Hard Times

I

"We finally made it, go us!" Darius says while holding a cup up in the air.

The others whooped in agreement, cheering and jumping in the air. Yaz on the other hand remained silent.

"Yaz, are you alright?" Sammy asks.

"Huh- oh yeah-yeah. I'm fine." She looks down at her plate before giving a soft smile.

Kenji stared at her concerned, Yaz has been acting different, she is more quiet and distant kind of like when they first came to the island. She's being  more reserved.

Kenji finished his berries. He's still upset with Darius, just thinking about it is pissing him enough to make his eye twitch.

When both he and Brooklyn came back without Yasmina, he thought she'd been killed. He thought she was gone for sure. That's why he said what he said back on Isla Nublar.

"Unlike you I don't take risks with friends lives." The words burned in his head, replaying over and over to remind him he should still be angry.

He walks back up to the steering wheel and continues sailing to what he assumed to be Costa Rica.

He was enjoying his silence till Brooklyn walked in. She'd been acting stranger and stranger around him every day. It's like every since after Yaz was kidnapped by Wu, she'd been jealous of that hug they shared once she was back there after she was safe.

But for her to be jealous makes no sense, Yaz and I...we aren't even together. I'm pretty sure she doesn't even like me enough to consider me more than a friend.

"Hey..." she drags her "y" causing Kenji's face to form a confused expression. "Hey?" He questions, weirded out by her strange behavior.

"So what up with you and Darius- I mean your upset with him- obvi, but why?" She questions, arms folding, leaning against the door frame.

Because Yaz could've been killed or taken away for good because of him. But I can't tell her that cause then she'll know.

"Because, he left without her. I know Yaz is strong and fast..." he stops.

"But?" Brooklyn inquired, waiting for him to finish.

He sighs. "But she's not strong nor fast enough to outrun three grown men, that's why she needed our help and we weren't there. When I found her they had her hands tied behind her back. Rope in her mouth gaging her." His voice trembled a bit before he continued.

"They picked her up and tossed her into the helicopter. If anything had gone wrong, If Ben weren't there to distract them... I wouldn't have been able to sneak into the helicopter and untie her safely.  She'd be dead and probably Ben and I as well." He admits.

Brooklyn took a step closer to him. He took a step back hitting the control center. "Look Kenj," he cringed at the nickname. "I get that you feel this way, it's normal. But Darius only did what Yaz asked him to, nobody could've anticipated for Wu and the other guys to go bonkers."

"She's your friend, I mean you'd feel the same way if it were me in that situation right?"

No because your not her, I'd be a little upset but not this much because you aren't Yasmina.

He rolled his eyes only slightly, before lying. "Course I would B, you guys are all very important to me." He says before turning his attention back to the engine which had stopped.

He hadn't even noticed, he banged on it desperately trying to get it to work.

"Kenji! A compy, how'd they get on here?!" Brooklyn exclaims melodramatically.

Those rotten things must've ate at the wiring in the control center!

Those brats. Darius and Ben were doing a fine job at catching them and throwing them overboard. But that doesn't fix the ruined SONAR

Brooklyn found some tools and began repairing it. After she'd finally fixed it she looked at him again "Hey kenji, it's kind of sad you know. To think we'll be leaving in only a few more days.

"Yeah"  he grumbles only half listening.

"I mean when we first met I- you didn't leave such a good impression, I thought I'd literally never ever wanna be friends with you like no way, but now." She grabs his hands. He pulls them away slightly. Scrunching his face up.

"Now I feel that we're the most alike." She says staring into his eyes intensely.

He nervously laughs. "Heh, yeah." He pulls his hands away and clears his throat. "Kay uh now someone just needs to unstuck the engine." He walked out of his post in enough time to see Darius back safe after volunteering.

"Darius got it, try moving the boat forward" he did exactly that.

Way to go Darius. Kenji smiled as the boat moved he stopped it moments after being sure not to leave Darius too far behind. Just as he was exiting the room the SONAR beeped, meaning something was within the radius of the boat.

Kenji ran out. "Get Darius out now" he urgently directs.

He jumped into the water not sparing a second. Yasmina reached her hand out in an attempt to stop him. Only to not succeed. She didn't wanna stop him from saving Darius, she wanted to prevent him from going without anything to pull him back if he got washed away.

The others watched from their post on the boat, it looked pretty bad. The sea is rough and by the looks of it, Kenji and Darius are going to be washed away. Yaz let out a small yelp under her breath as she watched the two helplessly try to make it back to the boat.

Within seconds Yaz would be using all her strength to pull them back to the boat, with the help of Ben and Sammy.

Once they were finally within arms length, she reached out grabbing Darius's wrist, pulling him up. She then grabbed Kenji's hand and pulled him up as well.

They spat up water as Yaz and Sammy helped them both up.

"You saved me?" Darius coughed in surprise.

"Course I saved you, we got each other's backs for life junior." Kenji replies giving a playful punch to the shoulder.

Darius smiles while getting up.

"Now let's go before I have to save your life again."

Their moment of chill was short lived as the mosasaurus, smacked the boat rocking it.

Kenji ran to the Wheel. Everyone else was doing their best to fight off the huge hungry beast but in the end they lost. With a huge smack their boat was toppled over into the water.

The next thing they knew they were washed up on some sort of beach like place. Kenji sat up, looking around for Yaz. He found her next to Sammy still coughing up water. Rushing over to her side, aiding her as she got back to her feet.

He grabbed her hands and helped her up. "Thanks" she says after groaning. Brooklyn looked around to find Kenji. Her eyes landed on him and she calmed down, relieved.

She glared that way as she noticed he and Yaz holding hands. She couldn't help but think what she said earlier didn't mean anything.

"Wait guys, where are we? Sammy questions.
Kenji, still holding Yaz's hand let go as he walked into to the camouflaged wall.

Yaz giggled a bit. Brooklyn stepped closer to the wall placing her hand on it, surprisingly it opened.