two boys, tilting her head with a concerned flash in her eyes. Noah’s breath caught in his throat upon further inspection of what he had snagged his fingertips on.
It seemed like some sort of wire, two handles resting on both ends of it. The wire itself however, was what had caused the small flash of pain through Noah’s hand. It was sharp, incredibly so.
A sickening tightness appeared around Noah's throat, and he had to fight the urge to explode in a panic. Instead, he stepped back until he hit the table behind him, pressing his palms over his eyes to steady the nausea working its way up his throat.
“That’s killed me before. It- she was in the fucking vents somehow, it- she-” He cut his own explanation off with a shaky breath, reaching a hand up to clasps around his neck to reassure himself of its current attachment to his body.
“Oh, fuck. It’s- it’s similar to a garrote. Those things are deadly, some can cut through… the skin. Parts of bones.” Gwen whispered, a slight waver in her words showing off her quick understanding of Noah’s sudden panic.
“Yeah. It does.” He confirmed with a slight growl in his voice, running a hand through his hair as he glanced between his two companions.
Gwen was staring at him with some form of pity- or compassion, whatever - but Alejandro appeared much paler than he normally did. His eyes searched Noah’s face for an explanation. The snark steadied himself before he gave one.
“A few loops ago. One of… the more confusing endings. I- I ran away after Duncan was killed. Everyone was crying or just completely frozen and I couldn’t see any of them being murderers. I ran and thought I might be safe with all the attention away from me- but- in the confessional,”
He paused, lowering his gaze toward the ground.
“Alejandro asked me to come out. I refused. There was a sudden sharp pain, and then strangulation, coming from above me. I think… I think Chris realized. I heard him before the loop reset, before she killed me.” He finished, using air quotes for his last two words, biting back an eye roll at the mention of his time loop issues.
“Oh, fuck. Wait- wait- she? ” Gwen questioned with a wide gaze, just a noise became apparent from- underneath them?
The three fell silent at the realization of commotion below them, a seemingly loud one at that. Two muffled voices were floating up to where they stood, and Noah wasted no time crouching low enough to just make out the words, faintly.
Gwen and Alejandro followed his action, moving slowly as to not make any noise to cover up the argument they were attempting to listen in on.
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, you pathetic little twerp. I will personally destroy you if you don’t stop whatever it is you’re doing.”
Noah had to slap a hand over his mouth to stop the loud gasp from escaping him.
Heather.
“And what am I doing, Heather? Huh? Attempting to be civil with someone you so desperately want to control? You don’t even like her, stop playing games!”
… and Cody?
“YOU'RE playing games! You’re controlling her! I don’t know what your angle is, but stop it! I’m not messing around with you, knock it off. Leave her alone .”
“What would you even do? Throw a challenge to get me voted off? Beat the shit out of me? I don’t think she’ll be happy with you either way, I’m her first real friend. She’s going to pick me over anyone else, deal with it.”
A sputter of angry sounding stammering came from who Noah assumed to be Heather soon after, followed by a frustrated yell and the loud stomping of wedged sandals. Noah blinked rapidly as his mind whirred to process what he’d just heard.
Time felt as if it had slowed as Noah slowly pushed himself back onto his feet, watching as Gwen and Alejandro did the same. Gwen had jumped into a quick rant, but it all just sounded like static.
A tool sharp enough to cut through bone? What the fuck? On the plane? What the fuck was that conversation? If Sierra killed me with that thing before, it means someone helped her get it. Oh god, what if one of the interns has been helping her kill me? Do I have to be suspicious of all of them now too?
His head was spinning at this point, only pulling himself back into the present as a pale hand impatiently snapped fingers in front of his face. He shook his head before wearily turning to look at Gwen, surprised at the red tint to her face.
“She?” Gwen repeated from earlier, narrowing her eyes at Noah as her hands raised to her hips.
“Sierra.” He and Alejandro answered together.
“You- you already know who's been killing you? Dude, why the hell are we searching this place! Let’s go just- I don’t know- take her down! Tell Chris! Take action!” Gwen stuttered over her own words in a rage, throwing her hands up in the air as she huffed aggressively.
Noah felt a sudden scowl pull over his face, a glance to Alejandro showing off a slightly more concerned expression on him.
“No, that would be, forgive me amiga, incredibly idiotic. Sierra has done nothing noteworthy of murder yesterday or today. Perhaps it was a different circumstance, maybe it is someone else?”
Noah barked out a sarcastic laugh, his hands curling up into fists all on their own, shoulders raising with a new surge of irritation.
