"Welcome back to Total Drama Island: Return to Wawanakwa!" Chris welcomed as the main cameras panned in on him, "Before the break, Daniel & Amalia won themselves immunity in the 'lover's lane' challenge. With the elimination ceremony coming up shortly, let's take a look at what the campers have planned for tonight."

--------

To start, the cameras turned their focus to the dining room of the mini-mansion, where Devin, Matthew, & Tory joined Daniel & Amalia to discuss the upcoming elimination ceremony. With both sides having pondered the possibility of reforming the majority alliance, they wanted to take some time to agree upon a plan for the future.

"Devin, have you told Matthew & Tory about the plan?" Amalia asked, checking in.

'He did," Tory confirmed, "And honestly, I'm fine with it."

"I hate to admit it, but I don't have a choice. I've just got to cross my fingers and hope that Veronica, Amalia, & Rhythm will stay loyal."- Tory

"Hopefully we can just start anew and continue where we left off," Matthew expressed.

"It's what we got to do," Devin agreed.

"And here are our drinks!" Daniel interrupted as he placed a tray of beverages on the table.

"Thanks man," Tory thanked, "Now the whole group is here."

"Not necessarily," Amalia corrected, "Veronica and Rhythm are somewhere else."

"Where are they?" Matthew asked, curious.

"Probably talking," Amalia guessed, "But don't worry; I'll tell them whatever plan we agree on."

"Well, let's get to the point: who are we voting off?" Tory asked.

"I'm still pitching the Katelyn vote," Devin admitted, "She's been here way too long."

"Now that the alliance is back together, I see no better way to show our loyalty to each other than to kick Katelyn to the curb."- Devin

"Y'know, this might be a bad idea, but we do have enough votes to split the vote," Daniel noted, "We've got seven people, and they have three. We can split it 4-3-3, with the four votes going towards Katelyn."

"Well, who do you suggest we split it with?" Tory asked, "Katelyn and who else?

"I would say Ellie," Daniel admitted, "She's stronger than Kiana when it comes to winning challenges."

"I've been beating the 'let's get rid of Ellie' drum for a while. Sure, even if we do split the vote against her, she won't be going home. But if Katelyn does happen to have an invincibility head, I see no reason as to why we can't get rid of Ellie."- Daniel

"But Kiana did better than Ellie in the tea challenge," Tory noted, "She almost beat me."

"But we also have to look at previous challenges," Daniel reminded, "Ellie did a better job in the first challenge, helped the Wild Wolverines win the 3rd challenge, and sunk a lot of coconuts during the 7th challenge. She's a tough cookie."

"Can't argue with that," Amalia admitted, "All in favour of splitting the vote between Katelyn & Ellie?"

"Aye," Matthew repeated.

"Aye," Daniel followed.

"Aye?" Tory remarked, unsure if that was the right word to say.

"Aye," Devin agreed, raising his hand.

"At the end of the day, I don't have a solid bond with Ellie, so I'm fine with her being voted out if necessary."- Devin

"Good," Amalia commented, "Now, we need to figure out who is voting for who."

"With Veronica being busy, I've kinda stepped into the role of the leader. Honestly, it feels pretty good."- Amalia

"Well, we have four guys and three girls," Devin noted, "We can have the guys vote for Katelyn and the girls vote for Ellie."

"I don't know," Daniel expressed, "I think Rhythm is pretty set on voting for Katelyn."

"What happened?" Tory asked, concerned.

"I think they had another argument," Daniel answered.

"I'm not 100% sure what happened between Katelyn & Rhythm, but I'm pretty sure that neither of them are happy."- Daniel

"Devin, do you mind voting for Ellie?" Daniel suggested, "Then we can have Rhythm vote for Katelyn and keep the 4-3 split."

"Sure, that's fine," Devin agreed.

"So Matthew, Daniel, Rhythm & I are voting for Katelyn, and Veronica, Devin, & Amalia are voting for Ellie, right?" Tory asked, wanting confirmation.

"Correct," Daniel confirmed.

"Good," Tory remarked, "Now that we have that out of the way, who wants to watch Back to the Future Part II?"

"I'm down," Devin admitted.

"Sure," Matthew agreed.

"I've got something to do..." Daniel revealed as he grabbed Amalia by the wrist, "Would you mind following me?"

"Uh...sure..." Amalia agreed as she followed Daniel.

"What does he have up his sleeve this time?"- Amalia

"Now Amalia..." Daniel began as he led Amalia into the music room, "You're a fan of music, right?"

