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Alejandro’s legs burned. His arms were lifted in the air awkwardly, holding onto a doll with a pineapple for a head. It wasn’t heavy but, it was uncomfortably digging into his back. Sweat dripped down his face the closer he got, both from the heat and the exertion. They were meant to meet at the top of a volcano, where everything would end.
He looked up, squinting at the person in front of him. It was Noah, fighting with a wheel barrow to get it up the steep pathway. He was determine, scowl on his face. He could be threatening when he was angry, people usually got eliminated when he lost his temper.
“Having trouble amigo?” Alejandro asked as he approached him.
“No, just taking a break,” he said leisurely. He lazily unstuck the wheel from a rock, pulling forward before Alejandro could meet him.
“You’re close but I’m closer Al,” Noah taunted as he ran. He wasn’t athletic but, he made up for it with smarts, leaving Alejandro to carry his dummy while he road away on a makeshift wheel barrow.
Alejandro furrowed his brow, moving as fast as he could without collapsing. He was close to the top, he could feel the waves of heat coming from the volcano. He couldn’t stop now, not when he had fought through the entire competition, through Noah, to get to this point.
Noah was a strong opponent, manipulative, yet also incredibly clever. He was always one step ahead, leaving Alejandro struggling to catch up. It was how the competition went. Noah was meticulous, slowly picking everyone off yet leaving Alejandro. He knew better, he kept his distance from him.
He even tried to warn everyone about him, that he wasn’t the person they apparently knew from the first season of the show, that he had changed.
It was hard to imagine Noah as any different, all Alejandro saw was who he was now. He was determined to win, through any means necessary.
Alejandro hadn’t cared, it wasn’t his problem. Noah left him alone seeing as they were on the same team, Alejandro would even have called them acquaintances.
Then London came and went. Alejandro may have expressed his dissatisfaction with Noah’s methods and he was labeled as the cruel one for accusing him. Noah got everyone to shun him, he even threatened to eliminate him, before deciding that he could still be useful to the team.
So began their game, back and forth, challenge after challenge trying to take down the other. They were neck and neck, Noah going behind his back and Alejandro struggling to convince the others that they were in danger of being eliminated.
They both had various degrees of success. Alejandro would even say he enjoyed the time, Noah was a tough opponent. That didn’t mean he wasn’t happy it was over. He’d fought hard, he deserved to win. He would try his best, Noah wouldn’t be allowed to win that easily.
Everyone believed him now, he had the support he’d been sorely lacking. He might as well try, he was so close.
Alejandro pushed forward, watching Noah’s back as he peeked over the final step up the volcano.
“Ha!” he said, pulling the wheelbarrow to a stop. The force caused the device to teeter on the edge, Noah barely grabbing the dummy before it fell. It was a spur of luck, even if it wouid only even the playing field.
Alejandro emerged as well, holding the dummy over his head. His eyes met the crowd, cheers erupting —perhaps that was a poor choice of word standing so close to a volcano— as he walked forward. He smiled.
“Looks like both of our final contestants have made it to the top, first to sacrifice their dummy wins it all, a million big ones!” Chris said. He shuffled around for a moment, pulling out a metal brief case and holding it up for all to see.
“You should just give up,” Noah said. He was struggling to pull the dummy, yet he was close to the edge, able to see the lava below bubbling.
“That wouldn’t be any fun amigo, we have to end this,” he said, stalking forward.
“Just let me win Al, I’ve come this far, I planned everything perfectly, I deserve this,” Noah said. He pulled the dummy with all his might, dangling it over the edge, only holding its hand.
He stared at Alejandro smiling. Alejandro kept moving, slowly.
“You were close, isn’t that enough?” Noah asked.
“You know me better than that, I will not let you win after everything you’ve done,” Alejandro said with a serious expression on his face.
Noah stared at him, mouth perched slightly open. He thought for a moment.
Alejandro took another step forward, Noah took a half step back. He watched like a hawk, knowing that he could win at any moment.
“Everything I’ve done? I played the game, I did what everyone was too afraid to do,” he scoffed.
“They are just too self righteous to see that..it’s a million dollars I’m not here to be nice..I’m not..” Noah struggled to find the words.