“Someone else? You think I can fucking handle doing more Nancy Drew shit to figure out who is repeatedly murdering me? No, no,” He seethed, allowing some repressed anger from the time loop to slip out, realizing himself just how exhausted he was.
“Yeah, if she murdered you, then she murdered you. I’m with you Noah, let’s just go tell Chris.” Gwen quickly agrees, crossing her arms with a glare at Alejandro.
Noah glared over at her, stepping back away from both of his friends as he shook his head with disapproval.
“Are you for real? You think Chris McLean will be of any help? He’s too caught up in his ratings to give a flying fuck about us! I bet you he’d set up extra cameras, just to get a better shot of my rotting corpse.”
Noah ran a hand down his face, practically spitting out his words in a rage. Gwen grunted in reluctance, Alejandro finally dawning an irritable expression as well.
“We have infinite attempts here, do we not?” He questions, his authoritative tone from before he and Noah had become friends slipping through his words as he gazed at the snark, who nodded in confirmation.
“I guess. I don’t keep any injuries after I die and come back, that much I know for sure.”
Alejandro nods, pointing a finger downward as he began speaking once more.
“Exactly, Sierra- which is who those two appeared to be discussing- seems to be a pawn, not the issue herself.”
Noah scoffs loudly at this, throwing his hands into the air sarcastically.
“Oh whoop-dee-do, the level ten stalker isn’t actually the culprit! Who is it then, genius? The klutzy jock? My best friend? How about the uptight control freak?” He yells, shooting daggers between the other two as Gwen gasps.
“How dare you! Courtney hurts to protect!” She argues, hands curling into fists as she lowers her arms to her sides.
“Or to win,” Noah seethes back immediately, rolling his eyes as a confused look flashes over Alejandro.
“What?” He sighs, ignoring Gwen in full as she mumbles quietly to herself in annoyance.
Alejandro hesitates for a moment, seeming to choose his words carefully as he speaks.
“You seem to have a… different perspective on Sierra than I do. Stalker? I mean, she’s certainly eccentric- affectionate would be a better term.”
Noah blinks at Alejandro a few times with utter disbelief, allowing himself a glance at Gwen to help back him up. Instead, he finds her nodding along with Alejandro’s words.
“Yeah. She’s a little, well okay very, strange, but she’s nowhere near a ‘stalker’ level of strange.”
“Are we on the same fucking show? She’s constantly harassing everyone! Cody is always complaining about her going through his things! Gwen, you’re on the same team for crying out loud!” Noah explains, shaking his head back and forth at how idiotic the duo in front of him sounded.
“Mm, no. She loves to look through all our stuff when we… allow her? She’s pushy, but she just wants to know us as people rather than contestants. At least that’s what she told me when we first started the season. I never got along with her too well, so I don’t know her as well as the others might.”
Noah stares at her with his mouth slightly agape.
What. The. Fuck?
Alejandro clears his throat loudly, stepping forward and holding his hands out as if to settle both Noah and Gwen before he speaks quietly.
“It sounds like we need to talk to Heather. She clearly knows something, she sounded as though she was trying to protect Sierra.”
“So did Cody,” Gwen snorts, rubbing at her temples as she takes a couple paces backward, hitting her hip on the table as she did.
Noah snaps his head toward Alejandro at the sudden suggestion, a familiar fire running through his veins as he’s finally able to place the feeling.
Jealousy.
“Aw, so ready to run back to your little ‘will-they-won’t-they’, Al?” He sneers, shoving away the deep sense of guilt that hits him square in the chest as a flash of betrayal flickers through green eyes.
Alejandro’s hand flies to grasp at his necklace, eyes narrowed in a dangerous manner Noah hadn’t seen for what felt like such a long time.
“I am here with you, am I not? Is that not enough, amigo? Are you that pathetic, being jealous of a girl I flirt with for strategy?” He says in a low voice, the edge of a growl flitting in his tone.
Noah speaks before his brain can catch up to what he’s saying.
“Oh, we all know it’s just for strategy. The name Ezra ring a bell?” He snarks, his own eyes widening as he processes the weight of what he’s just said.
Alejandro gasps loudly, panic flying over his face as he yanks at the chain of his necklace, horror in his voice
“How do you know about him? How- you- I cannot believe you. I cannot believe you! I cared about you!” He roars, surging forward to slam Noah against the shelves behind them, arm pressed hard over the smaller boy's chest. Noah gasps in surprise at the action, head smacking the edge of a shelf painfully.
“If you want to be cruel, then be my guest! I will keep you alive for no reason other than my civil duty as a human, you better believe any friendship we may have formed in this circumstance is over.”