"Yeah..." Amalia confirmed.

"Well...when I was in the mini-mansion with Devin, I prepared a little something..." Daniel revealed as he took a seat at the piano, "Care to join me?"

"Y-yeah..." Amalia agreed as she took a seat next to her boyfriend.

"This is for you, Amalia," Daniel declared as he took a deep breath before he began playing a slow, melodic tune.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

In the still...of the night...
I held you...
Held you tight...

'Cause I love...
Love you so...
Promise I'll never...
Let you go...
In the still...of the night...

In the still of the night...

I remember...
That night in May...
The stars...were bright above...

I'll hope...and I'll pray...
To keep (to keep)
Your precious love...

Well before...the light...
Hold me again...
With all of your might...
In the still of the night...

In the still of the night...

Oh I remember...!
That night in May...!
The stars...were bright above...  

I'll hope...and I'll pray...
To keep (to keep)
Your precious love...  

So before...the light...
Hold me again...
With all of your might...
In the still of the night...

In the still of the night...

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

With the completion of the song, Amalia simply had no words to say. She was so caught off guard by Daniel singing her a heartfelt and classic song that she didn't know what to do. The knowledge that he did this totally unprovoked made her feel even better. If there were any doubt of Daniel's admiration for her, it was non-existent now.

"Come here," Daniel remarked as he pulled Amalia in for a hug, allowing Amalia the opportunity to kiss him.

"Thank you," Amalia thanked, content.

"No need; in the spirit of the theme of today's challenge, I just wanted to give you a little gift," Daniel insisted.

"Aww..." Amalia muttered as she nuzzled her head on Daniel's left shoulder, "I love you."

"I...am really glad that you feel that way..." Daniel replied.

"Umm...don't the rules of 'I love you' say that if someone tells you that, you have to say it back?"- Amalia

"I don't know if I've said it before, but love is a difficult thing for me to handle. Some of my friends have told me that I have the emotions of a robot, but that's because I haven't had the same opportunities for social interactions as everyone else. I just don't know if it's too early to say 'I love you'."- Daniel

--------

One quality that everyone here needed to have was the ability to make proper decisions. In this type of competition, a single decision could be the difference between making it to the final two or being voted out in tenth. Right now, Katelyn was venting to Ellie and Kiana on the beach about the challenge, wondering if a decision that she made would end up ruining her game.

"Like...I didn't mean to hurt her..." Katelyn admitted honestly, "I was just so frustrated with her at that point."

"I just want to say to the viewers that I apologize if I hurt any of you by what I said during the challenge. It was in the heat of the moment and I'm sorry. I fully support the LGBTQ+ community and I didn't intend for it to be seen as a derogatory term or any form of criticism."- Katelyn

"Not gonna lie, I was hesitant to do it too," Ellie revealed, "I was scared of what my boyfriend would think too. But my solace is that the kiss meant nothing and we're playing for a million dollars."

"Wesley, if you're watching this at home right now, I just want to let you know that I still love you and you are a much better kisser than Tory."- Ellie

"That's probably one of the reasons why I don't have a boyfriend," Kiana rationalized, "I don't want to be judged by them constantly."

"Hey, a true boyfriend will like you for who you are," Ellie insisted, "No matter what you do. To an extent."

"Look, can we get back on topic here?" Katelyn requested, upset, "What are we going to do?"

"Well, we've got to get to Veronica & Amalia and figure out which boy we're taking out next," Ellie rationalized.

"But Rhythm probably hates my guts by now!" Katelyn noted, "And those two are pretty close to her, so they'll probably hate me too!"

"Have you tried apologizing to Rhythm?" Kiana suggested.

"Nah, there's no way that she'd want to talk to me after all of this," Katelyn claimed.

"Hey, there's no shame in trying," Kiana noted, "You've got nothing to lose."

"And with all due respect, Katelyn, your personality hasn't been the most apologetic as of lately," Ellie admitted, "If the girls see that you're turning over a new leaf, they might keep you around a little bit longer."

"Katelyn's chances of winning are getting worse the longer that she stays in the competition. Honestly, as cruel as it is to say, I'm very happy keeping her here because it keeps the target off of me."- Ellie

"Yeah, maybe I should apologize right to her," Katelyn agreed, "I at least need to let her know that I'm sorry."

