Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Author's Note: Heya, welcome back to 'Not So Scary After All', it's been awhile since I last updated this particular story. I had this idea for a while back when the leaks for season two came out months ago, then when episode one leaked shortly before the season released in Italy I had the layout for how this was going to go.

Originally this was just gonna be a one shot, however I think there's just a bit too much to put in for just one chapter, however I don't expect this to be nearly as long as the first fic in length, I want to try at least get the episodes where Lauren made an appearance in so this'll probably be around five or six chapters long.

I was also originally going to wait until season two had finished airing, however I had this chapter basically finished by Christmas (Happy Holidays/Happy New Year btw! Hope you guys had a good one!) and I just couldn't wait until the season finished so some things are left open ended in this chapter regarding Lauren just in case we get clarity on her return in the last five episodes. (Only up to Ep8 is out as of this chapter, chapter two won't be out until the whole season is out)

WARNING: There will be spoilers for season two of the reboot, in the event you haven't seen the season yet please give this a pass until you have…

An attempt was made of letting this squeeze into canon as much as possible (minus the obvious timeline changes associated with this fic) and I'll try to explain how things evolved from the previous fics, lastly I'll put a proper review for the season at the bottom of this chapter.

With that lengthy intro done welcome to the second part of the 'Not So Scary' series, 'Not So Normal'... (In case a refresher is needed most of it is summed up in this chapter, however I'd suggest at least reading chapter 27 for some context with Ezekiel's portion of the chapter.)

Chapter One

*Flashback, Two Months after Season One*

Ever since the end of the first revival season of Total Drama, things had seemed to get a lot more interesting for Lauren, known to most people by her nickname 'Scary Girl', given to her during her short period on said show. What most people didn't know about her time on the island was what had happened shortly after her elimination in that season, having found her way onto a long forgotten island, completely abandoned after the sinking of the original Wawanakwa over three years ago.

There, she'd found something, or rather someone completely unexpected. One of the original contestants who'd gone missing around the same time as the sinking of Wawanakwa, the Feral Freakshow known as Ezekiel. The two had formed a close friendship on the island, eventually being found and taken back to the Playa Des Losers by an irritated Chris McLean.

There, their friendship quickly developed into something more whilst Ezekiel finally got the treatment he needed in order to become fully human again. Several issues got in the way, such as confrontations with several others who hated Ezekiel, several of his 'old friends' returning to the resort, and a dramatic season finale that briefly tested their newly formed relationship, however in the end they had persevered, even managing to get their own back at the vile host who had caused so many problems over the years for Ezekiel.

She'd even been able to find a place to call her home not too far away from the farm where Ezekiel lived, an abandoned funeral home that she'd spent a couple weeks tidying up slightly in order to keep it inhabitable, knowing that when the season came out that her biological family would start a manhunt for her. Although her former caretaker and father figure had made sure to cover any traces of her ever being at that particular circus, Lauren did still occasionally visit him though when it was safe, she wasn't heartless…

However, since the season had released around a month after she returned from the island things had gotten even more 'interesting' for her…

Despite Lauren's short time on the show, she seemed to have become one of the most polarising contestants in the eyes of the TD fanbase, people seemed to either love her or loathe her, with any social media accounts that she had quickly being spammed with an influx of messages either praising some of her actions or giving her the same criticisms that she was 'too scary'.

Some accounts in particular stood out to her, for drastically different reasons that both contributed to her current dilemma, one that she'd been pondering ever since the Playa.

One of them had seemed quite sweet at first glance, an account that had constantly praised her during her four episodes on the show, however then the posts got extremely weird really fast, even for someone who'd repeatedly attempted to attack her teammates and constantly creep them out it was too much for her, seeing someone obsessing over her to a point where it made Sierra's crush on Cody look sane.

The other accounts though…

She knew in advance that not everyone would appreciate her for who she was, she expected the 'scary' comments from the moment that people first saw the promotional material, the comments about the 'creepy looking goth girl' having both intrigued and unnerved her slightly.

However the amount of detail some people went into criticising her, whether it was for attacking the others or even just the way she smiled was starting to slightly get to her.

Lauren didn't want to admit it out loud to anyone, but since the resort, when she briefly got to experience what it was like to be part of a larger friendship circle, the thoughts had become more and more frequent. The thoughts of trying to change herself in order to fit in with everyone else seemed more and more appealing with each passing day…

Until recently however she felt like she could block the thoughts out and continue to be herself, she still had some people even as she currently was. Her relationship with Ezekiel was better than ever since returning from the island, the Prairie Boy having almost fully recovered from his time as a Feral Freakshow.

Not only that, she'd been able to keep up some form of contact with a few of the others since the season had ended, she'd found herself as the fourth member of the friendship circle between Millie, Priya and Damien, and more than once she'd been able to speak to the likes of Wayne, Raj and Bowie because of Ezekiel's friendship with the Hockey Bros. And Zee was just completely chilled out with everyone, and he had since become her primary source of gossip about everyone else who she didn't speak to since the season ended.

And that was only from her cast, Dawn and Izzy had both come to see the pair more than once, and Tyler had usually joined the Hockey Bros conversations. Sierra had also created a group chat where the majority of the contestants who were at the resort last season could keep contact, although some of the more anti-social contestants like MK and Axel had never joined, and Julia had been banned after saying some particularly nasty comments about some of the others.

Noah and Emma had also occasionally contacted either her or Ezekiel to let them know how the lawsuit against Chris was going, however any interactions with them were usually limited to that.

She did enjoy getting to spend some time with the others in between seasons, and it was interesting to see what had happened with the others in the month following the season's release, although it hadn't been smooth sailing for a lot of the others.

Whilst Lauren thought she had it bad with her polarising split, Nichelle seemed to have taken the worst out of all the cast, a shocking contender in the Scary Girl's eyes considering how she thought maybe Ripper and Chase would've been the worst of them all. Nichelle had been completely cancelled for her lacklustre performance, and had since gone completely off the grid, even cutting off the people she'd been quite close to at the resort like Axel and Caleb, the former in particular not taking it too well…

At least the friends she did speak to had mostly positive responses, Damien, Zee and Priya became fan favourites, and the relationship between Bowie and Raj was one of the most talked about points of the season on social media.

Lauren was at least content with what she had, however as she sat in her new room in the funeral home that she'd been living alone in for the last couple of months, repainting the skull she liberated from Camp Wawanakwa, her phone started pinging repeatedly.

She glanced over, tempted to just switch the phone off and get back to her decorating when she saw the notification that popped up, her pale face whitening even further at the message…

It was from her father figure, and it simply read… "Your parents found me…".

Lauren began breathing heavily, jumping up from her bed and practically dived over the skull over towards the nightstand where her phone was, almost tumbling over into her closet as she did so.

She immediately unlocked her phone, sitting back on the bed as she headed straight for her contacts, wanting to find out what the hell had happened.

She waited for a few agonising minutes before calling, briefly pondering whether it was wise to contact him so soon, considering her 'parents' may still be at the circus where she used to live, or if she should contact one of her friends for emotional support.

Ultimately, she just decided to bite the bullet and find out for herself, as she didn't really have anyone else who could support her, she hadn't exactly told anyone else from the show, and Ezekiel wouldn't be able to get over in time before her patience and/or her anxiety ran out. Lauren sighed weakly, forcing a smile on her face as she dialled Mecidi's number, hoping that the news wouldn't be too bad…

"Come on pick up…" She whispered frantically more and more as the phone continued to dial until eventually it connected.

"Hello…" Mecidi's voice called from the phone, sounding worn down like he'd just come out of an intense workout.

"What the hell happened over there? Are you okay?" Lauren shouted down the phone, the small amount of relief that she felt being overridden by the intense panic she was feeling about the current situation.

"Lauren?" He meekly managed before sighing. "I should've known you'd pick up straight away…"

"Well sending me THAT wasn't exactly gonna ease my anxiety now was it." Lauren snarked in response, burning a hole into the skull sitting next to her as she tried to focus on not panicking as much.

"True, but I suppose that doesn't matter now…" Mecidi sighed again before continuing. "Yes your parents were here, they'd manage to trace the location from your audition tape and they had a lot to say about you, none of it positive…"

"Yeah I kinda expected that, but you didn't give them the location of me and Zekey did you?" Lauren responded, trying to take the positives even as her heart rate continued to spike, her nerves getting weaker as she internally panicked about what they would have said about her.

"What? No, no of course not, I promised I wouldn't sell you out, and to tell you the truth they didn't know anything about him…" Medici replied, attempting to reassure her that at least one thing was okay.

Lauren sighed in relief, some of the panic going away as she didn't want Ezekiel to be dragged into any family drama more so than he already had. And she was at least grateful that she wasn't about to have any surprise visitors show up anytime soon, at least, not her old 'family'…

However the most concerning part for the Scary Girl still remained, and as she put the phone up to her ear again, internally she hoped that whatever was said about her wasn't too bad. "So… what did happen then?" She asked, forcing a smile onto her face as she spoke.

"They well… like I said, didn't have anything positive to say." He began. "They'd seen you on the show, your appearance seemed to frighten them, the way you smiled and spoke to the others freaked them out. How you treated that Priya girl and that Damien boy on the show, even though I know from when you've visited that you three are friends now."

"They essentially tried to pin the blame onto me for your actions at first, calling it 'horrible parenting' like they didn't abuse you for years before I even found you. Everything on those message boards about you they seemed to fully be on board with, that you were 'too scary' or that you were 'looking for excuses to kill the other contestants'." He continued.

"B-But I didn't! If it was about the jackhammer I wasn't actually going to use it on them! I-It was just for a scare!" Lauren complained, her heart rate increasing once more, she didn't even know why but something about this coming from her biological family just hurt way more than the random people on the internet…

"I know Lauren, but they didn't listen to me, they just think that 'you're an unnatural freak that could never be normal'... The worst part was that they seemed to treat you like you weren't even their daughter anymore, just a monster they needed to put down…" Mecidi finished sadly, a solemn tone in his voice, hearing the hurt in Lauren's voice.

"B-But… I-I…" Lauren weakly muttered as she registered the final comments, her eyes widening in shock and horror as tears began to fall down her face. She knew what was gonna happen when her parents eventually found where she had disappeared to, but somehow despite everything she still found herself hurting over the comments.

She did her best for a moment to hold it together, gently thanking her father figure for telling her and saying a soft goodbye. The moment the call ended, and she knew she was alone again, she threw the phone against the wall with all of her strength, before stomping on it with a metal boot, the tears of agony flowing down her face freely.

"Why! Why can't they accept me for who I am! What do I have to do!" She complained as she kept stomping on her phone, the device quickly becoming nothing but scrap as she attempted to vent her frustrations on what had just happened.

But no matter how much she vented she couldn't get the thoughts out of her head, the thoughts of changing herself in order to fit in just wouldn't go away, the thoughts of forcing herself to become normal just seemed like it was the only option for her at this point.

And as the Scary Girl collapsed to her knees, panting heavily from the emotional turmoil that she was currently feeling, she found herself beginning to agree with those thoughts inside of her head.

She'd show them… she'd show them all that she could function normally just like everyone else…

She'd wear normal looking outfits. She'd watch normal films and TV shows. She'd listen to normal music and read normal books. She'd do everything it took to be just like everyone else since it seemed like everyone else couldn't accept her for who she was.

She grinned softly at her decaying thoughts, the grin becoming a demented smile as she began to giggle to herself, before opening wide as a stream of crazed laughter erupted from her, her eyes watering again as she let herself go.

She knew some people wouldn't approve of this, who knows what Priya and Damien would think of this? And the more eccentric people like Izzy and Dawn certainly wouldn't approve of what she was going to do. And as for Ezekiel…

'Well… Zekey doesn't have to know for the moment…' She rationalised, still laughing to herself.

She knew exactly what she needed to do before season two arrived, now she just needed to find ways of 'improving herself', maybe use the others as starting points as to what she needed to do…

Although first she'd need to scrape some funds together for a new phone, Lauren's laughter slowly turned into groans of disappointment as she finally realised what she had done to her phone.