Pain washes over Noah, starting in his head and slowly crawling through his chest until it weaves around his heart. He nods his head weakly in understanding before Alejandro releases him.
He sucks in a couple of good breaths before both he and Alejandro turn to a stunned Gwen. She had a hand placed over her mouth, eyes almost watery as she stared at Noah. Her gaze slowly drifts to Alejandro, hand slipping back down.
“I… I won’t say anything, if that comment meant what I think it meant, Alejandro.” She says quietly, receiving a nod from the taller boy, paired with an empty gaze.
She steps forward and places a comforting hand on his arm before slowly facing Noah, a coldness entering her words.
“You’ll always be the same, Noah. I’m sorry you’re in this situation, but you can’t continue to be so awful. Maybe that’s how you got here in the first place.”
She retreats toward the door as Noah watches her leave, biting his lip as regret washes over him in full.
“I’m going to go check on Courtney, make sure she’s safe. I’ll be around, if you need me.” She comments softly, before the sound of the door opening and shutting echoes through the room.
Alejandro takes a deep breath as he reaches up to run his fingers through his hair, staunchly avoiding eye contact with Noah as he walks toward the door himself.
“I think we are done here.” He says as he opens the door, his unsaid words clear as day to Noah.
He’s done with me.
“Fine, whatever.” He bites back quickly, digging his fingers into his arms as he crosses them, stomping out the open door as he digs the key out from his shorts. He uses the sharp end of the key as a tool to keep himself grounded, several unwanted emotions attempting to burst from the inside.
Why did I say that? Why did I do that? Why do I always fuck up like this?
Hot tears threaten to spill down his cheeks, but he digs the edge of the key into his palm until they go away. He can’t let Alejandro know he already hates himself for what he’s said, for basically outting him to someone.
His own pride was always in his way.
Bursting into Gina’s room to return her key, Noah stumbles back at the sight of a purple haired girl sitting on the intern's bed. He smacks into Alejandro, who grabs Noah to steady him, before quickly scoffing and shoving him to the side.
“Hey! You have my key?” Gina asks with a small smile, a small crinkle of worry in the action as she looks between the two boys. Noah nods, refusing to enter the room as Gina bounds over to them.
“Hi guys! I didn’t realize anyone else knew about this place!” Sierra laughs loudly at his own comment, shaky words unable to mask how hard she seemed to be compensating for a form of panic.
“Yeah,” Noah breathes, not daring to initiate any kind of conversation with the girl when Alejandro might not be at the ready to help him. He frowns deeply at the thought as Gina snatches the key from his hand.
“Thank yoouuu!” She sings as she returns to her bed, shoving the key back under her pillow as Sierra gasps, grinning a little more genuine now.
“Oh! You saw the prop room! It’s so cool right? The first time I saw it I nearly cried with excitement!” She giggles, kicking one of her feet out happily as Gina rolls her eyes fondly.
“Yeah, we really should keep you out of there more. Who knows if you’d take anything as a keepsake,” She mutters under her breath, gaining an offended noise from Sierra and a quick argument.
“I would never steal from Chris to keep myself! He’d be so mad at me,” She whines as Noah backs away from the scene quickly, praying neither girl will notice- or care- as the door to Gina’s room swings shut.
Both boys make their way down from the second floor in tense silence, pulling themselves immediately away if any accidental contact was made between them. It’s just as Noah is walking away from the hidden door his head snaps up in realization.
Sierra’s been in that room, several times it sounds like. That means she has ways to get inside herself, not that she has an intern get things for her.
Hopefully.
The plane seemed almost eerie, with the contestants spread throughout its entirety. Noah wasn’t sure who was where, and even with Sierra tucked away on the second floor for the time being, he still felt uneasy.
When the duo enters first class, it’s completely void of people. There’s enough faint chatter through the hallways to let them know the rest of the competition was scattered around, and Noah takes a seat on the couch closest to the door, noting how Alejandro did not.
“I’m going to the confessional. Stay here, or if you must leave, go find Owen.” He states almost sternly, glaring at Noah before folding his arms behind his back and stalking away, leaving the cynic alone with his thoughts.
He slumps against the back of the couch, pressing his hands to his face as he leans his head back, allowing himself a few moments of panic in his lonesome- in the form of hyperventilating.
He scrubs at his eyes as tears make another reappearance, angry with himself for a multitude of reasons. Angry with himself, angry with Gwen, angry with Alejandro.
It takes a few minutes for Noah to recollect himself, and when he does, he quickly tapes up the metaphorical box containing his grief of the situation. Instead he regresses back to what he’s always been best at- indifference.
What does Alejandro know? Sierra is upstairs and no one will care if I wander around, I need to take this time to explore.
