a/n: so i changed the person who played Damian to Bob Morley^ also shout out to @TookeinPurple for the brilliant predictions 

NANCY WAS IN DAMIAN'S ARMS - she wasn't quite sure why, but she was. Another thing she wasn't sure of was whether or not she should notify him of her consciousness yet. She decided against it - it would probably be better to get a free ride up the mountainside than waste the little energy she had. How much time had passed since she was last fully aware of her surroundings?

It had to have been quite a long time, because Nancy was completely disoriented and barely capable of forming a coherent thought. Her sight was blurry and the trees around her were spinning.

"Nancy?" Damian whispered. "Are you okay?"

"How did you know I was awake?" She rasped - she thought that she was being pretty sly.

"You opened your eyes, idiot." Damian laughed quietly. "Can you walk or do you need me to carry you some more?"

"Why are you being so nice now?" Nancy was surprised by the sudden change of behavior - it was almost like he was bipolar or something.

"Because I like you, Swan. You're the least shady one here. You're not even supposed to be here."

Did Damian Pullman just admit to liking me? Nancy thought. You've got to be kidding.

"So...yeah. I think you're gonna need to carry me for the rest of the day. Maybe even tomorrow too," Nancy said, dramatically placing a hand over her head. "I feel quite faint."

"Deal," Damian agreed. "But only if you pretend to be asleep when Drew comes over. He freaks me out."

"Aw, Drew? Why? He's so sweet." Nancy whined. She liked talking to Drew. Plus, he was her partner-in-crime.

"I'm like 99% sure that he thinks that I'm working with our captors for some reason. Who knows what goes on in that demented brain of his? He thinks he's like Sherlock Holmes or something."

"His brain is not demented! And he does not - well, okay, that last part is probably true." Nancy admitted. Drew did think that he was the next big detective. Which wasn't going to happen unless they got out of the current predicament. Which also might not happen. Unfortunately.

"I bet you that if you ask him if he thinks that I have anything to do with this he'll say yes."

"How come you're so sure of this?" Nancy questioned, because that's what she liked to do.

 "Because he keeps looking at me all suspicious-like." Damian shrugged. "His glares are almost accusatory."

Nancy found herself wondering if it was bad that she thought his use of polysyllabic words was hot. Nah, she decided.

"So you like my display of knowledge, huh?" Damian smirked down at her. "I guess being Valedictorian has its perks."

"Oh my god, I said that out loud?" Nancy cried. "That's so embarrassing. And you were valedictorian?"

"Well, I was supposed to be. I will be, once we get out of here. Unless stupid Izzy Marin steals my place while I'm gone." Damian ranted and Nancy gaped. "What?" He asked. "I can be brilliant and still be the resident bad boy."

"Who said you were the bad boy?" Nancy teased, even though everyone in Moonlarkville knew Damian Pullman was the town bad boy. They had figured that out shortly after he had arrived. Now that Nancy thought about it, Damian hadn't even been here for a month.

"Uh, all one thousand people who live here." Damian answered automatically with a grin.

"Damian? Can I ask you something?"

"If I wanted to be a smartass, I'd point out that you just did, but I'm not going to. So go ahead."

"In a way, you kind of did just point that out." Nancy bit back a laugh.

"Shh... nobody has to know," Damian winked. "If you tell, I'm afraid I'll have to report all of the crimes you've committed."

"Such as...?"

"Stealing my cool."

"Damian's cool has been stolen..." Nancy gasped theatrically, placing her hand over her mouth. "By moi?"

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. What is it that you wanted to ask me?"

 "When did you move here?"

"April 3rd, why?" So he did move here the day after. That did seem a tad bit shady, if you asked Nancy.

"So you moved here the day after five dead bodies turned up last month?" Nancy recapped.

"And now you think I'm up to something too, don't you?" Damian raised an eyebrow accusingly. How did he know?

"Guilty."

"I forgot to tell you I'm supposed to be going to Stanford as a Psych major." Damian told her as if it were no big deal.

"Damian! That's amazing! Ugh, it sucks that we're stuck here. I promise to do everything I can to help you get out of here." Nancy looked into his eyes, meaning what she said.

He held her tighter. "And I you."

"Damian!" Drew's voice came drifting up from further down the mountain and Nancy closed her eyes, remembering her and Damian's deal. "Is she awake yet?"

"No," Damian yelled back, without turning around.

"Who were you talking to, then?"

 "Myself." Damian winced, realizing how dumb that sounded. Then again, Nancy did talk to herself all the time. At least, whenever she was alone. Drew snorted, and it echoed off of the trees. "You got a problem with that?" Damian asked, tone menacing.

"Yeah," Drew answered defyingly. "It's bullshit. Nancy, can you hear me? Nancy, answer me! I know you're awake!"

"I told you he was batshit crazy." Damian murmured, and Nancy felt a slight smile spread across her face, despite the fact that she originally meant to scowl.

"I believe you used the word 'demented'." Nancy mumbled back, eyes still shut and stifling full-out laughter. Then her cover would be blown. Soon she heard Drew bounding over to where Damian was hiking.

"Nancy?" He asked, and Nancy felt cruel ignoring him - but, then again, she got to be carried (by Damian) out of this deal, so she wasn't going to give it up just to say hey.

"Man, I told you she hasn't woken up yet." Damian lied, sounding particularly annoyed. "I was talking to myself."

"Yeah, right."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Like you would ever talk to yourself." Drew remarked sarcastically, and Nancy wondered what was up. Drew was acting really standoffish and she wasn't sure she liked it.