*Present, Episode One of Season Two*

It hadn't quite clicked for Lauren about how much she'd screwed up preparing for this season until after she'd sat back down by the campfire one last time, waiting for the others to hand their votes in to Chris so they could send the first person home…

She attempted to smile normally at the others, completely unaware of the horrified looks that Wayne and Raj gave each other as they passed her, or how both Ripper and Chase turned themselves away from her after what she'd unknowingly revealed to them about what she had done in her attempts to be 'normal'.

Ever since that phone call and her subsequent breakdown, she'd taken to watching everyone at every opportunity in order to try and figure out how to blend in more with societal norms. Spying on them from a distance as they all lived their lives, having occasionally crossed several lines in order to observe them up close, whether it was from their bedroom windows or even in their closets…

Both her own cast and some of the 'friend's' she'd made from Ezekiel's cast had been targeted as part of her 'learning', and she thought that she was beginning to get it right as she went into the first challenge. However the doubts were still there even as she'd entered the new season, her 'old persona' abandoned completely in favour of trying to 'fix herself', her gothic dress having been left behind at the abandoned funeral home she'd been living in for the last few months in favour of the more normal looking outfit she was currently wearing.

She grinned creepily to herself, not noticing the glares from MK and Julia as they passed by her. She knew that the others on her team had admitted to finding her, in their words '100% a total freakshow'...

But she was confident that she'd done enough in order to convince them that she'd 'changed for the better', that she was 'normal enough' to be able to go further in the game, or at least further than some of the people sitting around her like Julia, Chase and Ripper…

The 'Normal Girl' shook her head slightly as she noticed the final contestant sitting down, Bowie immediately looking away and towards Raj as he noticed her staring. Her smile began to falter for the first time that evening, her eyes briefly clouding up as she tried to shake the doubts out of her head once more.

She needed to be normal for her own sake as much as everyone else's, even if deep down she didn't want to change she knew that she needed to in order to make everyone like her…

She promised Ezekiel that she'd do well, that she'd come back with the million dollars, that she'd prove everyone on the message boards wrong about her…

That she could prove her family wrong about her, that she could be normal if she tried…

But as she watched Chris and Chef tallying up the votes, she heard the faint whispering coming from the others, about her being 'even more terrifying than before', about 'how disturbing she was with her speech' and her eyes widened briefly as she realised what she had admitted to…

Oh…

Lauren's eyes stared blankly forward as Chris started to address them once more, throwing marshmallows at her fellow competitors until it was down to just her and Bowie. Her thoughts and doubts began to overwhelm her once more as she tried to keep her blank expression, hoping desperately that perhaps Ripper, Chase, Julia and MK had enough of a grudge against Bowie to vote him off instead of her…

Unfortunately for the 'Normal Girl', Chris quickly announced that Bowie was safe, tossing him the final marshmallow, the host's grin taunting her as her smile dropped once more…

'So all of that was for nothing…' Her eyes looked down for a moment as she overheard the others celebrate their victory, whilst she sat there, the only person without a marshmallow. 'All of that time, that planning… The pain of trying to become something I hated… just to go first…'

She felt her eyes begin to tear up slightly as her emotions internally raged inside of her, however outwardly she kept her expression blank, the frown being the only indication of how she was beginning to feel…

"Scary Girl, I'm sorry..." Chris began unapologetically, smiling smugly at his least favourite of the new contestants as she glanced back up, blinking away the tears so that no one could see how devastated she actually was. "You've been eliminated, follow me please!"

Chef stood next to him, a small smile of relief on his own face, his opinion of the girl changing drastically after having heard the drastic measures she'd taken for her new appearance, the cook could only wonder one thing as Lauren looked up towards the duo, anger beginning to cloud her pale blue eyes.

'Did Homeschool know about this?' Chef wondered, as Lauren stood up and began walking away from the campfire and towards the Dock of Shame, her fists clenched as she tried to keep it together until she was away from the others.

She glared venomously at Chris as she followed him, the host gazing back at her mockingly, he stopped briefly at the confessional, gesturing towards it, his mocking stare never leaving the 'Normal Girl'. "Scary Girl, if you have any last words, now's the time to air them!" He grinned, stepping away from the confessional for a brief moment so Lauren could quickly vent.

She turned briefly once more towards the campfire where she'd just been voted off, seeing the rest of her team seemingly cheering at her departure, she growled slightly at this, all of the suppressed emotions from the last few months of trying to suppress her true personality beginning to leak out as she slammed the door to the confessional shut.

For a moment she breathed deeply, trying to calm herself down slightly before looking back up towards the camera, a look of utter loathing in her eyes as she began to vent.

"This is what you get for trying to conform with societal norms, carried into the sky by a drone!" She began before glaring directly at the camera. "I didn't even try to hurt anyone on my team this time!" She almost growled, trying to hold back tears of frustration as she knew that she didn't have much time.

She smiled, a cold look on her face as she continued to vent, briefly holding a hand to her chest in order to stop the shaking. "I taught myself how to smile forty percent less creepily!"

Eventually however she couldn't hold back the anger anymore, diving towards the camera and clutching it in both hands as a dark look overcame her eyes. "Ohh, this isn't the last of Scary Girl…" She muttered to the camera before a look of pure hatred entered her pale blue eyes, Lauren completely discarding the 'Normal Girl' persona she'd tried to create as she let her emotions completely overtake her. "I'm going to MAKE THEM PAY!" She almost screamed, a manic look entering her eyes before she stood up and kicked the door open.

Lauren stormed out of the confessional, Chris waiting several feet away with his smug look still in place, and if anything it got wider upon seeing the look of utter hatred on her face. She followed him silently to the Dock of Shame where the Drone of Despair was already waiting for her.

Her mind was swimming, the bitterness completely overriding every small amount of common sense that she had, Ezekiel was completely forgotten for the moment as she began to laugh maniacally to herself. She grabbed onto the claws of the Drone, immediately taking off for the Playa Des Losers as she stared back at the Camp one last time, beginning to plot her revenge against everyone as she left the island once more...

*Around the same time*

The door slammed shut at the entrance to the Funeral Home, Ezekiel immediately sprinting through the building in order to get to Lauren's room, fully intent on finding out any clues as to what was going on with her with this sudden change in personality.

He'd just about managed to keep himself composed whilst Lauren was still around, hiding his concern for her as they took the long journey to the pick up point where he'd watched her leave on the aircraft with the other contestants. The second she disappeared into the horizon however, Ezekiel dropped his mask and had spent the last few hours trying to figure out anything that would have triggered something like this.

He wasn't a fool, he could see that Lauren had been acting strangely. He'd found out about what her parents had said shortly after it happened, and he had a feeling that they had something to do with this, however he had a feeling that it wasn't the only factor. Lauren hadn't shown signs of her strange behaviour over the first few weeks, but as the season had drawn closer and closer the signs slowly began to show themselves…

Lauren would disappear for days at a time, only to show up looking completely exhausted, with at least one habit of hers having been either suppressed or outright changed. She always seemed on edge whenever they had the time to do something in public, and at first he thought it was just because of her newfound fame from being on the show, however as the weeks went on he noticed her observing people more and more rather than actually enjoying herself.

The only times she seemed completely like her normal self was when they were alone, not even the few times where they'd spoken with some of the other contestants. It was like she was hiding something from them, trying not to let some forbidden secret slip that at least one of them wasn't supposed to know, and if it wasn't that it was like she was trying not to be there, the same observations being used on them that he'd noticed with the general public.

It was one of the reasons why he attempted to speak to some of the others who'd spoken to Lauren, hoping that they may have had answers that his admittedly still poor social skills weren't picking up on, that maybe he was just overthinking things and that Lauren was okay. However they just weren't around the Scary Girl often enough to have noticed anything off, and they likely wouldn't until they were well into the season, and the only people who might've noticed beforehand weren't competing and had been avoided by Lauren over the last few weeks in particular.

It was what led him to his current situation, he didn't know where else to go in regards to finding out what was wrong, Lauren wasn't around to tell him either and even if she was she'd have likely just given him the same answer as before, even if her eyes said otherwise. So Ezekiel found himself rummaging through the drawers and cupboards in Lauren's room trying desperately to find anything that may give some clarity as to what was going on.

It was disturbing for him when he had opened the closet doors, finding Lauren's doll-like dress laid carefully in the closet, hidden next to the decorated skull that she'd taken from the island. When even the things she'd held dear to herself were being locked away in favour of the various CD's and books currently scattered across the room, he knew that the problem was serious, especially when he examined said items and saw that none of them had anything to do with the dark thrillers or horror that he'd grown to expect from her.

Ezekiel sighed in frustration as he sat on the bed moments later, having searched almost every corner of the room to no avail, the only parts left were too private for him to even think about going near, and he was beginning to think anyway that maybe Lauren may have taken whatever he was looking for with her, something that explained what was going on…

He glanced over towards the open closet where the skull stared back at him lifelessly, the Prairie Boy getting back up and walking over to pick it up. He sat back down moments later and just spent some time pondering to himself, staring aimlessly at the skull in his hands, reminiscing about the events of the first couple of weeks after having been rescued, and he wondered where things had truly gone wrong from there.

He eventually got his answer when his phone started vibrating in his pocket, said phone having been a gift from Dakota when everyone had left the Playa Des Losers at the end of the previous season so Zeke could keep in contact with everyone else now that he'd been rescued. He gently set the skull down next to him, reaching into his pocket in order to pull the phone out, his eyebrow rising in confusion at the name on the screen…

"Why's Raj trying to call me? Did he get voted out?" He muttered to himself, wondering what was going on, but ultimately shrugging and answering the call, best case scenario he might be able to see if Lauren was okay?

The first red flag however came when instead of just being a phone call, the camera activated on both ends, the video feed on the other end showing the inside of one of the cabins.

What triggered the even more alarming red flag was seeing that it wasn't just Raj, but rather Bowie, Wayne, MK and Julia all crowded around the phone, said phone clearly being set to speaker so everyone would be able to talk to him. Ripper and Chase however were nowhere to be seen, being the only members of the Skunk Butts still in the game to not be in the room.

This wouldn't have been so bad, however the scared looks from the Hockey Bros and the glares from the other three gave off the third and most alarming red flag of all. What's he done to piss them off? Or rather…

What had Lauren done?

"Uh… hey?" Ezekiel greeted nervously, putting his phone on speaker so he could talk to them all, setting the phone down with one hand whilst waving nervously to them with the other. "What's up?"

"Cut the crap homeschool!" Julia responded angrily as she glared into the camera, Wayne and Raj looking alarmed as she began to shout at him. "You knew about what that creepy bitch was doing didn't you?" She accused.

"What?" Ezekiel responded, not knowing what the influencer was talking about. "What are you talking about eh?"

"You know, about how your girlfriend was stalking all of us over the last few months…" MK clarified, rolling her eyes at the Prairie Boy.

"WHAT!" Ezekiel's eyes widened in shock and horror.

"You heard her right! She admitted to everything right before we kicked her off! Following us around, breaking into our homes and hiding in our closets!" Julia taunted, driving the dagger deeper, enjoying the growing tension that she could see from Ezekiel at the other end of the call.

"Uh, Jules?" Wayne cut her off, looking at Ezekiel nervously.

"I don't think Zeke knew about this…" Raj added, pointing to the screen where Ezekiel could be seen shocked into silence.

"W-What… B-But… T-That…" Ezekiel eventually stammered, trying to find a way of denying what they were accusing Lauren of…

"Ezekiel!" Bowie snapped his fingers, regaining his attention even through the video call. "So… did you know anything about what Scary Girl was doing?" He asked almost gently, since Ezekiel had no presence in the game and Lauren had already been eliminated he didn't feel as much of a need to use this to his advantage like Julia would've.

