"Several weeks ago, twenty campers arrived at the newly built Camp Wawanakwa with the hopes and dreams of leaving a millionaire." Chris began.

*Shows shots of each camper arriving on the island at the beginning of the season*

"One by one, the campers were voted out: Tristan, Fedor, Betty, Cassie, Callie, Zeyad, Alejandro, Ellie, Laila, Alexander, Zeyad...again, Aaron, Ellie...again, Veronica, Tory, Matthew, Kiana, Katelyn, Devin, and Daniel."

*Shows shots of each camper as their names are read*

"After many episodes, multiple pain-staking challenges, two returns, and twenty eliminations, it is finally time. Only two campers remain. By the end of the day, one of them will claim the prize of one million dollars and the distinction of winning Total Drama. Who will it be?"

*Shows shot of Chris standing on the beach, carrying the briefcase with the one million dollar prize*

"Will it be Rhythm: the music-loving, open-minded, outspoken outcast with a reputation for being a cunning strategist? Or Amalia: the rebellious, challenge-winning, Daniel-loving leader with a penchant for making big moves?"

*Shows shots of Rhythm listening to music, her talking to others, her yelling at Katelyn, and her talking strategy with Devin, as well as shots of Amalia with an angry expression, her racing through a swamp, her kissing Daniel, and her voting for Daniel*

"It'll all end today!" Chris declared, "Right here! On the season finale of Total...Drama...Island:...Return to Wawanakwa!"

--------

Once the title sequence completed, the cameras turned their attention to the mini-mansion. For the first time in the whole season, all remaining campers could call the mini-mansion their home. It was the final night that they would spend as campers in the competition, and they wanted to get a good night's sleep in preparation for the final challenge. However, neither of them could find any success.

"Hm hm hmmmm hm. Hm hm hmmmm hm," Rhythm hummed to herself as she attempted to fall asleep while listening to calming music, "Ugh...maybe some Otis Redding will work."

Rhythm proceeded to change the song on her iPod to 'These Arms of Mine', and laid back on her bed, but couldn't go thirty seconds before ripping her headphones off her head and tossing them onto the ground in anger. She knew that the next day was going to be the most important day of her life so far, and she was clearly upset that she couldn't fall asleep.

"Damnit, Rhythm!" Rhythm exclaimed as she started slamming her head against a pillow, "Why. Can't. You. Fall. Asleep?!"

"This is the first time that I've ever had trouble sleeping. I've had to face upcoming exams, I've had to face upcoming concerts, I've had to face upcoming dates; nothing has given me trouble until now! Even here: I haven't had a bad night's worth of sleep until now! I guess the pressure is finally starting to sink in."- Rhythm

After a few minutes of banging her head against her pillow, Rhythm once again felt the need for music, and got up to retrieve her headphones on the other side of the room. As she knelt down to grab her headphones, she heard the distinct sound of a female singing voice radiating towards her ears. Instinctively, she checked her iPod to see if she accidentally hit the play button, but found herself looking at a black screen. After taking a few seconds to listen, she opened the door to her room, where she heard the echo of the singing voice bouncing off the walls of the hallway. Having curiosity, she decided to follow it to the source.

Her search for the source led her to the first floor music room, where she spotted a woman; unmistakably Amalia. Upon further inspection, she was playing the piano and singing. Everyone knew of Amalia's fondness for music, and got used to her taking a few minutes each day to play, sing, and relieve a bit of stress. 

Needless to say, Amalia had a lot of stress to relieve; she had just lost the person with whom she was in love. Even though she doubted it for a while, there was no point in hiding it; Daniel meant the world to her. On an emotional level, he was the only person who had stuck by her throughout the entire game. That's what she loved about him: no matter what had happened in the game, Daniel always found a way to protect her and ensure that she was safe, even if that meant putting himself at risk. Now that he was gone, she felt the need to vent in a way that would 'pay tribute' to Daniel. In this case, she wanted to sing.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

Can't erase, so I'll take blame...
But I can't accept that we're estranged...
Without you, without you...
I can't quit now, this can't be right...
I can't take one more sleepless night...
Without you, without you...

I won't soar, I won't climb...
If you're not here, I'm paralyzed...
Without you, without you...
I can't look, I'm so blind...
I lost my heart, I lost my mind...
Without you, without you...

  ♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

Rhythm watched silently as Amalia continued to pour her heart and soul into her words. Even though she believed that eliminating Daniel: the bigger strategic threat, was justified, she couldn't help but feel bad knowing that the move may have ended one of the best relationships to have ever existed in the history of the series.

"Wow..." Rhythm muttered as Amalia continued to play and sing.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

Oh oh oh!
You! You! You!
Without...
You! You! You!
Without...you

I am lost, I am vain,
I will never win this game,
Without you, without you,
Without...you......

  ♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

With Amalia having finished singing, Rhythm was about to head back upstairs when she noticed Amalia pulling an object out of her back pocket. From her position, she could vaguely determine that it was a small photo. While she didn't know what it was a photo of, she had a pretty good idea of what it was, and Amalia's next words confirmed it.

"Daniel...Daniel..." Amalia muttered as she continued to stare at the photo of her and Daniel after they won the boat immunity challenge.

"I can't believe that she's this sad. I knew that voting out Daniel would rattle her a little bit, but I didn't think that she'd become this distraught. I do feel bad for her; I genuinely do feel bad. However, I have to remember that this is a game. This is what I asked for, and this is what I got."- Rhythm

"Daniel leaving was easily the most painful experience that I've gone through so far. It was a snap decision, and it's finally sunk in that Daniel isn't here anymore. I haven't spent a day in this game without Daniel and now I have no choice. And just the thought of Daniel breaking up with me makes me want to...." *cries*- Amalia

Having figured out what was going on, Rhythm decided to head back to her room, leaving Amalia to her own devices. Even though she felt a bit bad for her friend, she didn't want to let that feeling overwhelm her; she was in the final two of one of the most difficult reality television shows in the world. She couldn't afford to be taken off balance, not when there was one million dollars at stake.

--------

The next morning, Rhythm woke up calmly. Luckily for her, upon returning to her room after checking on Amalia, she managed to fall asleep fairly quickly. Feeling great, she hopped out of her bed and walked over to her vanity, gazing at herself in the mirror.

"Rhythm, this is the first day of the rest of your life," Rhythm reminded to herself, "It's time to show the world what you're truly made of."

"If someone asked me on the first day 'Are you gonna be in the final two?', I definitely would've said no. My road to the finals was a bumpy one to say the least. Being in the minority of my team, I was the underdog from the start. Since then, I've become more strategic, formed solid alliances, taken the lead on several big moves, and I haven't looked back until now. I'm proud of how far I've come, but I'm not here to place second; I'm here to win. Amalia better bring her A-game, because she'll need it to beat me."- Rhythm

While Rhythm reflected on her journey whilst looking at her reflection in her vanity, Amalia did the same, except she was looking at herself in the reflection of the backsplash in the kitchen. She was still in a saddened haze from Daniel's elimination, and decided to occupy herself with different activities to keep her mind off of her boyfriend's absence. She already finished cleaning the living room and re-organized the instruments in the music room, so she decided to turn her attention to cooking breakfast.

"Six weeks of winning challenges, talking strategy, and making out with Daniel has gotten me here..." Amalia recalled as she continued to blend some avocados.

"To say that I expected to get this far would be a lie. But ever since I arrived at this camp on Day 1, I knew that I was going to try my absolute hardest to win. For the first half of the game, I feel like I indirectly lead the teams that I was on. I was a key player in many challenges, I controlled some of the votes, and I became a fairly likable person. But once I attempted to vote out Daniel and subsequently avoided elimination the next day, my whole game changed. I played much more aggressive, won more challenges, and I'll admit, I relied on Daniel a little bit. In the end, I tried to play the best game I could and it ended up with me playing a good physical and social game, and that is what helped me get here."- Amalia

Within the next hour, Rhythm made her way downstairs, clad in her usual outfit. Expecting to come down to make breakfast, she was caught off guard when she saw Amalia sitting down at the dining table, calmly eating a salmon salad with a poached egg. She hadn't talked to Amalia since the elimination ceremony, and was a bit scared of what she would say to her next, if she talked to her at all.

"Hey there, Amalia," Rhythm greeted as she took a seat directly across from her, "Feelin' alright?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Amalia replied as she handed her a bowl of salmon salad and slid an avocado shake towards her.

"Alright, thanks," Rhythm thanked.

"No problem," Amalia responded kindly.