“Im here to win!” Noah said. He turned around, releasing the doll over the top of the volcano.
In a split second things changed. Alejandro was shoved forward, Noah was taken aback, and the ground began to crack.
“Augh!” Ezekiel cried, flying through the air to grab onto the brief case Chris held up.
“Dude get back..”Chris yelled, stumbling around as lava began to rain down around them.
Alejandro fell onto the rocky dirt, only able to see dust surrounding him. He heard the sound of footsteps moving all around him. He also heard the sound of screaming, and the smell of burning flesh.
“Run!”
Alejandro coughed, feeling his knees ache. He couldn’t sit up, he couldn’t even see. The slight shift of his hand caused rock to fall, revealing the wide expanse of molten rock below him.
Alejandro froze, hanging onto the edge tightly. He had barely missed falling, the force bringing him close to the edge.
Alejandro almost sighed in relief when he recalled that someone was in front of him.
“Noah!” he said aloud, looking around blindly.
“Amigo, where are you?” He couldn’t have fallen, he wouldn’t—
Noah was the one that stopped him from falling over. Alejandro braved the heat of the volcano, hanging his head over the pit to look down. It was covered in a thick smokescreen, Alejandro couldn’t see anything other than the glow of the lava.
“Hey not cool!” Chris said. Alejandro looked up to see a figure moving through the smoke, grunting.
“Get him!” Chris yelled. Ezekiel didn’t listen, he ran, clearly unable to see as he slipped, sending more rock tumbling down into the volcano. Alejandro could hear it fall. That was when he heard a voice.
“Watch it! Are you trying to kill me?” Noah said sourly.
Alejandro made a happy sound , waving his hand around in an attempt to clear the dust surrounding him. He rubbed his eyes, feeling his vision clear. There was dirt in his eyes, that was the culprit.
Alejandro looked down spying Noah hanging on a ledge by his fingertips. The lava roared below him, absorbing the dummy into it.
“I won..” Noah said triumphantly, meeting Alejandro’s eyes. His voice was brave but he looked afraid, his fingers turning light from the pressure he was using to keep himself in place.
“That doesn’t matter if you are dead amigo,”Alejandro said. He looked around, spying his Noah dummy near him. It hadn’t gone far, and it was mostly intact.
Alejandro grabbed the figure’s arm, hanging it over the side. He laid on his stomach, reaching as far as he could. He had to get Noah out, he felt sweat bead in his forehead. He could fall at any second, he had to hurry.
“Grab on, rapido,” Alejandro.
“Gee I was going to just take my time while I’m dangling over lava!” Noah said. He held on tightly, staring up at the “arm” Alejandro extended down.
Noah took a breath.
“I can’t move, I’m going to fall..”he admitted, looking up.
“It will be okay amigo, “Alejandro said. He reached as low as he could, only moving the fake hand a couple centimeters closer. The lava roared below them, causing Noah’s eyes to widen.
“Take a deep breath and reach up,” Alejandro said.
Noah shook his head. “This is stupid..I should have just thrown that into the volcano right away,” he muttered.
Alejandro sighed, he retracted the arm. Noah wasn’t listening and he couldn’t reach. He’d done everything he could.
Except he knew he wasn’t going to leave him. That wasn’t a fitting end to their rivalry, to everything. Alejandro cared about him, he wasn’t going to let him perish in the flames.
Alejandro decided he was going to do something especially stupid and climb over the side of the volcano. He was a talented rock climber— lots of practice— but he wasn’t excited to test that over a seemingly endless pit of lava.
“Alejandro it’s fine, I’ll figure it out, don’t kill yourself trying to save me,” Noah protested. He remained latched in place, watching him with the slight tilt of his head.
“I won’t fall,” Alejandro said. It was fate that in that exact moment the rock he was gripping onto fell. He caught himself, feeling his heart rate skyrocket.
He leaned closer to the wall, slowly making his way down towards Noah. He was a couple meters down at least, lucky that he had a ledge after being shoved off.
“I took rock climbing lessons with my brother when I was younger, it is like riding a bike,” Alejandro comforted. Noah only rolled his eyes.