Plus Ezekiel was Raj's friend… Bowie at least had to look like he was understanding…

"N-No…" Ezekiel muttered softly, tears of frustration beginning to appear on the corner of his eyes. "I knew something was off… but I never thought it was something like this…"

He didn't want to admit it, but what Julia had said did seem to line up with Lauren's disappearances, was she really stalking the others? Was this why she was hurting herself by having this radical change in personality? And… was it because of those comments…

Ezekiel's fists clenched, so she was hurting because of all of the hate comments, her family just pushed her over the edge… He quickly found himself holding back a growl, not wanting the others in the call to think he was angry at them, although he was slightly annoyed that they voted Lauren off first.

"What do you mean?" Raj asked, curious about what was truly going on, even if Lauren was already eliminated it didn't mean that they couldn't at least try and hear out more of the story.

"..." Ezekiel paused for a moment, his mouth open wide as if he was about to speak but couldn't get the words out. He didn't know if he should reveal what had happened regarding her home life to the others, especially with the more manipulative contestants like Julia and Bowie in the room, plus he didn't know how mad Lauren would be if he told the others, even after months of knowing each other Ezekiel was still the only person who knew about Lauren's trauma.

Eventually however he decided that it may be the only way that he could convince the others to back off her slightly, but he had to make sure first just in case he was wrong about them not knowing. "H-How much do you know about Lauren's home life?"

"Don't know, don't care…" Julia dismissed.

"What she said…" MK agreed.

"Sorry coach, but we got nothing." Wayne and Raj both said at the same time, whilst Bowie just shrugged.

Ezekiel sighed deeply, knowing that he'd probably regret this, before beginning to explain everything, how her parents had abused her, how Lauren had ran away years before the show, how she ended up growing up at the circus and how this all factored into how she interacted with the others…

"...I was the only person who knew about this until now eh, and until the season aired she never seemed to be bothered by it…" Ezekiel continued.

"So what changed?" Raj asked.

"Yeah, what was sooo bad that it made Scary Girl decide to stalk all of us?" MK added, sarcasm clear in her voice.

Ezekiel's eyes darted down for a moment, holding back another sigh, before looking back up to the screen. "They found her… and they got it into her head that she was unwanted… that she would be alone and only remembered as a freak the way she was…"

"What?" Bowie, Wayne and Raj all cried out, the three of them holding a little bit of empathy for the Scary Girl.

"They put it into her head that she had to be normal, even though she was perfectly fine as she was… She had you guys, she had Damien and Priya and Millie, she had Dawn and Izzy and Sierra… she had me…" He sighed sadly, finally realising what was wrong… "Or at least I thought she knew… that night was when she started to change, I didn't notice at first but… Lauren slowly started to act weird, and I think that's when this 'stalking' began, and the worst part is I could see in her eyes that she hated it…"

"Really?" Julia rolled her eyes. "Because the freak clearly seemed to get a kick out of it… besides she was never gonna be normal anyway the way she was acting."

"Julia!" Bowie snapped at her, the Hockey Bros glaring from behind him. "Now is not the time for that!"

"What?" She responded innocently. "There was a reason we kicked her off, I mean, for someone trying to be normal she somehow made herself even scarier."

"ENOUGH!" Ezekiel shouted, a growl almost sounding exactly like when he was feral coming out of his mouth as he glared through the screen at the pair.

Everyone in the cabin stared back at the phone in silent shock, before eventually Wayne shook his head and began to speak again. "So… you're saying Lauren was just trying to fit in with us eh?"

"I think so…" Ezekiel answered, uncertainty creeping into his voice. "I don't know what her reasoning was, I just think that she wanted people to see past the 'Scary Girl' like I did… even if it meant being something that she wasn't…"

"Was she really hurting that much?" Raj asked softly.

Ezekiel just nodded in response. "Yeah… I could see it so easily eh…" He answered solemnly, before glancing at them once more. "Could I ask you guys something?" He asked.

"What is it coach?" Wayne responded.

"If… If you end up seeing her first…" Ezekiel began, knowing that he was gonna try and contact Lauren himself to find out what was really going on. "Could you talk to her?"

"Absolutely not…" Julia and MK deadpanned.

"I mean, I plan to win this time around, but in the event she comes back I could try…" Bowie replied, not planning on being eliminated so soon but knowing at the very least he should act like he cared.

"Do you want us to ask Priya or Damien since they're friends with her?" Raj asked Ezekiel, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Maybe just Millie and Priya, Damien would probably freak out, I mean they're friends but… well… he's still scared of her…" He laughed slightly.

"On it coach!" Wayne shouted in response, already running out of the door to the cabin.

"Yeah, I think I'm out as well…" Julia added disinterestedly, both her and MK leaving now that the conversation had turned fully away from the Ezekiel and Lauren hate she was expecting to have, although she at least had some dirt on Scary Girl if she did ever return to the competition.

"I should probably try and talk to her myself eh…" Ezekiel said to the two remaining guys, glancing away from the pair as his expression briefly fell, his worry creeping onto his face over what was going on.

"That's okay man, hope it goes well!" Raj smiled.

"Agreed, oh and uh, Zeke?" Bowie called out, Ezekiel looking up at the camera one last time. "I'm not sorry for voting her out since she was still a challenge threat, but if we'd known about this sooner we'd have gotten rid of Chase or Ripper instead…" He 'apologised'.

"Okay…" Ezekiel responded confused, not knowing how to take that.

"Good, now that that's clear, bye!" Bowie smirked, Raj waving goodbye from behind him before the video cut out, the call ending.

Once he was sure that no one could hear him, Ezekiel sighed and laid down on the bed once more, glancing glumly at the skull next to him.

So it didn't end up going well for Lauren after all… and now she's out first with people potentially even more afraid of her…

At least he now knew what was going on with her…

He held the phone up once more, quickly dialling Lauren's number. He waited for her to pick up however it went to voicemail, he tried again a couple minutes later, only for the same thing to happen.

"She isn't mad… is she?" Ezekiel questioned to himself, glancing over at the skull. "I guess I could call tomorrow instead…"

He put the phone down gently on the stand before clutching the skull next to him, curling up into a ball as he thought about the information that Lauren's ex-teammates had given him, before eventually drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

End Chapter

Author's Note: For those of you who are on twitter, I'm sure you know who that one account in the first section was referring to, I just thought it was funny so I added it (it's apparently a joke account but it's still funny so…). I also tried to add in some things to show why certain pairs changed from my initial fic to what we got in season two, hence the bit about Nichelle's cancellation. I'll get to Priya and Damien's in the next chapter since I didn't cover it here…

Anyway, about season two, I'm gonna assume that most of you have already watched the whole thing because of the leaks, if not then SPOILERS, but you likely shouldn't have read this chapter anyway if you haven't so… (only up to Ep8, will do the last five episodes next chapter)

Anyway… I'll start with the positives.

The challenges were really good in this season and it almost makes me happy that we didn't get the Action setting like a lot of people wanted (a World Tour themed season would still be fire tho), my personal favourites were the jousting challenge and the pinball one, but for the most part there wasn't a single challenge I disliked.

I loved the MK/Julia alliance and honestly I ship those two now, they're so good together and if it made me hate anything about season one it was that MK went home too early. Bowie/Raj was as good as always, and shockingly I did like the idea of Ripper/Axel, although they did fumble the execution post episode four.

The team dynamics were really fun, again I loved the Skunk Butts chemistry (Bowie/Raj and MK/Julia, plus Wayne), plus they had Lauren for a moment so that boosted them a bit. The Rat Faces were a bit more meh, but I loved seeing Damien and Nichelle get their chances to shine after a poor first season, and Zee is such a goofball I love that guy! (2nd for a reason behind best girl)

Lastly the cameo's, it was so good seeing Owen return in episode 7, and the lack of redesign really surprised me, maybe it's just like Terry said in that one tweet about TD following cartoon logic but it opens up the doors to the 15 years being retconned and the old characters coming back and joining up with the new gen. (Would love that personally, although I don't blame people for not wanting the gen 1 cast to return, plus it means I wouldn't look so controversial because of this fic XD, I know no one's said it but I know people are thinking it!)

Duncan, Courtney and Izzy's cameo in episode 8 was nice to see as well, even if it wasn't in person like Owen's, if it's limited to more cameo's in the future I'd like to see more like this with some of the less popular characters like Eva or Tyler, just to remind people that yes they do exist.

Now onto the Negatives…

The eliminations were horrible compared to last season, Lauren we all expected because it got leaked months ago, and Chase was good if a little predictable, but from Millie onwards it was either forced or last minute…

Emma's in particular felt stupid considering what they were doing to her, and Nichelle I felt like they didn't know what to do with her so they just threw her out at the last minute. Zee's felt forced as well, Caleb should've gone in episode 8…

Speaking of Caleb…

The Priya/Caleb storyline overstayed its welcome for too long, I probably wouldn't have minded so much if it were a premerge thing only, or if Priya and Caleb at least had other plotlines that season. But it was ten/eleven episodes long! It's especially sad for Caleb considering he had nothing in the previous season so he feels like wasted potential.

Overall I'd say the season was still really good, compared to the other seasons I'd put it above ROTI but it's probably below the first reboot season in 5th place out of 9, right in the middle. (although only AS and PI are bad seasons)

Chapter Text

Author's Note: First of all shoutout to nat4show on AO3 for being the first one to get my Trevor reference, no hate on the person behind the twitter account, if it's satire then they're doing a brilliant job at it.

Secondly, I thought about it and since this chapter would be out around the time of the last episode's release, it would be unfair for those who don't get the chance to watch them first, so I'll keep the review for the final five episodes for chapter 3.

Lastly, thanks so much for the support so far! It's been great being able to read some of the reviews (mostly AO3 with that one) and even just the fact that people are still reading this helps so much.

There's more I want to say at the end of the chapter but for now on with the show, here's to the first chapter of 2024! (Sorry in advance for the Scary Girl angst…)

Chapter Two

*Camp Wawanakwa, the night of Lauren's Elimination*

"Could I ask you guys something?" Ezekiel asked the five of them currently sat in the men's side of the Skunk Butts cabin, the Prairie Boy's saddened expression noticeable even to those sitting the furthest away from the phone.

"What is it coach?" Wayne responded.

"If… If you end up seeing her first…" Ezekiel began, knowing that he was gonna try and contact Lauren himself to find out what was really going on with her. "Could you talk to her?"

"Absolutely not…" Julia and MK deadpanned, the pair looking just about ready to leave the cabin.

"I mean, I plan to win this time around, but in the event she comes back I could try…" Bowie replied, not planning on being eliminated so soon but knowing at the very least he should act like he cared.

"Do you want us to ask Priya or Damien since they're friends with her?" Raj asked Ezekiel, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Maybe just Millie and Priya, Damien would probably freak out, I mean they're friends but… well… he's still scared of her…" He laughed slightly, the first bit of happiness showing on his face since he'd found out about Lauren's actions over the last few months.

"On it coach!" Wayne shouted in response, already running out of the door to the cabin, not even bothering to slam the doors shut as he leaped onto the grass and began to run across towards the Rat Faces cabin.

He ran towards the girls side of the cabin first, the Hockey Bro fully intent on talking to Priya and Millie first about the situation before he even began to think about talking to Damien or the others, however before he knocked he could hear several muffled voices from the other side of the cabin.

Wayne instead walked over to the boy's side and listened in for a moment, hearing several voices including one of his teammates, before knocking on the door. The door opened shortly after, with Damien's head peeking from behind the door.

"Wayne? What's up man?" He greeted, opening the door slightly and briefly stepping out of the cabin, his smile genuine enough but even the Hockey Bro could see that Damien looked on edge.

"Uh…" Wayne stuttered slightly, remembering what Ezekiel said about Damien freaking out, and by the looks of things he'd probably just found out about the stalking. "I need to ask Millie and Priya something eh. Have you seen them?"

"Is this about what happened at the ceremony? Because Ripper and Chase already told us about what La… uh Scary Girl did…" Damien responded before shuddering slightly, his eyes widening in panic and horror. "I can't believe she'd been doing that this whole time! Did she say who she stalked exactly? Was it me, please don't be mainly me!" He panicked some more before eventually coming to a realisation. "Wait… did Zeke know?"