At this point, Rhythm felt good, believing that Amalia got over Daniel no longer being there. Turning her attention to the food, she took a bite of it, and found it to be a perfect medley of spicy, savoury, and tasteful flavours.

"Wow, this is really good, Amalia," Rhythm praised as she took a second bite.

"Thanks..." Amalia replied as she stared at her half-eaten poached egg, "Rhythm, do you think that Daniel will break up with me?"

"The thought of Daniel breaking up with me has gone through my mind at least a thousand times over the past few hours. I kept on wondering if the million dollars was worth losing Daniel. At the end of the day, I had to be logical; the odds of Daniel forgiving me are pretty decent, but the odds of me winning a million dollars against him are less than ideal. As they always say: it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission."- Amalia

"I guess she hasn't gotten over it yet. I'm conflicted because I want to be optimistic for her, but I also don't want to make her too optimistic because it'll motivate her to try and win even more."- Rhythm

"He seemed pretty upset," Rhythm remarked as she watched Amalia sadly lean back into her seat, "And this is Daniel that we're talking about. He rarely gets upset. He's probably really upset."

"F**K!" Amalia exclaimed, dropping her fork onto her plate, "I must've screwed up big time."

"We won't know for sure until we see him again," Rhythm reminded, "Just know that I'm here to talk to if you need someone."

"Thanks..." Amalia thanked as she returned to eating her salad.

"Of course I feel bad that Amalia is so messed up from last night. If I had a romantic partner taken away from me, I would be crying my eyes out. But this was purely strategy; she's a tough competitor and I need to play every edge that I've got to try and win. I really hope that she doesn't hate me for this..." *sighs*- Rhythm

"Knock knock!" a man verbalized as he knocked on the front door.

"Hmm..." Amalia muttered as she walked over and opened the door, revealing Chef Hatchet standing in his usual outfit, "What do you want?"

"Chris told me to give you these and tell ya' to meet him over at the campfire area in ten minutes!" Chef Hatchet revealed before tossing two packs of clothes at Amalia, "And trust me, ya' best be on time!"

"Alright..." Amalia muttered before shutting the door and walking over to Rhythm, "Here ya' go."

"Um..." Rhythm muttered as she opened her pack and pulled out the clothes, "Coloured safari outfits?"

The duo examined their outfits: cargo shorts, a Booney cap, a black neckerchief, and a short sleeve, buttoned-up cargo jacket. The only difference between the two outfits was that Amalia's outfit was red, while Rhythm's outfit was blue. It had been a while since they had to dress up for a challenge, so this was a bit discomforting.

"I'm not liking where this is going..." Amalia admitted, thinking over all the possible challenges that they could face.

"I'm not liking this hat," Rhythm remarked as she placed a Booney Cap on her head.

--------

After finishing breakfast and putting on their 'safari' outfits, the final two headed out to the campfire area, where they found Chris waiting for them. Both of them quickly noted that this was one of the rare times that they weren't directly introduced to the challenge, so it was an interesting change.

"Greetings, campers, please take a seat on the stumps," Chris requested, allowing the two finalists to take a seat on the stumps, "Today, one of you will leave the island one million dollars richer. But before we do that, I have two things to announce."

"At this point, I'm ready for any horrible thing that Chris throws at us."- Rhythm

"I'm not scared; we all know what Chris is capable of. Bring it on!"- Amalia

"First of all, we know how painful it can be to leave the island in second place with nothing to show for it," Chris assured, "So this season, whoever places second will leave with a 100,000 dollar prize!"

That announcement left the finalists shocked, Obviously, with Chris' track record on the show, they all expected Chris to announce something negative. To find out that they both would be leaving the island with some sort of monetary prize excited them and raised their spirits quite a bit.

"That's awesome!" Rhythm remarked as her and Amalia hugged in excitement.

"I know, thanks," Chris thanked, "Secondly, as finalists, you deserve to have your own cheering squad with you. Because of that, we've brought back the eliminated campers as guests, each donning the colour of the person that they support."

This was both exciting and nervewracking for the finalists. On one hand, they were excited to see everyone who they met on this journey to the finals, and to see who was supporting them. On the other hand, it was daunting knowing that some of the people that you met would not be on your side.

"Please welcome Tristan, Fedor, and Betty!" Chris declared as the aforementioned three strutted into the area, each sporting the colour blue.