Also, fuck him, he’s not the boss of me!
Standing up with a slight grimace, Noah peeks out of first class to see the hallway empty. He glances down the hallway toward where the entrance of the plane lay, speed walking toward it quickly after.
We’ve never been landed like this before, maybe there’s something on the outside of the plane to give me a clue.
He creates an excuse for himself as he walks, knowing deep down he just needs to disobey Alejandro’s wishes. A deep rooted need to piss the other schemer off pulses through him, he needs to gain the upper hand in their mutual fury.
Noah comes to a halt as the door to the plane flings open, a disgruntled looking Chef entering the machine. He makes quick eye contact with Noah.
“What?!” He calls loudly, frowning at the teenager as Noah looks him up and down, scoffing lightly.
“What’s got you so worked up?” He asks, repressing any teasing tone of voice, not willing to let the co-host have any sort of suspicion that Noah was behind the current fight he was in with Chris.
Chef glares at him as he slams the door shut behind him, sighing loudly.
“Chris left a horrible note in the pilots cabin when I was sleeping! I can’t believe he’d say something like that to me! That man is evil, I’ll tell you that much.” He replies gruffly, puffing his chest out as he pushes past Noah, who calls after him.
“What did the note say?!” He asks with exasperation, having been unsuccessful when attempting to pry the answer from Gwen earlier. Chef’s reply comes as a yell as he disappears into the plane.
“Something so terrible you’d never even be able to speak it aloud!” Is all he says, and Noah feels his eye twitch. Groaning quietly at the lack of an answer, he simply pushes open the door in front of him, hopping onto the ground below.
He pauses to straighten himself up, taking in the relatively bare area the plane had landed in. It seemed to be an actual landing pad of sorts, although it was very small. Two barrels sit near the door, along with a long handheld pump. It appeared that Chef either had- or was planning- on refueling the plane with jet fuel. Noah scrunches his nose and steps around it quickly.
Glancing at the plane itself, he shudders at the truly terrible condition it seemed to be in. It was a miracle that the machine managed to get in the air at all, let alone get the cast of the show to each different location without completely falling apart.
Noah decides to do a circle around the plane, mentally noting to keep an eye out for any piece missing or out of place as he walks. Of course, he had no real intention of doing so, but he felt his opportunity to look around outside should serve some sort of purpose.
The longer he went on like this, the more he “discovered,” the less things made sense. No matter who he involved or what answers he was after, he kept coming back more deeply confused than before.
It isn’t fair! It’s not fair!
His pace increases as his eyes skim along the plane, breathing harder as no signs of anything being taken or misplaced stood out to him.
I’m trying! I’m trying to figure this out! Nothing makes sense!
Am I in this for punishment? Have I truly been so awful to others for so long, that the universe itself has forsaken me?
I thought I was improving. I thought I got them to care about me.
I thought I cared about them.
He lets out a yell, his fury of the situation releasing itself loudly in the middle of nowhere. He yanks at his hair harshly as he bares his teeth, looking up at the sky.
“I do care! I care and it just gets them hurt! I’m fucking over this, do you hear me?! I can’t do it!” He screams into the open air, stomping on the ground as an infuriated toddler might, uncaring at the way he must look. White hot anger burns through him as he berates whatever force has kept him trapped in these two horrible days time and time again.
The plane was evil in itself, it was sinister and brought nothing but pain for the people trapped inside. No matter how little the others knew, they were all stuck. Prisoners in some sick game made up by an unseen warden. Trapped.
Fuck this, fuck this plane, this situation, everything!
His posture sags as he continues along his way, feet dragging slightly as exhaustion takes over the majority of his functions. Everything seems to be in its normally shitty condition, including Noah himself.
He rounds the plane in silence after his small outburst, completely drained of any other emotions, eyes now trained on the ground.
It’s only when he’s making his way back to the entrance of the flying contraption when his head snaps up, just in time to get blinded by a slightly burning liquid.
He inhales sharply as the tingling hits his skin, the sharp tickle barely being drowned out by the horrific smell of the substance. His hands fling to his face in an effort to clear his vision, only making the stinging worse as more liquid is quickly sprayed onto him.
“Shit,” He coughs as his eyes squeeze shut, tumbling backwards and onto the ground as panic flares through him, gasping aloud as he hears a small hiss from nearby.
It’s only seconds later the match drops in front of him, sending Noah up into flames, the jet fuel he was doused with making the event a true spectacle.
The last sensations Noah is able to process is his own flesh sizzling, his clothes practically melting into his own skin as he succumbs to the most painful death he had ever faced.
Sierra wasn’t even nearby.