'Well… I suppose I have to break the news to him now…' Wayne thought, chuckling nervously as he put a hand on Damien's shoulder. "Calm down brah, that's what this is about eh. I spoke to the coach just a few moments ago, Rajie and Bowie thought the same thing and our whole team confronted him about it, well, apart from Ripper and Chase."

"Is that so…" Damien eventually responded, looking somewhat sceptical however he was looking slightly calmer after hearing that Ezekiel had been contacted regarding the situation. "So what did he say?"

"That's what I was going to tell the girls eh, so… have you seen them?" Wayne asked once more.

"Yeah, they're just in the cabin, come on in…" Damien opened the door once more, gesturing for the Hockey Bro to come inside.

Inside the cabin were most of the Rat Faces, with only Nichelle, Emma and Axel missing from their team, Chase and Ripper were also missing despite Damien's earlier comment about them having told their team about what Lauren had done.

Priya and Millie were talking quietly in the corner of the room to themselves, with Caleb occasionally chipping in with his own comments, Caleb still in the early stages of trying to convince Priya to form an alliance. Zee on the other hand was sitting by himself, drinking through one of his many sodas that he'd brought with him as a result of his sponsorship, and thus was the first to notice the newcomer that Damien had brought back with him.

"Oh hey, wassup man…" Zee greeted, waving slowly at the Hockey Bro, also causing the other three in the cabin to look up at the pair.

"Oh, hey Wayne…" Priya began nervously, already having a feeling as to why he was there.

"Sup guys." Wayne casually greeted, sitting next to Zee, with Damien sitting to the other side of him. "I uh… heard that Ripper and Chase had told you guys about what happened with Lauren…" He started, the mention of the Scary Girl's name causing both Priya and Millie to shiver from discomfort, with Caleb also looking slightly uncomfortable, only Zee seemed unaffected.

"Yeah, we already know… I still can't believe she did all of that…" Millie responded.

"Well, apparently Wayne's team have now spoken to Zeke, but Wayne wouldn't tell me unless you two were here." Damien explained.

"Is that so…" Priya muttered to herself.

"Do we need to get the others or…?" Caleb asked.

"No need, you guys can catch them up." Wayne responded before looking around slightly. "Where are they anyway?"

"Well Emma stormed out in order to get away from Chase, and both Nichelle and Chase followed her. Axel and Ripper I think went to grab some food." Zee explained, drinking from his soda once more.

"Oh okay eh!" Wayne nodded happily for a moment before his expression turned serious once more. "So uh… before I start, you guys haven't tried to talk to Zeke or Lauren yourselves have you?" Wayne asked the others.

"No way am I talking to Scary Girl at the moment…" Millie shook her head adamantly. "Even if it's all lies the prospect of her doing that is far too real for me to be comfortable with it, plus if she got voted off then I don't think they're lying."

"We were talking about calling Ezekiel when you knocked, but apparently you guys all beat us to it…" Caleb added, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"Yah, Bowie and Jules wanted to tear into him about this whole 'stalking' thing, and we used Rajie's phone to do so." Wayne responded.

"Okay, so what happened then?" Damien asked.

"That's the thing eh, Zeke knew as much as we did…" Wayne responded, drawing a few surprised looks from the others.

"Wait, really?" Priya's eyes widened in shock.

"But weren't those two practically joint at the hip, I swear whenever we spoke to one of them the other was always there?" Millie added, with Damien nodding along in agreement.

"I thought so too…" A voice called from the entrance to the cabin, the six contestants turning to see Bowie and Raj walking in, hand in hand. Raj waving to the others as Bowie kept talking. "But apparently there were times when Lauren just went missing, sometimes for days…"

"What he said…" Wayne gestured towards Bowie, before turning to the pair with a confused look. "So is the call done then or are we bringing him into this one?" Wayne asked them.

"No, he's done with us, he's currently trying to get a hold of her himself." Raj responded, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"We're getting off track here." Bowie stated as he turned to look at the Rat Faces. "We spoke to Ezekiel, turns out Scary Girl's issues are worse than we thought…"

"What do you mean by that?" Damien asked, looking terrified at the possible implications of Bowie's statement.

"Well according to Zeke, Scary Girl's actually been abused by her family for years, and that she ran away to join the circus as a child because of this, and when the show exposed where she was living and what she'd become her family essentially stuck the dagger in…" Bowie explained.

"And what exactly are you implying?" Caleb questioned, his eyes narrowed slightly at the man who got him eliminated first in the previous season. Most of the others who weren't around for the phone call shrugged, also not understanding the full implications of what had happened.

That was apart from Millie, who gasped in horror, her eyes widening as she figured it out. "What Bowie's saying is that they must have found Lauren and done something that caused her to snap!"

Priya and Damien both gasped, whilst Zee put the soda can down, his eyes widening in shock as he began to register what the problem was. Caleb on the other hand looked a little more sceptical, although he looked thrown off by the implication.

"Okay, well… what exactly happened for Lauren to snap and begin stalking us?" Caleb asked the Skunk Butt trio.

Bowie smirked as he pulled his own phone out, quickly opening up an audio recording and turning the volume all the way up. "Would it be easier if I just showed you all?" He responded with a smirk on his face as the recording started playing.

"So what changed?" Raj asked.

"Yeah, what was sooo bad that Scary Girl decided to stalk all of us?" MK added, sarcasm clear in her voice.

Ezekiel's eyes darted down for a moment, holding back another sigh, before looking back up to the screen. "They found her… and they got it into her head that she was unwanted… that she would be alone and only remembered as a freak the way she was…"

"What?" Bowie, Wayne and Raj all cried out, the three of them holding a little bit of empathy for the Scary Girl.

"They put it into her head that she had to be normal, even though she was perfectly fine as she was… She had you guys, she had Damien and Priya and Millie, she had Dawn and Izzy and Sierra… she had me…" He sighed sadly, finally realising what was wrong… "Or at least I thought she knew… that night was when she started to change, I didn't notice at first but… Lauren slowly started to act weird, and I think that's when this 'stalking' began, and the worst part is I could see in her eyes that she hated it…"

The recording then stopped briefly as Bowie started to skip through certain parts of it. "Just give me a sec, no one needs to hear Julia's arguing on a serious topic like this…" Bowie snarked before he found where he needed to restart. "There we go!"

Everyone in the cabin stared back at the phone in silent shock, before eventually Wayne shook his head and began to speak again. "So… you're saying Lauren was just trying to fit in with us eh?"

"I think so…" Ezekiel answered, uncertainty creeping into his voice. "I don't know what her reasoning was, I just think that she wanted people to see past the 'Scary Girl' like I did… even if it meant being something that she wasn't…"

"Was she really hurting that much?" Raj asked softly.

Ezekiel just nodded in response. "Yeah… I could see it so easily eh…" He answered solemnly.

Bowie stopped the recording once more there, putting the phone away and looking up to see the shocked faces of the others including the Hockey Bros.

"Okay… Now I'm convinced…" Caleb muttered, his scepticism shattered by the audio proof, Bowie just simply didn't have the time if what Wayne had said about the phone call just happening was true, and you couldn't fake the emotion that had leaked into Ezekiel's voice.

Wayne and Raj meanwhile had clocked onto another issue with the recording. "Hey wait a minute, you said you weren't gonna use this against them!" Raj complained, looking at Bowie with a small look of hurt in his eyes.

"Oh Raj…" Bowie began, shaking his head with a small smile on his face as he turned towards his boyfriend. "I'm not gonna use it on Ezekiel or Scary Girl if that's what you're asking, I only did it in case Julia or MK try to twist the situation…" He reasoned, seeing both Hockey Bros smile in response and rush into hug him.

"So…" Priya's voice cut in, causing the duo to end their glomping of Bowie and turn around to face the Rat Faces once more. "If I heard all of that right… Lauren's been put in a position where she felt the only thing she could do was force herself into stalking us?"

"Basically." Bowie summed up. "The only thing I really don't get is why she didn't trust any of us to help her, I mean admittedly I probably wouldn't have but you guys would have."

"Uhhhh…" A collective response from the Rat Faces, with only Zee staying silent as he still processed what was going on.

"I mean… I might have tried to help, but honestly she still scares the shit out of me sometimes…" Damien admitted.

"I just don't get what the problem is…" Zee added, butting himself into the conversation once more. "Lauren doesn't need to change, isn't the beauty of life that we're all our own person, we shouldn't be forced to change ourselves just because a couple of people say otherwise."

"Damn Zee, when did you get so philosophical?" Damien asked, impressed.

"Phila… what?" Zee responded, confused.

"Never mind…" Damien facepalmed, although a small smile was on his face at his friend's statement.

"I mean, Zee's right! We wouldn't have been able to help her in the way she wanted because honestly no one would be able to…" Millie said.

"It's not like we can all say we're the textbook definition of normal anyway." Priya agreed. "I mean, I can't at least, I was literally trained for my entire life to win a reality show, I'm fairly certain that's not normal!"

"And I wouldn't say Zee's overconsumption of those soda can's is particularly normal." Bowie gestured towards the suitcase of soda on Zee's bed.

"It's just for the brand man, I have to do it." Zee argued, grabbing another can and holding it up in front of him, squinting slightly. "Aww man, why'd they have to give me so many of these lemon ones…"

"That aside…" Caleb said. "Priya's right! We can't force Scary Girl into being 'normal' because frankly this 'normal' thing is pure BS anyway. Besides, I'm sure Ezekiel can give her a few reasons why this normal thing doesn't matter."

"Oh yah, Zeke's whole feral thingy wasn't exactly normal and we all like him despite it all." Wayne agreed.

"I know this is nice and all." Millie interjected, realising that they're all going slightly off topic. "Like I'm glad we're in agreement that no one here including Lauren should be forcing themselves into changing themselves, but how exactly are we gonna convince her into believing that?"

"And that's assuming that she'll even hear any of us out after voting her off." Damien added, looking over to the three Skunk Butt teammates currently in the cabin.

"Again, Ezekiel is trying to contact her, but that doesn't mean we can't either. Worst case scenario if she won't talk to us by phone the first person here who gets eliminated can talk to her." Bowie reasoned.

"That is true…" Priya shuddered, knowing that whilst she wanted to help Lauren, she was still somewhat terrified at the prospect of talking to her alone whilst the Scary Girl was angry, knowing what nearly happened to her during the previous season.

"It's alright Priya…" A large hand placed itself onto Priya's shoulder, the smaller girl glancing up to see Caleb smiling comfortingly at her. "I'm sure she won't try to hurt any of us, besides it's like Bowie said, it's only a last resort if she won't talk to us now."

Priya didn't say anything in return, instead smiling gratefully at him with a small blush. Unnoticeable to anyone else, Damien and Millie shared a small glance of distrust towards the taller boy.

"Alright then, it's settled!" Bowie announced gleefully. "We'll try and get in contact with her tomorrow, and see if we can reason with her or at the very least make sure she's okay."

"Why tomorrow, why not now?" Zee asked.

"Do you want to deal with a mentally unstable Scary Girl just after she'd been voted off…" Bowie replied deadpanned. "At least give her a day to calm down…"

"Fair enough…" Zee agreed, taking a drink of his lemon soda, looking uncomfortable as he did so.

"And now that that's been agreed on…" Bowie continued, sitting on one of the beds with a grin on his face, Raj joining him whilst Wayne retook his place next to Damien and Zee. "How's everyone been lately, I've been dying to hear some of the gossip all day!"

*The Next Morning*

It had been several hours since the campfire ceremony where everything had gone wrong for Lauren, and the initial anger where she'd sworn revenge against her former teammates had only just begun to simmer down.

Instead Lauren found herself lying in the same room that she'd shared with Ezekiel during their time at the Playa Des Losers in the first season, staring up at the ceiling with the light having vanished from her eyes, replaced with tired bags and tear marks that had yet to dry out.

The confidence she'd taken into the second season had completely vanished the moment her feet had dropped onto the wooden planks of the dock at the resort, the 'Normal Girl' hadn't even glanced at the interns as she had stormed into the lobby and straight up to the residential wing, where she quickly claimed that same room she stayed in the first time before beginning to let everything go…

The room around her was completely trashed, pillows strung across the room next to broken wooden drawers, broken glass and pieces of wood scattered across the floor, the closet doors in particular being smashed into little pieces following Lauren's brief tantrum over that particular secret costing her any chance of being normal in her teammates eyes.