“Right,” Noah said, swallowing hard.
“Please hurry, I think I’m getting cooked,” Noah muttered. His voice sounded raw. Alejandro didn’t blame him in the slightest given that he was terrified of what laid at the bottom of the volcano. Not to mention that it could erupt any second due to their meddling
Alejandro knew it was stupid but, he picked up the pace, climbing down until he reached Noah.
“Amigo, climb on my back,” Alejandro coached, making sure he was close enough that they were practically touching.
Noah didn’t have any snide comments. He simply nodded, moving his hands away from the ledge and onto Alejandro shoulders— one at a time. He shook, Alejandro could feel it.
Having secured his grip he collapsed against his back, taking a breath.
“Thanks,” he said.
“We are not out of the volcano yet,” Alejandro reminded him.
“Hurry,” Noah said, a piece of his old self back already.
“You think I would go slow climbing up an active volcano?” Alejandro fired back with a knowing smirk.
“Whatever,” Noah muttered.
Alejandro laughed as he climbed, ensuring that he chose every movement carefully.
He had some choice words for Chris when they escaped, mainly how he could leave two contestants dangling over a volcano during the finale of his TV show.
_________________________
Alejandro managed to pull them both over the top, collapsing on the ground to take a breath.
They were both largely uninjured but, they weren’t safe yet. No that was reserved for once Alejandro had mustered up his strength to run down the mountain with Noah behind him. The others had gotten a head start but they managed to catch up, joining them on the sand as the volcano erupted. It was about time, Alejandro was just thankful they were away from the blast.
He took a dramatic seat in the sand, panting from the effort. It would be a while before any sort of tents were set up so he figured he might as well wait. He wasn’t even sure where Chris was, nor Chef.
“Al are you okay?” Owen asked noticing him sitting there.
“Fine my friend..simply startled,” Alejandro said.
“You were so close man.. you should have won,” Tyler said.
“I don’t think anyone won seeing as Chris lost the million,” Courtney snapped.
“He also endangered our lives,” Cody voiced, the others agreeing.
“Perhaps a law suit is in order,” Alejandro joked.
Courtney didn’t take it that way.
“I need to find a phone I’m calling my mother,” she said.
Alejandro smiled to himself, a nervous smile. He brushed back his hair, watching the explosion. He was alive, Noah was alive. Who cared about anything else at the moment.
Speaking of Noah—
He took a seat next to Alejandro, frowning to himself.
“We made it,” he said without much emphasis on the words.
“Sí..”Alejandro said.
“Thanks for saving me..I didn’t deserve that much effort,” Noah said sincerely.
“I would have done the same for the others, I am not heartless,” Alejandro said nonchalantly.
“Yeah..” Noah said.
“Thanks anyways, I know I was a complete jerk this challenge,” Noah said.
“Just this challenge? Did the fall mess with your head amigo?” Alejandro asked.
“Fine, all challenges, I was just—“
“Just playing the game?”
“Stop that,” Noah said, smiling slightly.
“You are very predictable,” Alejandro said.
Noah raised an eyebrow.
“Predict this,” he said. He reached over, grabbing onto Alejandro’s shirt with his fingers, before pulling him into a kiss.
Alejandro didn’t have time to react, yet he melted the second Noah’s lips touched his. It felt like something clicked, and everything felt better— for a second. Alejandro was left wanting more when Noah pulled back, red faced.
“I don’t hate you for the record, you’re just annoying, I couldn’t let you win just by doing nothing,” Noah admitted.
“Well I couldn’t let you win using your methods,” Alejandro said.
“It wasn’t that bad, I just made good points and they listened,” Noah shrugged.
Alejandro sighed.
“When did you know that you—“
“London challenge, I hated what you called me, I wanted to eliminate you so I wouldn’t have to deal with it,” Noah said bluntly.
“You should know that the comments were well deserved,” Alejandro said.
“I know..”Noah said.
He drew silent, staring back up at the volcano. Alejandro followed his gaze. He felt Noah grab his hand, holding it as they laid on the sand.
“If Courtney gets her lawsuit I want in,” Noah said.
And Alejandro laughed again.
Things were over.
Strangely enough, it felt like both of them had won.