Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDI 24a: Contestant's Nightmare 2

"Let's do Cake at Stake. Right now."

It's the last Cake at Stake. Ever. Presumably. At the very least, it's the last one before the winner of the Battle for Dream Island, and therefore Dream Island itself, is decided.

Once again, much like most things in their silly little lives, the Final Four didn't really know how to feel about all this. The first thing they immediately felt was relief, obviously; once again, this was the last one. This was the last time they'd ever get proverbially punched in the face with the feeling of dread and misery, fearing that one of your close friends is gonna get the boot over circumstances that they had absolutely no control over. No more worrying about whether or not they were gonna get chucked into a box for the rest of your days, a box filled with people you had to betray and backstab in order to get to where you are now. No more will that horrific anticipation of the votes being cast ever come to haunt them. No more will the competition as the whole bother them, at least soon enough. Once the final three was decided, and a winner selected from them, that was it. No more Battling for Dream Island. No more of this... nonsense.

And that *should* give them some relief, right? This was it. This was *it*. No more. The pain ends here. BFDI will end, someone will finally win Dream Island, and that was that. But... Why can't they feel happy about it? Why do they all still feel rather anxious as they marched their way over to the Cake at Stake place? Why can't they shake off the feeling that something, *something*, is bound to go wrong? Why can't it all just be over and done with? Why can't it end?

Before any of them knew it, the Final Four were there. The place where they've said their goodbyes to so many people before they were sent away for what felt like *forever*. They'd get comfortable in their seats one final time, feeling themselves sink into the cushions and their arms sticking to the armrests; there's probably a question or two to ask regarding *that*, but it's just... Ugh. They just participated in what was *maybe* the last contest in the Battle for Dream Island. To raise concerns over that was additional time and effort that they could instead spend on getting this all over with. So what if they were forced to sit through all this torture before they could take a break? So what if this whole thing was entertainment for some horrible, terrible crowd of unseen faces? So what if existence is meaningless? They were able to survive through everything. No big deal, really.

"So, as you heard before, this is the last Cake at Stake." The Announcer announced. "This will be the one to decide who the final three will be; and out of them, one will be selected to be the winner of the Battle for Dream Island." He then turned to TD. "Teardrop, as you won the last contest, you are guaranteed a spot in the final three." He'd continue. "So, whoever will be eliminated will be chosen between the three who are still-"

"Uh... Speaker thing?" Pen suddenly interjected. "You might wanna... you know, look back?" "Huh?" The speaker box did exactly that, and would see Teardrop shaking her head rather vigorously. "What do you mean, no?" The box asked. TD then struggled and strained to make a few gestures, her hands constantly being pulled back into the armrests.

Taco raised an eyebrow. "What's she doing?" She'd ask. "Figuring that out." Barf Bag answered, looking as close as she could from her seat. "She's saying..." She'd mumble a bit, second-guessing her translations. Given how painful the whole thing clearly was, whatever was being communicated *had* to be pretty important. She'd end up having to ask her to repeat things a few times in order to make sure, to which TD would reluctantly oblige.

"She's saying..." The bag trailed off. "...Sorry, I still feel a bit weird after the whole... thing." The one with the tortilla was baffled. "You *just* feel weird? After *that*?" Pen raised an eyebrow. "Uh, what exactly happened, anyway?" He'd ask. "Come on." The Announcer interjected. "Let's get to it." "Alright, alright." Barfy sighed. "Teardrop's saying she wants to get rid of her immunity." The remaining contestants would be quite perplexed regarding this decision; deep down, they all wanted to be her in place at the moment. Despite knowing they'd only be eliminated for, like, two seconds, they just didn't want that on their record.