"Why! Why did I tell them that I stalked them for my research! This would've all been avoided if I'd just kept my fucking mouth shut!" She'd screamed as she'd smashed a picture of Chris into the wall, shattering the frame and leaving a small dent where the corner had struck.

This had continued for hours, every fibre of Lauren's being still angry about the events back on the island. She'd let out every small bit of anger that she could, anger at her teammates for voting her off, anger at Chris and Chef for making her come back to the show for a second season, anger over the hate comments she'd gotten on social media and especially from her family…

Anger at herself for allowing herself to get so emotional about what her abusive parents had said, anger at herself for resorting to stalking the others just to learn how to be normal, anger at herself for not being able to trust her boyfriend or those she considered friends with the truth, instead bottling it up as she continued to spiral further and further into madness.

Now she just laid there, hours later, her thoughts still rampant despite letting all of the emotions she'd kept bottled away over the last few months out, her anger having quickly turned into depression as she laid there lifelessly.

'Should I have just told them sooner…' Lauren thought to herself. 'Would they have helped me? Show me how to act normal? Or would they have turned their backs on me? Would Zekey?'

Lauren sighed deeply, her head tilting slowly towards the window. She already knew the answer to that question, of course they wouldn't…

"No one would want to help a psycho like me…" she muttered to herself, her tone completely flat. "Why would they… all I seem to be good for is creeping people out…"

Lauren gazed out of the window overlooking the rest of the resort, glancing past it and towards the forest nearby. For a moment she wondered about exiling herself from the others, hiding away somewhere like 'The Fun Zone' on Boney Island where she knew none of them would find her.

For a moment the thought sounded enticing to the Scary Girl, before she sighed angrily, life returning to her eyes briefly as she sat up, her hands digging into the mattress underneath her.

"Oh what's the point!" She shouted to herself. "As if that's gonna accomplish anything apart from getting myself killed…"

She found herself standing up however, continuing to glare out of the window in the direction of where Wawanakwa was, her thoughts once again swimming as she thought about her possible revenge against the others she'd spoken about in the confessional as she was leaving the island.

"They already hate me anyway…" She muttered idly to herself as her fists began to clench once more. "What does it matter if I go back, mess with the challenges to get my enemies kicked off, see how they like it when everyone turns against them!" She rambled, her voice getting more and more ticked off with every word she spoke.

'But what if Zekey hates you for it…' A small part of her thought to herself, Lauren's eyes closing in pain, believing that he'd also turn on her like her teammates did, like how Damien and the others most likely have.

She giggled hollowly to herself as she turned away from the window, instead wading through the debris she'd caused and heading straight for the door. Maybe Ezekiel would hate her, but wouldn't he anyway once the others told him, or would they let her own actions do the talking once the season started airing?

She shook her head once more, trying to rid herself of the bad thoughts as she opened the door to leave the room. Just before she did however Lauren began to feel her phone vibrating in her pocket once more, she reached into her pocket, pulling her phone out to see the missed calls from several of the others including Ezekiel. She stared at the notifications for a moment, only to immediately put the device away, not wanting to talk to any of the others in fear of their continued rejection. She took a moment for herself to breathe before she smiled widely, closing the door with her usual expression now fully masking what she was truly feeling, before walking away from the now destroyed room.

*The Next Day*

"And the final marshmallow, after a vote of five to three, goes to…" Chris proclaimed, enjoying the tension that grew between the two remaining contestants as they braced themselves for their potential elimination from the game.

Their faces both tensed up, not much else being able to be done considering the current state of most of the Rat Faces team. Zee and Nichelle sat as normal, the only contestants who'd finished the challenge and were thus spared from still being stuck together as the rest of the team were.

Eventually however, Chris relented from tormenting them any further, smirking as he announced the final contestants name. "Emma!"

The girl in question smiled brightly as the marshmallow landed on her forehead, quickly being stuck to her just like all of the feathers had been previously, her arms unable to reach up and grab the symbol of safety.

Unfortunately for Millie however, she had no such luck, her stunt with pushing Damien into the four point slide in the previous challenge ultimately being what cost her the million dollars. Whilst Priya and Damien had ultimately forgiven her for the incident, the rest of the team hadn't quite done so, a fact that may have been wavered had Damien been able to prove that he had done so himself, however any words that he tried to say had come out slurred and unrecognisable due to his tongue currently being stuck during the challenge.

"Chef, rip Millie off of that log…" Chris called over to him as the co-host stepped forward with the spray bottle with a small smile on his face, ready to finally free the Rat Faces off of their temporary prison. "She's going home!" He continued gleefully as both Priya and Damien glanced over towards her with saddened expressions.

"Hey did we ever find out what happened to Ripper? No… okay." Chris questioned to himself, quickly dismissing the self proclaimed 'alfalfa male's' disappearance as he started to walk away towards the confessional, the sounds of the spray being used on the Rat Faces being heard off the camera.

Damien briefly coughed up some of the spray as he fell to the ground, relieved at finally being freed. "Ahh finally…"

He slowly got up, quickly seeing Millie drop to the ground upset at her elimination. "I'm sorry Millie, it's my fault…"

"No!" Millie turned to him, a shaky smile on her face as she looked at him. "It's mine… I shouldn't have pushed you down that slide last episode… I probably deserved this considering what happened, I just wish that I had the chance to apologise to everyone else before this happened."

"Oh yeah… right…" Damien replied sheepishly before turning to the five members of the Rat Faces who he knew had voted Millie out. "Uh yeah, we did actually make up during the challenge, I tried to tell you guys but… well…" He explained, gesturing towards the now downed log that Caleb had been forced to carry around for most of the day after the challenge, the man in question stretching after finally being freed of the extra weight.

"For real… aww man… now I regret voting for her…" Zee said regretfully, petting his new pet raccoon.

"Sorry Millie…" Emma added, her hand raised in an apologetic manner.

Millie however just sighed and waved off her apologies, a soft smile on her face. "It's fine guys, like I said, I deserved to go now…"

"That doesn't mean that you had to…" Priya cried out as she hugged her best friend. "It's because of the guidebook wasn't it…" She muttered to herself as she hugged Millie.

"Wait what?" Millie's eyes widened slightly as she looked at her now sobbing best friend. "What do you mean?"

"If I hadn't made that guidebook and made you feel like you needed to try harder in the challenges, you wouldn't have pushed Damien down the slide." Priya continued, Millie's look of shock turning back into her soft smile as she hugged Priya once more.

"Are you two done yet Millie! Because you have a Drone to catch soon…" Chris called over impatiently as everyone on the Rat Faces glared over at him.

"Give her a minute!" Axel shouted back at the host before turning back towards Priya and Millie. "Continue…"

"Right… thanks Axel…" Millie thanked the survivalist hesitantly before looking back at Priya once more. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't read the guidebook, but that was my decision to make, not yours, same with what happened with Damien and the four pointer. I don't blame you for any of this, and I want you and Damien to be strong, either of you can win this whole thing and who knows, maybe at the end of all of this I'll be able to say that MY best friend is the first two time winner!" Millie smirked, seeing her best friend wiping her eyes, a newfound determination on her face as she took Millie's words into consideration.

"You're right… I'll make sure not to disappoint you then." Priya smiled, a teasing look on her face as the two girls giggled briefly.

That moment however was quickly brought to an end however when Chris walked back up to the pair, an irritated look on his face. "Alright we get it, you two are best friends. But Millie, it's time to go!"

Millie sighed, finally letting go of Priya and beginning to follow Chris towards the confessional so that she could say her final words.

However before she could get too far Damien ran up to her with some final words to say, whispering them into her ear so that Chris wouldn't hear anything that was said. "Remember, you need to talk to Scary Girl when you get to the resort…" Damien said quietly to her.

"Crap I almost forgot about that…" Millie replied in a hushed tone, her eyes widening in shock and slight fear, not knowing if her 'friend' was still angry about the way that she'd been eliminated.

"Damien…" Chris called over to him. "Unless you want to join Millie on the Drone, I suggest you get back to your team now…" He said, annoyance really starting to creep into his tone.

"Right… sorry…" Damien smiled sheepishly before running off, leaving Millie alone with the host once more.

Millie just smiled, turning and walking into the confessional, ready to give her parting words to the camera before leaving the island.

Little did she know what would be waiting for her when she finally got to the Playa Des Losers…

*A Few Minutes Later*

"Hello?" Millie's voice called out as she opened the doors to the resort, having arrived at the dock only moments ago to no fanfare. "Anyone there? Lauren? Chase?" She continued, calling out the names of the two contestants that she knew should have been there.

She stepped into the lobby, cautiously looking out for either of her old Ferocious Trout teammates as she began to walk through the resort. It seemed way too quiet for her liking, especially considering how she remembered Chase at the very least being one of the louder contestants from the first season.

Minutes passed as Millie walked down the various hallways making up the inside of the resort, checking every room for any signs of the others, however not even any signs of the interns that maintained the resort could be found. Millie could feel herself slowly getting more anxious about the situation, the lack of sound in the resort almost giving it an eerie feel.

She eventually found herself heading towards the gym area, the large room being one of the last areas she hadn't checked aside from the residential wing and the pool area outside. However as she passed the doors leading to the pool area she could faintly hear the sounds of someone talking…

Someone familiar…

"Yo yo yo! It's ya boy Chase! Back at the Losers Resort once again…" Chase's voice could be heard faintly through the door, the youtuber's voice attempting to be cheerful for a moment before Millie heard him slap his forehead. "Aw come on! Okay from the top…" She heard him mutter before he started repeating his earlier phrase once more.

Millie sighed in frustration, having hoped that she would have found Lauren first out of the two, at least then she could check up on her after what Bowie and the Hockey Bros had told them from their own conversation with Ezekiel.

She opened the doors, seeing Chase strutting around the pool area completely alone, the camera that he'd stolen from the island still in his hands as he continued to narrate his 'intro' to himself. The youtuber was so lost in his talking that he didn't even notice as Millie walked over to him with irritation creeping onto her face.

"What are you doing?" Millie asked him once she got close enough, watching with slight amusement as Chase whipped around to face her, almost dropping the camera in shock as his eyes briefly looked at her in fear, before looking almost relieved at the sight of Millie.

"Oh thank god, it's only you…" Chase sighed in relief. "I thought it was gonna be Scary Girl following me again."

"Have you been at that since you got here, it's been twenty four hours?" Millie looked at him, noticing the slight bags under his eyes, as well as what looked like faint tomato sauce stains on his hoodie.

"Oh, well since my whole attempt at trying to film a sick intro for the challenge ended up costing me a million big ones." Chase began, chuckling slightly although he looked like he was trying to convince himself that it was funny. "I thought I'd at least try to improve my intro's whilst I was here, besides it was either this or be paranoid over whether or not Stalker Girl was gonna attack me…" He shuddered at the last part.

"If only you put as much thought into improving your relationships as you did into your videos…" Millie rolled her eyes, already imagining how Emma would react to this news if she ever found out, she then began to process the last part and her eyes widened slightly in a mixture of worry and fear, neither of which were aimed at Chase. "Wait, you haven't seen Lauren yet? At all?"

"No, thankfully that freak seems to have taken the hint and she's stayed away from me. Hell if I didn't know any better I'd say she isn't even here…" Chase replied happily.

"Hey! She may have overstepped her boundaries with everyone but she's still my friend!" Millie responded angrily, poking Chase angrily in the chest as she glared daggers at him. "Besides, didn't Bowie and the others tell you about what was going on with her?"

Chase just scoffed in response to Millie's question, clearly not believing Ezekiel's story like so many of the others had. "Please, so people said a few bad things to her, I get those all the time on my channel!"

"I wonder why…" Millie rolled her eyes as she turned around and started storming away back into the resort, heading towards the one part of the building that she hadn't checked yet.