--------

At this point, Rhythm was too sad to carry on much of a conversation. Even though she knew deep down that Katelyn probably didn't mean to say what she said, the fact that it came from her number one enemy in the game made her feel so defeated, as if she just lost the million dollar prize to Katelyn in the final two. All she could do was vent to Veronica; her number one ally, in the losers' cabin.

"Like, that was just too far!" Rhythm exclaimed as she leaned on Veronica's right shoulder for comfort.

"That's just who she is..." Veronica noted, trying to comfort Rhythm, "That's just who she is."

"I really hate to see Rhythm in this state; she is my number one ally and I need her at full strength if her and I are going to make it to the final two. This tells me with a big blinking sign that Katelyn needs to go."- Veronica

*crying* "Like...this is exactly the kind of thing that I was afraid of. I never thought that it would be so hard to just be me. I wasn't even trying to get with her and she still called me out on it! What am I going to do...?"- Rhythm

"Look, it's all going to be over," Veronica assured, "Our alliance is sure to vote for Katelyn tonight. She's going home."

"Yeah..." Rhythm agreed as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Hey guys," Amalia greeted as she walked into the room, "Mind if we talk?"

"Y-yeah..." Rhythm allowed, "That's fine."

"What's wrong, Rhythm?" Amalia asked, wanting to comfort her ally.

"Umm..." Rhythm muttered, unsure of what to say.

"Katelyn offended her during the challenge," Veronica explained.

"Oh," Amalia replied, "Y'know, I'm not even going to ask."

"So, how did the meeting go?" Veronica asked.

"The guys are down for bringing the alliance back together," Amalia reported, "You, me, and Devin are voting for Ellie, while Daniel, Rhythm, Tory, & Matthew are voting for Katelyn."

"Good..." Rhythm muttered, "She's got to go."

"I don't know what Katelyn could've done to turn Rhythm into an emotional wreck, but that further means that she has to go this time."- Amalia

"Hey..." Katelyn greeted as she appeared in the doorway with Kiana and Ellie, "Can I say something to Rhythm?"

"Um...we're kinda busy right now," Veronica noted, "Maybe la-"

"No..." Rhythm interrupted as she raised her head to look at Katelyn, "L-let her speak..."

"Okay?" Veronica agreed, confused, "Go ahead, Katelyn."

"Rhythm, I know that you probably don't want to be anywhere near me, but I want to let you know that I'm truly sorry for calling you a lesbian," Katelyn explained.

"You called her a lesbian?!" Amalia interjected, shocked.

"Amalia, let's let Katelyn finish," Veronica insisted, "You may continue."

"As I was saying, it was uncalled for, rude, and totally unacceptable," Katelyn continued, "I know that you definitely don't look at me that way, and I'm sorry for calling you something that you aren't. I will take that comment off the table. Hopefully when the game is done, we can be friends, but I just want you to know that I apologize for doing that."

After that, the entire room was silent. All eyes were on Rhythm, waiting patiently for her to say something in response. After a few seconds of waiting, Rhythm stood up from her seat and looked at Katelyn, ready to talk to her face-to-face. But what came next wasn't expected by anyone.

"I...do not accept your apology," Rhythm declared, causing a rouse of shock from the other campers.

"What?!" Katelyn asked, wanting to know if she heard correctly, "Rhythm-"

"You shouldn't say that kind of stuff, period," Rhythm declared, nearly yelling, "Y'know what, we might as well air the sheets out. I am a lesbian. And y'know what? I'm proud of it. I embrace it. I'm happy with who I am. I don't need a girl like you going around and assuming things about people!"

"Rhythm, I didn't know!" Katelyn insisted, now starting to become scared, "And I didn't mean it in a bad way!"

"It doesn't matter if you did know it, or if you didn't know it; it's rude to go around and just judge people like that!" Rhythm insisted, "What you need to learn is that your actions may have a different effect on other people than you think it does!"

"It was in the heat of the moment!" Katelyn claimed, "I would never say that anywhere else!"

"Y'know, there's an old phrase that says: 'You don't know who you truly are until your back is up against the wall'," Rhythm remarked, "What I saw in that outhouse was a girl that when pushed to the brink, will say anything, no matter how terrible it might be."

"What can I do to make this better?!" Katelyn asked, genuinely sorry, "I want to make things better! Please believe me!"

"It's doesn't matter; you're getting voted out next anyways," Rhythm replied as she got close to Katelyn's face, "BELIEVE THAT!"

"Woah woah woah..." Daniel muttered as he ran into the room, "What's going on?"