"Good to see ya' again," Tristan remarked.

"Mad respect for you both," Fedor admitted, clapping.

"Reppin' girl power! Nice!" Betty praised as her and the other two guys took a seat on Rhythm's bleachers.

"I wish that I lasted longer, but I've got to give props to the final two. They both did what they had to do to make it here, but I'm supporting Rhythm because I don't like how Amalia stabbed Daniel in the back."- Fedor

"Next, let's welcome Cassie, Callie, and Alejandro!" Chris declared, allowing the three of them to walk into view, with Cassie & Callie sporting the colour red and Alejandro sporting the colour blue.

"Good job to you both!" Cassie congratulated.

"I'm so happy for you guys!" Callie admitted cheerfully.

"Gotta admit when people get the best end," Alejandro admitted with a smile on his face.

"Ever since I was voted out, I was cheering for Amalia to make it to the end and win. Even though I don't like how she blindsided Daniel, I've pledged my loyalty to Amalia, and I'm going to stick by her."- Callie

"Next, we have Laila, Alexander, and Zeyad!" Chris revealed as the three of them stepped into the area, showing off their blue outfits.

"Congrats," Laila remarked.

"Eh.....nah," Alexander muttered, not wanting to say anything positive.

"Good job to you both. Well deserved," Zeyad insisted.

"I think that they both played really good games. But in the end, I like Rhythm more, and I absolutely hate how Amalia treated Daniel, so my vote goes to Rhythm."- Zeyad

"Can we see some more red clothing, please?" Amalia pleaded.

Amalia's wish was somewhat fulfilled when she saw Aaron, Ellie, and Veronica walk into the area. Ellie was dressed in red, but Aaron and Veronica were dressed in blue. Amalia was left disappointed; even though she knew that Veronica and Rhythm were close, she was a bit surprised that Veronica wasn't on her side.

"Good to be back," Aaron remarked.

"I missed you guys!" Ellie assured.

"Glad to see that two of my closest allies made it to the end," Veronica noted, "Nice job."

"It makes me happy to see that Amalia & Rhythm made it to the end, but I just had to pick Rhythm. Even though I respect Amalia's decision to get rid of Daniel as a game move, after seeing all that Rhythm had to go through in this game, I just had to side with her."- Veronica

"And here's Tory, Matthew, & Kiana!" Chris welcomed, allowing the three of them to walk in, clad in the colour blue.

"You two definitely deserve those spots," Tory assured, "Well done."

"If I'm going to lose to anyone, I'm glad it's you two," Matthew admitted, smiling.

"You two should be proud, because it's not easy to make it here," Kiana insisted.

"I would've liked to be in the final two, but I can't complain; I had a good time. As for my allegiance, I like people who are loyal, and Rhythm was loyal to Katelyn to the end, so I've got to back her up."- Kiana

"C'mon guys!" Amalia exclaimed, "Where's all the red?"

Unlike her last plea, she was left unanswered as Katelyn & Devin walked in, both of whom supported Rhythm. This left Amalia shocked; even though she knew that people would be upset with her over eliminating Daniel, she thought that she would get more than three supporters.

"Are you serious!?" Amalia asked, shocked.

"Sorry, Amalia, but we didn't like how you voted for Daniel," Katelyn admitted.

"That's true," Devin confirmed, "When Daniel went to 'Playa de Losers', Daniel ranted all about his frustration to us."

"I mean, I would've voted for Rhythm anyways, but Amalia's decision made my decision even more clear. It was a good move, but it was an unnecessary move. She could've won against Daniel; she wouldn't have won three solo immunity challenges if she couldn't beat Daniel."- Katelyn

"Is he really that upset?" Amalia asked, scared to know the answer.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Chris offered, "Come on in, Daniel!"

With that, Daniel entered the area with a serious expression on his face. What caught everyone's eyes was the fact that he was clad in blue, thereby supporting Rhythm. This move shocked almost everyone. With Daniel's track record, some thought that he would be able to forgive Amalia for voting him out. But his choice was clear to everyone; he was done with being forgiving, and was ready to make things right.

"Oh my God..." Amalia muttered, nearly crying.

"Good to have you back, Daniel," Chris remarked before turning to face the main camera, "How will these supporters affect the confidence of the final two, and who will come out on top? Find out after the break on Total...Drama...Island:...Return to Wawanakwa!"