Unfortunately for her, Chase had finally decided that he didn't want to be alone in the resort anymore now that he'd had some form of human contact and had followed her inside. "So why exactly are you looking for Scary Girl anyway? I thought you'd still be mad at her for the whole stalking thing?" Chase asked Millie as they entered the lobby.

Millie sighed as she turned to face him once more. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still annoyed with her for doing what she did, but I also want to understand more about why she felt like that was the only way. Ezekiel said that something changed in her after her parents got involved, and I want to find out what…" She explained, smiling slightly at the end as she started climbing the staircase leading to the residential wing. "Think of it as me using the notes that I'd made last season but for good this time rather than to slander you all."

"Oh right… I forgot you did that, I was too busy making out with Emma to realise…" Chase replied sheepishly, still looking somewhat uncomfortable at the prospect of running into Scary Girl.

Eventually they made it into the hallway, immediately heading towards the room that they knew Lauren had used during the last season. Chase stood back as Millie nervously knocked on the door, only for nobody to answer, the pair looked anxiously at each other before Millie cautiously began to open the door to the room. "Lauren? Are you there?" Millie called out, only for her eyes to widen at the state that Lauren had left her room in.

Chase peeked his head into the room in order to see what was going on, wincing at the debris spread across the floor, any trace of Lauren or the few things she'd brought with her to the island completely missing. "Ooh that's not good…" He muttered weakly, his eyes beginning to dart around nervously.

"I better let Zeke know…" Millie agreed as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, immediately dialling Ezekiel's number, after a few moments the Prairie Boy answered, a tired "Hello…?" barely coming from the speaker before Millie spoke, her tone a mixture of concern and fear.

"Lauren's missing…"

End Chapter

Author's Note: Tee hee, I had to leave it on a cliffhanger. I had written the majority of this chapter before the episodes had come out, so I kept Lauren's status vague in case of any changes for chapter three to begin sorting out. (e.g. If she returned or if she changed back to her original look by the finale)

Lastly, I just need to get this off my chest once again but I feel like this needs to be said to ease my anxiety about this whole thing. I'm so thankful for everyone's support over the last 8/9 months since I started 'Not So Scary'. I'd started 2023 off in the darkest place and the reboot helped pull me out of it, especially once I started writing this.

It's helped so much and it's made me want to interact more with the rest of the fanbase that I've been a part of since the days of the original cast. Everyone who's read this so far has given me a chance and it's been so refreshing to see considering what the fic is about, I just wished that other people would do the same. (mainly TDTWT, the reddit seems chill and I haven't really interacted much with TD discord apart from posting chapter releases)

Overall though I just want to go through 2024 with a much better mindset without having to worry that people don't like me because of this…

Chapter Text

Author's Note: Heya, it's uh… it's been awhile since the last chapter (I can't believe I left this almost two months…). I'm not gonna lie and say I've been too busy, tbh shortly after I posted this and the finale came out some things went down IRL that made me really struggle to get myself motivated to do this chapter. I'll try to not let future chapters take as long, I don't wanna say that's guaranteed, however I can say at the very least that I want to finish this sequel and the possible season three story if I ever go through with it.

On a lighter note the review for the last five episodes will be at the end of the chapter, so uh… spoiler warning in the unlikely event you haven't watched them yet.

Chapter Three

Ezekiel was tired…

Despite the fact that it had only been three days since Lauren had left in that weird outfit to compete in her second season, and only forty eight hours since he'd gotten that phone call from her teammates about what she had admitted to doing as she got eliminated, it felt much longer had passed for the Prairie Boy, and he was beginning to struggle slightly with keeping his mind off of things.

He had tried his best to not let what everyone on the island had told him get to him, but ultimately the discomfort and anxiety over the whole situation was beginning to get to him. At first he had tried to get into any form of contact with Lauren, wanting desperately to find out what was going on and more importantly if she was okay, however every single attempt of calling or messaging had gone ignored.

Eventually after having come to his senses the morning after Lauren's elimination and the subsequent conversation with her former teammates, he had proceeded to throw himself into any and all chores that he could in order to keep his mind off of things until he either heard from Lauren, or at least heard anything from one of the other contestants on the island.

He quickly found himself however overworking himself slightly in doing so, his mornings spent travelling back to his farm from the funeral home, the majority of the day spent helping his family with tending to the farm, and the night time spent travelling back 'home', where he would spend the night alone with only the decorated skull for company.

He still wasn't entirely sure as to why he was coming back to the home, it wasn't as if Lauren was just going to materialise in front of him, it wasn't the most comforting place for him either considering how eerie parts of the building were without Lauren being around to liven the place up. And it would have been so much easier for the Prairie Boy to have stayed back at the farm, maybe spend some more time outside of his farm work with his family.

Ezekiel shook his head, clearing the thoughts from his mind as he laid on the couch in the living room of the building, the decorated skull sat on a cushion in front of him as the Prairie Boy found himself flipping aimlessly through channels…

He eventually gave up, leaning backwards into the couch with a soft sigh as the channel he stopped at began playing some other reality show that looked vaguely similar to Total Drama, except in a completely different location and a more varied group in terms of ages.

After a few minutes Ezekiel found himself beginning to doze off slightly, the exhaustion from the last couple days beginning to get to him, however just as quickly as his eyes closed they shot back open, the sounds of his phone's ringtone echoing around the room.

Ezekiel tiredly glanced around for a moment, eventually finding the small device sat next to the decorated skull that accompanied him on the couch, he reached past the skull and picked it up, an eyebrow raised upon seeing Millie's face greeting him.

Ezekiel shrugged slightly, a small frown on his face as his finger hovered over the screen for a moment, hesitating to accept the call. He knew what one of the others calling him likely entailed, and deep down he was worried about what else might have happened concerning his girlfriend, snippets of the conversation with the former members of Lauren's team briefly flashing through his mind.

He took a deep breath, readying himself for whatever news would come from Millie, or whoever else was going to be with her for the conversation, and pressed down on the icon to accept the call, quickly bringing the phone up to his ear so that he could hear them.

The Prairie Boy only had enough time to mutter a tired "Hello…?" into the phone before Millie spoke, her tone a mixture of concern and fear.

"Lauren's missing…"

"What?" Ezekiel almost shouted, his body beginning to wake up as he fully processed the information. His eyes widened in fear as the phone almost dropped from his hand, whatever news he was expecting it wasn't something as serious as that.

He quickly raised the phone back up, faintly hearing the sound of Millie calling out to him from the speaker, as well as another voice in the background, however that one he couldn't make out what they were saying.

"You okay Ezekiel?" Millie sounded really concerned.

"I-I'm fine eh… you just surprised me with that…" Ezekiel apologised, a small frown on his face. "But what do you mean Lauren's missing?"

"I looked all over for her when I arrived at the resort, but she's nowhere to be found and her room is completely destroyed, heck I even asked Chase if he'd seen her at all and he hasn't…" Millie explained, her tone sounding concerned.

Ezekiel took a moment to process this information, Lauren's gone missing again from the resort? And this time… he could do nothing about it since last time he'd been there with her the whole time she'd been AWOL. He opened his mouth ready to respond, however this quickly turned to a mixture of annoyance and concern as Ezekiel began to hear the sounds of both Millie and presumably Chase fighting over the phone. "Hey! Give that back Chase!" Millie complained, her voice slightly fainter.

"No way, I need to confront him about what Stalker Girl had been doing! He was clearly in on it!" Chase responded angrily, Ezekiel frowning in annoyance at his words.

"Did you not listen to a word the others said!" Millie shouted at him as the sounds of them fighting over the phone continued. "He wasn't involved at all…"

"Well that's not what Julia and MK said!" Chase revealed, Millie gasping in shock before the sound of a loud smack could be heard through the speaker, before what was most likely the sounds of Chase falling to the floor.

"And you believed them! Are you crazy!" Millie cried out in surprise, annoyance creeping into her tone. "Didn't you learn anything from them last season!"

"Well… I… uh…" Chase could be faintly heard, the prankster unable to reply to Millie's words.

"That's what I thought." Millie stated, sounding unimpressed with Chase before placing her phone back to her ear once more. "Sorry about that Zeke…" She apologised.

Ezekiel suppressed an animalistic-like growl as he spoke his next words, trying not to spook Millie since she'd done nothing wrong. "I-It's fine… I just… shouldn't be surprised that the 'new Heather' of your season would say that."

Millie giggled slightly, trying to hide her own nerves as she replied. "Yeah, to be honest nothing got mentioned after the night Lauren got booted, not until I was at least…"

"You…" Ezekiel gulped softly, hesitating for a moment. "You don't think she's back on Boney Island? Do you?"

"I hope not…" Millie sighed. "But to be honest, I almost think she's doing what you did on that plane… I think she might still be on the island."

Ezekiel's eyes widened in a mixture of horror and shock. "Y-You're joking, right… t-there's no way she's gonna do that."

"I mean, it sounds like a 'Scary Girl' thing to do" Chase interrupted again, however the slight anger he had towards both Ezekiel and Lauren before was gone, almost sounding slightly concerned himself. "She did look really angry at us when she was voted out, maybe she wants revenge?"

Ezekiel could hear Millie go silent over the phone, and his blood went cold at the thought. This was turning scarily like his own situation had been. "I-I should b-be t-there…" He eventually stuttered out.

"What?!" Both Millie and Chase responded.

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about this, Millie's right, it feels too similar to what I did in World Tour…" Ezekiel was shaking, extremely worried about the unknown status of his girlfriend at this point.

"Ezekiel! Listen to me!" Millie shouted down the phone. "It's going to be alright! We'll find her and… I'll call the others on the island and ask them to keep an eye out for her. We won't let anything bad happen to Lauren I promise!"

He could then hear the venom in Millie's voice as she spoke next, although not to him. "Right… Chase!"

Chase laughed nervously, and although Ezekiel couldn't see them he was sure Chase was rubbing his head and looking sheepishly at Millie. "Yeah… sure… I'll help…" He was really beginning to regret coming with Millie to look for Lauren instead of continuing his recording.

"T-Thank you eh… really…" Ezekiel responded, genuine gratitude towards Millie and even Chase.

"No problem!" Millie responded reassuringly, and Ezekiel could tell even over the phone that she was smiling. "You're our friend, and Lauren is too… even if she scares the life out of us sometimes"

"Most of the time!" Chase coughed out.

Millie sighed. "Yeah… most of the time… but the point is we still care about you guys, and seeing what's happening to her… we wanna help."

Ezekiel nodded, genuinely thankful for their support "Thanks eh, b-but promise me you'll keep me up to date, I'm about one bad situation away from making my way to that island myself!"

Millie laughed nervously in response to that. "W-We'll make sure it doesn't come to that…"

"I mean I wouldn't mind if it means he brings those other guys with him again." Chase grinned, remembering some of the antics he shared with the older contestants after his elimination last season.

"Chase… you know that's not gonna happen…" Millie deadpanned.

Chase just groaned in disappointment, both of the others in the conversation chuckling slightly, although Ezekiel was more confused given he couldn't see what was going on.

"Well… I should probably let you two carry on with, well… whatever you guys were planning on before…" Ezekiel trailed off, his expression dropping once more as he remembered Lauren disappearing.

Millie noticed this and her last words to him were a little more reassuring. "Don't worry Zeke… we'll find her soon… I promise…" She then hung up before either Ezekiel or Chase could respond.

Ezekiel lifted the phone away slowly, looking down at the device once his hands were back near his lap, before sighing heavily.

"What the hell is happening to you Lauren…" Ezekiel whispered to himself, putting the phone away and grabbing the decorated skull sitting next to him, holding it closely to him as he curled into himself.

"First the 'normal' stuff and now this…" Ezekiel sighed once more, trying to keep his worry contained even though there was nobody around to judge him. "I just hope you're okay right now… wherever you are…"

*The Next Day, midway through Episode Four*

"Rat Faces, you're up!" Chris announced gleefully, this challenge had gone swimmingly for him so far, neither team seemed to be getting many, if any, of the questions right. Soon enough the whole cast would be plunging into a pool of wolverines for his own amusement.