"We're just talking," Katelyn answered.

"Just talking?!" Rhythm repeated, "This isn't just talking; it's a serious conversation, which clearly, you haven't realized."

"I'm so scared..."- Kiana

"This is the first time that I've seen Rhythm flip her lid so badly. I'm honestly scared of her right now."- Veronica

"Y'know what? There's no need for a fight right now," Daniel declared, "Separate! Katelyn: leave, Rhythm: stay here!"

"No!" Katelyn exclaimed as she was pulled away by Ellie & Kiana.

"I'm sorry that you guys had to see that..." Rhythm apologized.

"It's alright," Amalia assured, "We all have moments where we need to just scream."

"Should we update Daniel on what went on?" Veronica asked to Rhythm.

"Don't worry, I heard everything," Daniel assured, "I was just waiting for the right time."

"Thanks for stepping in," Rhythm thanked, having calmed down.

"I just didn't want it to get physical," Daniel explained, "Anyways Rhythm, do you mind if I talk to you for a little bit?"

"Alone?" Amalia asked.

"It would be preferred, yes," Daniel answered, "As long as Rhythm is fine with it."

"Yeah, I guess," Rhythm agreed, allowing Daniel to take a seat next to her and for Veronica & Amalia to leave the room, "What's up?"

"Look, I know that today must've been a very hard day for you," Daniel recalled, "I know how it feels to be attacked for who you are."

"I mean...I just don't know if people will understand," Rhythm admitted, "All of my female friends; I'm scared that they might just shun me in fear of me crushing on them."

"Look at all of your female friends here; do any of them shun you?" Daniel noted, "If your friends here are open, why wouldn't your other friends be open?"

"Yeah...maybe you have a point..." Rhythm admitted.

"And honestly, I feel like I can give you a bit of advice," Daniel admitted, "Look, I'm gonna tell you something; you cannot tell anyone about this, alright?"

"Alright..." Rhythm agreed.

"You're not the only one here who's gone through that kind of stuff," Daniel revealed, "I'm...pansexual."

"Y-you are?" Rhythm asked again, a bit shocked.

"Yeah, I wouldn't lie about something like that," Daniel noted.

"I know, 'shocker' or whatever. But it's the truth. I never really talk about it because I don't see the need to do it. But I really feel that this is a time where I could help someone by telling them my experiences."- Daniel

"When I came out, there were people who didn't understand," Daniel admitted, "I remember some of my friends saying to me 'so...is that gay but not really?'. Not gonna lie, I was a bit offended, but I realized quickly that the quote wasn't to be mean; it was because they didn't know a lot about pansexuality. After about a half-hour of explaining, they understood, and we're still friends to this day."

"Wow..." Rhythm remarked.

"I'm a firm believer that the root of all evil is ignorance; people can always learn more about something. If we can break past the barrier of people not willing to listen, we can help them understand where we come from as people without having to fight," Daniel explained, "Doesn't that sound better?"

"Yeah..." Rhythm agreed, almost smiling, "Yeah, that sounds much better."

"If you're going to take anything from this conversation, just know that there will always be someone to help you," Daniel assured, "If you need someone to talk with about this, or if you simply want to vent, I'll be here."

"Alright, thanks," Rhythm thanked as she went to hug Daniel.

"No problem," Daniel replied, reciprocating the hug, "If I may ask, please don't tell Amalia about this. She doesn't really need to know right now."

"Don't worry about it," Rhythm assured.

"It's really relieving to know that there's someone here who's in the same boat as I am. Maybe not the same deck, but the same boat. This talk definitely made me feel better."- Rhythm

"If there's an opportunity for me to help someone one-on-one, there's a good chance that I'll take it. I know that I would want someone to help me if I was in that position. I don't want to see Rhythm down in the dumps; she's a friend and a good person, and I hope that she can stay and fight hard to win."- Daniel

"Attention campers!" Chris called out from the loudspeakers, "It's time for the elimination ceremony! Please make your way to the campfire area now!"

"C'mon, let's go," Daniel ushered as him and Rhythm ran out of the losers' cabin.

--------

All ten campers managed to make their way over to the campfire area pretty quickly. It wasn't because they were eager to vote someone out; it was the first time in a while that everyone seemed to have a good idea of where the vote was headed. They all knew who they had to vote for, and that was all that mattered to them at that moment.