"Actually, I do it all the time. It shows signs of mental stability and-"

"I don't care," Drew cut him off, and Nancy knew something was wrong. Unless the saying that people just reveal more of themselves over time was true. If that was what was happening, Nancy wasn't sure she really liked the 'real Drew' at all. Was this what he was like when he thought she wasn't awake? "What are you, my psychiatrist?"

Nancy wanted to sit up and tell him that Damian was actually a Psychology major going to a school with like a 5% acceptance rate, but the guy in question did it for her. "I'll have you know, I'm going to be a Psych major in the fall." Damian spoke up, staring Drew down (at least, Nancy figured he was - her eyes were still shut).

"You can't be serious," Drew responded doubtfully. "Stop with all the lies." Okay, really? Nancy wanted to blurt. The situation at hand was getting kind of irritating. She had so much to say, but couldn't say it. Not walking was better than talking, after all. Especially if you had to walk, like, fifty miles.

"I would show you my diplomas and early acceptance letters from Stanford, but, as you can see, we're in the middle of a fucking forest - abducted. Focus on what matters, man." Damian told him off and Nancy mentally cheered.

 "I'll do what I want, thanks." Drew replied weakly and left them alone.

"Okay, I take back what I said earlier," Nancy spoke up once they were sure he was gone. "He's not the sweet one. You are."

"Nancy, stop," Damian joked. "You're making me blush!"

"I'm serious, though," Nancy smiled. "All this time he had me thinking that you were the asshole when in reality it's the exact opposite." When she looked up at him, she realized that he actually was blushing - something she found insanely cute. For a moment, she forgot that she was being held captive. And if that was something being around Damian made her do, she was sure that she wanted to spend the rest of the time she had left with him.

"He's not really an asshole, Nancy," Damian relayed to her. "He's just stressed out. And I can't blame him - I mean, look where we're at."

"True," Nancy seconded. "Please tell me we have a plan to get out."

"Oh yeah," Damian remembered. "While you were dead-"

"I was not dead!" Nancy protested, hitting him on his chest - his very muscular chest, she noted. "I was just in like a coma or something."

"Or something?"

"Yes, or something," Nancy rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

"Don't you want to know what I was going to say, Swan?" Damian taunted, wiggling his eyebrows playfully.

"Okay, un-shut up." She commanded.

"There's going to be a meeting tonight so we can plan out our plans to make a plan."

"Sounds like a lot of planning."

"Indeed," Damian nodded. "But Drew is organizing it or whatever, so I don't know how it's going to go."

"Or whatever?"

"Yes, or whatever."

Nancy couldn't help it - she giggled. And once she got started, she knew she wouldn't be able to stop. She clamped a hand over her mouth. "Whoops." She mumbled from under it, her voice muffled.

"Don't sweat it, I'll bet Drew is too embarrassed to come back up here after earlier."

"For real, you totally kicked his ass."

"I know." Damian smirked his most confident smirk, the 'bad boy' air around him starting to reconfigure.

"There's my bad boy." I patted him on the shoulder with a wink.

"Your bad boy?" Damian asked dubiously. "Girl, ain't nobody own me."

 "Too bad, I do now." Nancy gave him a look like 'what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it?' and smiled deviously.

"You should get some rest," He didn't rise to her bait - instead looking at her with eyes full of nothing but care. "They said we'd be hiking late today and judging by the sun it's already around 9 PM."

"Dude, like you said, I was basically dead for about 24 hours, so a few more hours awake and doing nothing probably won't kill me."

"At least close your eyes for a little while." Damian looked sincerely concerned - something that made her like him even more. Which was stupid, considering the fact that she was sentenced to die in two days. Here she was, flirting with a guy (who was totally hot, by the way - Nancy, stop) while she was climbing to her death.

 "Aren't you tired of carrying me? We've been walking for, like, forever." Nancy asked, wanting to return some of the caring concern.

"I've only been carrying you for seven hours," Damian shut her down. "You weigh nothing, it's okay. Just get some more rest. That way you can recover faster."

"Ugh, fine."

"Do a little sleuthing in your sleep." He suggested.

"Will do." Nancy closed her eyes as instructed and thought back to the last time she was awake. The bodies. The fire. The badges.

The sight of the bodies strewn across the forest floor would forever haunt Nancy. The people who could've saved her were dead. But while looking back at the memory, she realized something was off.

Weren't there four people? Melissa, Frank, Carolyn, and Trenton... So why were there only two bodies? Why were Melissa and Frank killed, but not Trenton and Carolyn?

The name Carolyn didn't mean anything to Nancy, so there weren't really any leads there. But, Trenton did.

Trenton... where had Nancy heard that name before? It was definitely familiar. And then she remembered her sister, Zoe, babbling about her new boyfriend, Trenton and how trustworthy and honorary he was.

If he really was honorary, why was his life spared? Could he be working with her captors?

If he was working with the captors, did that mean that Zoe could be wrapped up in all of this?

Zoe, who was on the debate team? Zoe, who had gotten honor roll every year of her life? Zoe, who was the smartest student in the entire junior class?

 But once Nancy started thinking about it, it didn't seem all too crazy. Zoe was the one who was supposed to be here, after all. And did their school even have a debate team?

No, they didn't, did they? So what was Zoe doing in the time that she was supposedly at the meetings for the group? When she was at the 'overnight championships'? Was that all just a cover-up for a group she got together with to murder people?

And once she thought it through even further, the 'overnight' debate trips took place all around the time of the monthly murderings.

No, Nancy thought. It can't be.

Yes, Her conscious told her. You don't know your sister at all.

a/n: not gonna lie, this is my favorite chapter so far

also, dedicated to tanushah because #Dancy