Axel was trying to inch her way towards the glass bridge for her team, however she was quickly getting irritated by the huge pressure on her right leg that was Emma's grip.

"Don't worry! I've got this! No seriously, just listen to me… I know people, I am a people person!" Emma tried desperately to convince Axel, smiling nervously up at the increasingly pissed off looking survivalist.

Axel looked back at the others with a deadpan look, trying to hold off from snapping at Emma. "Is she though…" She asked bluntly to her other teammates.

Damien and Caleb looked unsure about answering it, however Priya decided to be a little more optimistic about Emma's 'skills', giving her another chance to redeem herself. "She seems super confident about it, let's give her another shot…" Her tone didn't seem nearly as confident as Emma was, however Axel relented at this.

Emma stood up gratefully, ready to try again, however Axel glared back at her. "I hate wolverines…" Axel began, getting into Emma's face, placing her finger under Emma's chin and flicking it slowly, almost threateningly. "So you better not mess this up!"

Emma just gulped in response, suddenly not feeling so confident about how this was going to go as Axel stepped onto the glass platform. Her expression got even more fearful as Chris began to speak once more.

"Rat Faces! Get ready for your next question!" Chris announced gleefully, pressing the button in his hand to reveal the next contestant's question… Lauren appeared on the screen, dressed in her old outfit and was turned away from the camera, presumably having been talking to somebody just before the Chris in the video began to speak to her.

"Scary Girl…" Chris began, his voice filled with barely held back disgust for his least favourite of the new contestants as Lauren glanced back at the camera, her smile wide and looking terrifying. "Would you rather…"

The camera then glitched briefly, Lauren suddenly looking straight at the camera in a way that made the more nervous contestants like Damien and Emma jump back slightly. Axel just glanced back at them, rolling her eyes slightly as she waited for Chris to announce Lauren's question.

"A, take truth serum and be questioned by Chef…" Chris continued as Lauren smiled widely on screen. "Or B, only be able to eat Chef's cooking for a whole year?"

The video was then paused for the challenge to continue, Chris waiting patiently but smugly for Axel's response, although he did take a moment to glare at the image of Lauren, remembering the day she'd come in for this interview, he'd hated that one purely because she'd dragged Ezekiel along for the ride.

Axel glanced back once more, only for her glare to get more intense as she noticed Emma begin to bite her nails in worry. She looked over at the other three from her team still in the challenge, hoping they'd have some idea, only for Caleb to shrug, Priya to grin nervously whilst shaking her head, and Damien…

Damien looked like a nervous wreck at the sight of Lauren, shaking in fear at the sight of her…

"Pull yourself together Damien! It's just pixels on a screen! She's not gonna hurt you!" Axel shouted over, looking really annoyed at what she thought was a pathetic sight.

"I-I'm t-trying!" Damien shouted back nervously, gulping as he tried to calm himself down.

"Emma! Have you got an answer yet!" Axel called over to her.

"Okay, nobody likes Chef's cooking…" Emma muttered to herself nervously. "But I can't imagine that Scary Girl wants anyone knowing what's going on in her head?"

"Except Ezekiel…" Caleb grinned knowingly, unaware not only of the fact that he may have messed up slightly by saying that, but also of the fact that Chris glared over at him at the mere mention of Ezekiel, now knowing that he'd have to cut out this part and get Emma to do a confessional instead.

"Yeah… except Ezekiel…" Emma agreed, before smiling with false confidence. "So it's gotta be B, one hundred percent"

Emma then shouted over to Axel, placing her hands around her mouth as she called out to the survivalist. "B, Axel! B!"

"You better be right!" Axel warned Emma, pointing towards her as she stepped forward onto the blue panel in front of her, before looking towards the screen to hear what Lauren would say.

Chris grinned, pressing the button again to play the rest of the clip, knowing full well that Axel had screwed up by trusting Emma on this.

"I pick A!" Lauren announced gleefully as the camera glitched again to a close up of her face, a red X plastered over it to show that Axel had got it wrong. Axel didn't even have the time to brace herself before the platform disappeared from under her feet, sending her plummeting and screaming into the pool of wolverines.

"Crap…" Caleb winced as Axel fell. "Maybe she does trust more people than just her boyfriend…"

"Wait, what's she saying…" Priya shushed him, pointing at the clip of Lauren that had yet to finish.

"No skeletons in my closet!" Lauren announced gleefully, the audio then sounded the slightest bit off but in their concern for her next words none of the cast registered that. "I mean… there are, but only because I live in a funeral home…"

Everyone else shuddered slightly in fear at this fact, whilst Chris grinned knowingly, taking his little piece of revenge against Lauren for the ongoing lawsuit against him. "Ahh, I miss that weirdo…" Chris said sarcastically to himself, a smug look on his face.

"Speaking of… anyone know where MK is?" Chris asked the others, also taking a moment to look down at the five contestants currently at the bottom of the cliff after their plunge into the pool, missing the nervous looks Bowie and Julia gave each other.

Whilst this was happening though, the Rat Faces and Ripper were still trying to process the information that Lauren had just dropped on them.

"I'm sorry, what the hell does she mean funeral home! AND there's skeletons in her closet!" Damien looked nervously towards the now blank screen, at least somewhat thankful that the image of Lauren was no longer there to haunt them.

"Didn't she say she lived in a circus? Why the sudden change?" Priya questioned.

"Between this and the stalking she admitted to the other day, I'm just shocked that the feral guy she's with is still alive…" Ripper shrugged, looking over the edge and down the cliff, watching with concern as Axel tried to escape the wolverines in the pool.

"You mean Ezekiel? Hang on… do you think he knows about this?" Emma asked.

"I mean, we could always ask him about this whole… 'Funeral Home' thing?" Damien responded, only for the others to look at him. "Wait… what are you looking at me for?"

"I mean, you're the one who's closest to Ezekiel here." Caleb pointed out. "I barely spoke to either of them, neither does Emma or Ripper, and I doubt Bowie or Julia are gonna be in on this…" He pointed to the latter two, who were currently trying to tell Chris about MK's whereabouts… something about explosive diarrhoea.

Damien however looked at Priya first. "Wait… but Priya hangs out with them just as much as I do?" He questioned.

"Well… I do… but I'm gonna be busy with my training after the challenge…" Priya excused herself, an apologetic smile on her face.

"Yeah, both of us agreed to do our workouts together." Caleb added, smiling at Priya, who returned it with a small blush on her face.

"S-Sorry Damien, y-you're gonna have to t-take one for the team." Priya apologised, looking slightly flustered.

Damien sighed in acceptance. "Alright… but if Zeke or Scary Girl decide to hurt me after this, I'm blaming you two in particular." He warned the pair, however the small smile on his face betrayed his otherwise threat.

"Can we get on with things please Rat Faces!" Chris shouted over, before grinning over to the Skunk Butts, seeing Ripper step forward nervously. "Alright! Skunk Butts… next question…"

*Later that night*

After the phone call that had taken place the previous night, Ezekiel hadn't been too surprised that he'd been called once more about the ongoing situation with his girlfriend.

He had left the farm around an hour beforehand and was just about back at the funeral home that Lauren (and now himself by extension given the current circumstances) called home when his phone had once again gone off.

He answered it almost immediately, only pausing slightly at the different name that had flashed up on the screen, but he shrugged it off as he lifted the phone to his ear, believing that the person calling had most likely just been eliminated and was at the resort with Millie and hopefully Lauren.

Ezekiel hadn't been too surprised about the phone call, what he was surprised about however was what the phone call was about…

He hadn't even been able to open his mouth to greet the other person when they immediately began to question him.

"Is Scary Girl really living in some freaky Funeral Home?" Damien's voice greeted him, his tone filled with uncertainty and fear.

Ezekiel's first reaction was to almost literally face plant onto the ground beneath him, the Prairie Boy not having expected this at all, after all they had never told anyone else about where Lauren had been living for the past few months in between seasons. Anytime they had been able to see anyone from the show it was far away from the building, and the two had never been seen apart…

It had been something they had agreed on as a just in case method of protecting Lauren from being found by her family, neither of them knew how far they would go to try and find her so they never risked it, even after her abusive parents had already confronted Mecidi about Lauren a couple of months into the break between seasons.

Instead of face planting however, Ezekiel simply shook his head clear of his thoughts, raising an eyebrow in confusion at Damien's comment. "Eh? W-What are you talking about?" Ezekiel responded, feigning ignorance. "She lives in a circus eh… we showed you guys the last time you visited"

"Dude, I can tell you're lying… besides we just had a challenge where she revealed it…" Damien revealed, his tone becoming slightly more deadpanned as he spoke, although the discomfort about what Lauren had said in the challenge still remained.

"Wait… YOU'VE SEEN HER!" Ezekiel shouted, his eyes widening with a variety of emotions running through them, the shock of her living conditions being revealed on TV at the back of his mind as he began speaking once more. "Is she okay? Is she back in the game? Or back at the Playa? What about the rest of you? She didn't try and get revenge, did she?" Ezekiel's mouth was going at one hundred miles an hour, Damien not being able to understand any of the questions that were being asked.

"Well… not exactly…" Damien began sheepishly, he'd heard from Millie about what had happened at the resort the previous night involving Lauren's sudden disappearance.

It was pretty safe to say that none of the remaining thirteen contestants had felt particularly comfortable about the fact that Lauren was most likely hiding on the island with them, even if that was just a theory as to where she had gone as of now. True to Millie's promise to Ezekiel, they'd kept a subtle look out for the Scary Girl whenever they could, however there had been no signs of her on the island, aside from the recording of her that Chris used in the challenge earlier.

"Look… it wasn't really her okay Ezekiel… I'm sorry" Damien continued, looking somewhat regretful that he'd gotten his hopes up. "The challenge involved these interviews we did a few months ago just after the end of last season, do you remember?"

Ezekiel paused for a moment, a small but sad frown on his face as he registered that Lauren hadn't been seen after all. But then he began to register Damien's second comment about those interviews, he remembered that there was something like that, Ezekiel had gone with Lauren to hers, although this had been before the season had aired so there wasn't much danger at the time of her family finding out.

But there was one major problem with what Damien had said…

"Wait… you said that she mentioned the funeral home?" Ezekiel questioned, sounding both confused and terrified.

"I did… why?" Damien responded, sounding just as confused and terrified as Ezekiel.

"Well, that's the weird part… I remember being with her for the whole thing, although I wasn't allowed to be on camera. But… I know she never once mentioned where we were living in the whole thing." Ezekiel explained.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah eh, I mean she mentioned the circus but that was her old home before last season."

Damien blinked, his suspicion growing about this development, but it sounded like Ezekiel was telling the truth about the whole thing. He needed to dig deeper, because either Ezekiel was withholding part of the truth, or Chris did something to figure this 'Funeral Home' situation out.

"So you never told anyone this? At all?" Damien asked.

"No way eh, we didn't want unwanted attention from her family since they'd just hurt her, it was why she was living at this funeral home in the first place since she'd have been found at that circus." Ezekiel responded.

Damien thought to himself for a moment, this did sound rational, however there was still the comment itself that confused him slightly. "Okay, I can understand why you two would be secretive, but the issue here is that there's video evidence of Scary Girl talking about this."

"Well, what exactly did she say eh?" Ezekiel asked Damien.

He thought back to the clip. "Something about skeletons in her closet, and then justifying there being actual ones by saying she lived in that funeral home."

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow, looking extremely confused. "Well… um… I'll admit that she did say she had no skeletons in her closet, because I thought that was one of them phrases people said."

"You're not wrong, it means you have nothing to hide, that you'll reveal anything even if it's embarrassing or personal." Damien explained, before frowning. "But technically she contradicted herself if you're saying you two didn't mention this funeral home."

Ezekiel shook his head again, almost pleading with Damien. "I promise you she never mentioned it."

Damien took another moment to think to himself, Ezekiel didn't sound like he was lying, and he did remember how open Ezekiel had been both back at the Playa Des Losers last season and the moments they hung out in-between seasons.