"It's elimination time! Daniel & Amalia have immunity, so they're safe, but the rest of you aren't," Chris announced, "You know how this works: you enter the Confession Can, X-out the picture of your vote, I'll check & tally them, and then I'll announce who is safe. Whoever doesn't receive a marshmallow will be forced to walk down the Dock of Shame and leave the island on the Submarine of Losers. Now vote!"

--------

"You and I never really talked, but hopefully we can do that when you stay."- Devin

"I don't know what to do anymore..."- Katelyn

"Third time's the charm?"- Matthew

"I honestly don't know what I'll do if you aren't voted out tonight."- Tory

"This vote shouldn't be a surprise. I'm sorry."- Daniel

"I'm just going with the flow."- Ellie

"I hope that you stay and we can get to talk more."- Amalia

"My opinion hasn't changed. Hopefully being voted out will teach you to watch what you say."- Rhythm

"It's amazing how time passes so fast. I'm only doing this to split the vote."- Veronica

"I'm only doing this because Katelyn wants me to do it. I'm really sorry."- Kiana

--------

"Alright! I've tallied the votes and the following people are safe," Chris began as he picked up a few marshmallows, "Daniel, Amalia, Veronica, Kiana, Matthew, Tory, and Rhythm, you're safe."

As Chris tossed marshmallows to the aforementioned campers, Devin, Ellie, and Katelyn were left vulnerable. Devin knew that he was safe, but couldn't help but worry that something went wrong with the votes. Ellie was also scared, as this was the third post-merge elimination ceremony where she received at least one vote. Oddly enough, Katelyn was the calmest of the three, as she had a gut feeling as to what her fate would be, and she was ready to accept it.

"The last two marshmallows go to....Devin! And.....Katelyn!" Chris announced as he tossed them the final marshmallows.

At that moment, everyone let out a loud gasp; this was the first time that everyone seemed to be shocked at the elimination. Everyone thought that Katelyn was the one to be voted out; even Katelyn thought so. To find out that Ellie was the one destined to leave the island shocked them to the core.

"I don't know what it is about 10th place eliminations, but they always seem to be a shocker," Chris commented.

"W-what?" Ellie muttered, "Are you sure that there wasn't any tampering?"

"Yeah!" Katelyn agreed, "There has to be some sort of cheating going on here!"

"Trust me, I checked it three times; I didn't even tell an intern to do it!" Chris admitted, "No cheating to be found. Sorry Ellie, but you have to go."

"Aww..." Ellie muttered, as she was pulled into a hug by Katelyn.

"Look, I swear that I didn't switch my vote this time," Katelyn claimed, "I did it last time, but I didn't do it this time. I will find out who did this and bring them down."

"I am shocked. I don't know what happened at all! Someone is trying to mess with my head! But as long as I'm here, I'm gonna try my damn hardest to make it to the end. Just you watch!"- Katelyn

--------

"Hold on," Daniel ordered as he ran over and whispered to Ellie, "You played a good game; everyone's surprised that you're going home. Just know that I have no ill-feelings towards you. Say hi to Aaron for me."

With that, Ellie slowly walked down the Dock of Shame, confused as to why she was the one going home. She tried to be nice to everyone, and she thought that she had no enemies left in the game. Little did she know, there was still one person who wanted her out. But she would leave the island on the Submarine of Losers before she could figure out who that was.

"Alright, as per usual, Daniel & Amalia can pick one person to go to Boney Island and one person to join them in the mini-mansion," Chris reminded.

"We choose Veronica to go to Boney Island," Amalia declared.

"And we'll choose Rhythm to join us in the mini-mansion," Daniel added.

"Somehow, I knew that you were going to say that," Chris admitted, "Veronica, a boat is waiting for you down the beach, and the rest of you can head to bed. Goodnight!"

With that, the campers left to their designated locations, leaving Chris to think about the last elimination. This was the 2nd blindside in a row, which left Chris excited for the upcoming eliminations; if the campers were willing to blindside time and time again, who knows what they'd be willing to do to win?

"Well, with another blindside, that tells us one thing: these nine campers are here to win," Chris reminded as he talked to the main camera, "What shenanigans will happen next time? Will Veronica have any success on Boney Island? And who will be voted out next? Find out next time, right here, on Total...Drama...Island:...Return to Wawanakwa!"

--------

Votes:

Devin: Ellie

Katelyn: Devin

Matthew: Katelyn

Tory: Katelyn

Daniel: Ellie

Ellie: Devin

Amalia: Ellie

Rhythm: Katelyn

Veronica: Ellie

Kiana: Devin