"I believe you… b-but I almost d-don't want to…" Damien gulped. "B-Because if you d-didn't say anything, a-and Scary Girl d-didn't… t-then how does Chris know?"

Ezekiel's breath hitched, not knowing for himself… "Y-You don't think h-he followed u-us did you? L-Like a camera c-crew?"

"Hell if I know, but I suppose either way it's too late now…" Damien sighed, realising what this was gonna mean for both Ezekiel and Lauren when this episode eventually aired.

"Damn… s-so I guess w-we'll have to accept t-that they're g-gonna come for her…" Ezekiel realised, his tone sounding defeated.

Damien's expression softened upon hearing this, beginning to realise himself just how much this was hurting both Ezekiel and Lauren just to keep her safe from further abuse. "Hey, if you want we can be there if they try anything, I'm sure if what? Eight of us were there for you two so that they wouldn't try anything." Damien offered.

Ezekiel smiled softly, sounding grateful as he spoke. "You guys would do that? Even after all this?"

"Hey, it's like Millie said, you two are our friends, even if Scary Girl freaks me out all the time." Damien responded.

It was then that Ezekiel heard the door to the cabin Damien was in slam open. "Yo Damien… it's time for the ceremony man, get off the phone…" Zee called over.

"Really?" Damien sighed. "I guess I have to go then Zeke…" Damien then looked up to Zee. "Hey Zee, wanna say hi to Ezekiel while he's still here?"

"Of course man… sup guy!" Zee greeted with a small wave despite the fact that Ezekiel couldn't see him, only hear him.

"Hi Zee…" Ezekiel greeted back with a small smile. "Guess I better let you guys vote someone off…"

Damien sighed. "Yeah… I feel bad for it too, but Emma really screwed up today so she's basically voted herself off." He then shook his head as he stood up. "Well I'll uh… talk to you soon okay Zeke"

"Okay eh, just keep me updated if Lauren shows up" Ezekiel replied.

"Will do…" Damien smiled.

"Later man!" Zee added before Damien ended the call, the two members of the Rat Faces leaving the cabin to head to the elimination ceremony.

Ezekiel sighed once the call disconnected, leaning against the wall in the hallway, the door leading outside still open. Ezekiel slumped to the ground for a few moments, still trying to process everything that he'd learned from this conversation.

"God… why is this just getting more and more complicated…" Ezekiel whispered weakly to himself, having to hold back tears as he felt the familiar uncertainty and pain that he was becoming accustomed to since he first started to notice Lauren changing weeks ago.

Eventually however he got up, closing and locking the front door, before walking deeper into the funeral home, only to pause once he got into the living room.

"Wait… wasn't Lauren's bedroom door closed?" He muttered to himself, moving towards the slightly ajar door.

He opened it, walking into the dark room and turning the light on. Everything looked as he left it when he left this morning, even down to the decorated skull staring back at him from the drawer next to her bed.

He took a quick look around, feeling like something was off even though nothing seemed out of place. Everything seemed to be normal, at least in terms of his and Lauren's definition of normal…

That was… until he got to the closet.

Ezekiel knew that the quote that Damien mentioned was fabricated by Chris, but something was bugging him about it, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, so he opened the doors, only to freeze…

Most of the items inside were left as normal… however the iconic gothic clothing that she usually wore as her main outfit was gone… the dress… her sleeves… her socks and shoes… all gone.

"W-What…" Ezekiel whispered to himself, his eyes widening in fear, his breath coming out shakily as he processed what was going on…

Unbeknownst to him, as Ezekiel stood there in both shock and fear at the disappearance of the outfit that had originally been left behind, dozens of miles away, walking to a small boat on a dock was a familiar figure wearing that exact outfit… leaving behind the torn up remains of a more 'normal' looking outfit to burn in a small fire.

Lauren smiled eerily to herself as she took a look at her half restored appearance, her 'normal' face remaining the same even with her gothic clothing back where it belonged. It wasn't exactly the Scary Girl she knew she was, but it was the best she could restore herself with the small window she had, not so scary but not so normal either…

She glared back up towards the horizon as she got onto the boat, looking in the direction of where she knew the others were competing. They couldn't accept her for trying to be 'normal', so she'd show them all how terrifying she could truly be…

End Chapter

Author's Note: Yeah I wanted to add another reference in, so Disventure Camp gets a mention. I watched S1 for the first time a couple days after I posted the last chapter and I did kinda enjoy it, at the very least with S3 releasing it's something to help tide people over whilst we wait for confirmation of more reboot seasons. As for the second section, I thought to expand a little on what went on during that small section of the episode, so I added little bits and pieces in to add context.

Alright now that that's out of the way, I believe I have five episodes to review… (SPOILERS for those who need it, but if you've read this fic up to this point I'd assume you've seen the whole thing)

First off, the Negatives…

Everything I said about Caleb/Priya in the first eight episodes is doubled here, I don't mind the ship, however they did NOT need to spend the whole season on them, and as a result Caleb has essentially no personality, which is such a shame given I had high hopes for him at the start of the season.

The eliminations just got worse and worse. I liked MK's although (not the season's fault) the leaks from the BBC ruined any suspense given we knew it was between her and Raj. Damien's was yet another offscreen sabotage by Julia, I get why it wasn't shown but at least put a flashback in or something. I was so annoyed when he lost the idol last minute because I was rooting for him to win.

TBF after Damien's the eliminations did get better, Raj's and Priya's were both good eliminations, and I did cheer for Julia when Priya got idoled out, even if the final three felt a little lacklustre, I couldn't cheer for Caleb and I had doubts about Julia winning given the main villain usually doesn't win (World Tour being the exception, All Stars doesn't count since Mike defeats Mal before the end of the challenge) so there was only really Wayne left.

Lastly, I was really shocked to see that the 'Normal Girl' revenge plot didn't go anywhere in the end, I thought that with all of the teases that she would have shown up at some point, but it just never happened.

That being said however…

The Cameo's were great to see, I'm shocked that they picked some RR cameo's instead of more of the Gen 1 cast, however I loved MacArthur's inclusion in the K9 episode, and I did laugh seeing the Tennis Rivals cameo the following episode. It's still strange to see them look the same (mostly MacArthur) which just reinforces this whole potential retcon idea.

MKulia is still the best part of the season hands down! I loved those two and if season three does happen with this cast, I hope these two become canon! If not then I hope Julia and Wayne do because every scene with those two in was just gold, I laughed so hard at their scenes in episode 12 when she walked in dressed like a hockey player.

The challenges were still great, and the K9 challenge joins the jousting and RLGL challenge as my favourites of the season. The only one I didn't really like was the memory game and to an extent the fear challenge.

Seriously tho, the finale did save what was otherwise a poor end to the season, my issues with the final three aside, the episode was great, Lauren was here and at her best (best part of the finale), I loved Mullet haired Julia, and while predictable I did like seeing Wayne comeback and win the whole thing.

Chapter Text

Author's Note: Okay, when I first planned this fic I hadn't realised how much of it I wanted to do, since originally I was only gonna do like one/two chapters from Ezekiel's perspective. However it seems like I've hit the same thing as 'Not So Scary After All' had where I just wanna keep expanding this story!

This is also part of the reason why chapter releases slowed down, since I'm now trying to plan around the second season with the story beats in mind. But hey, at least this chapter didn't take two months right. *nervously smiles*

Chapter Four

Ezekiel stood in front of the closet in Lauren's room, having just opened it upon realising that something had felt off about the room, something had been messed with whilst he wasn't here, he was sure of it. When he'd looked into the closet he'd frozen in shock, most of the items inside were left as normal… however the iconic gothic clothing that she usually wore as her main outfit was gone… the dress… her sleeves… her socks and shoes… all gone.

"W-What…" Ezekiel whispered to himself, his eyes widening in fear, his breath coming out shakily as he processed what was going on…

After a few moments of shocked silence he finally began to move once more, stumbling back from the closet and falling backwards onto the bed with a wide eyed stare, a variety of different emotions flashing across his face all at once, from shock to fear to concern.

Where did the dress go? He knew it was right there… he'd left her outfit right there the day Lauren had left for the new season… Hell he remembered seeing it only yesterday…

But now… "I-It's gone…" Ezekiel muttered quietly, in complete disbelief at what was happening.

He began to get up shakily, opening the door fully to check thoroughly through the whole closet, his thoughts beginning to race with all of the different possibilities that may have happened.

His first thought was that someone must have broken into the funeral home and stolen it… but then Ezekiel quickly realised that it made almost no sense. There had been no evidence to suggest a break in, and even if they'd gotten into the building without breaking anything, why would they only steal Lauren's outfit and not anything else.

The second thought was that perhaps he was wrong… maybe he had moved her outfit without realising. He doubted this one even more than the first one, however in his panic he didn't have the time to try and rationalise it, and began doing a quick sweep of the building, starting with her bedroom and working his way outwards, just in case other items had been stolen or if he'd actually put her outfit somewhere else.

But it was like it had completely vanished from existence from the room… everything else was still there including the decorated skull and her make up bag. It was like it had just vanished…

Or perhaps…

"L-Lauren?" Ezekiel called out into the empty building, the thought beginning to dawn on him that maybe the Scary Girl had come home after her elimination… too distraught after everything had come crashing down in her one episode back.

He began searching the building some more, however this time he wasn't just looking for the dress… he was hoping that his girlfriend was here too.

"Lauren! Are you in here eh! It's me, Ezekiel!" He called out again, hoping that she was still in the building. She'd been long gone at this point, having long since departed for Camp Wawanakwa once more in order to get her revenge for her early elimination. But while he didn't know for sure that she had briefly come back, he had a feeling that this would explain her disappearance from the Playa Des Losers.

Ezekiel sighed to himself, remembering his conversation with Millie and Chase the previous night after Millie's elimination.

"I looked all over for her when I arrived at the resort, but she's nowhere to be found and her room is completely destroyed, heck I even asked Chase if he'd seen her at all and he hasn't…" Millie explained, her tone sounding concerned.

He knew she'd snapped in some form if the destroyed room in the resort was anything to go by… and no one on either the main island or the losers resort hadn't seen or heard anything from the Scary Girl since her elimination…

Maybe she had come home… and that's why her dress was now gone… but then…

Why could he not find her? Did… did she not want to see him…

Ezekiel's heart broke at that last thought as he stepped back into Lauren's bedroom, a million different contrasting thoughts flowing through his mind as he sat on her bed once more, struggling to keep himself composed and failing to stop some of the tears from falling down his face.

"L-Lauren… j-just w-what the h-hell is h-happening t-to you…" Ezekiel whispered, beginning to break down slightly from the stress of everything that's happened since this 'Normal Girl' phase had become known to him.

"I-Is it my fault…" He took a deep breath, his eyes as bloodshot from the crying as they were back when he was a feral freakshow. "O-Or is it s-something else…"

Ezekiel did have one small idea of what it could be, remembering back to the video call he'd shared with Lauren's former teammates…

"Really?" Julia rolled her eyes. "Because the freak clearly seemed to get a kick out of it… besides she was never gonna be normal anyway the way she was acting."

"Julia!" Bowie snapped at her, the Hockey Bros glaring from behind him. "Now is not the time for that!"

"What?" She responded innocently. "There was a reason we kicked her off, I mean, for someone trying to be normal she somehow made herself even scarier."

Could this be because of her elimination… would she… be out for revenge?...

He sighed to himself, he wasn't exactly going to get the answers anytime soon considering no one could hear or answer him… and the one person who could was the girl no one could seem to find.

Ezekiel just didn't know what to do at this point, between Lauren's mental breakdown with the 'Normal Girl' stuff and her subsequent disappearance, the ongoing situation with her abusive parents and now the news that Damien had shared about Chris McLean of all people having found out about her living situation…

It was just an intertwining mess that just seemed to be getting more and more tangled, and Ezekiel was starting to be pushed over the edge of it all, almost wishing for a moment that he was back on Boney Island or the Playa Des Losers all those months ago, where they could just be themselves without fear of any of this getting in the way of their love for the other.

Because ultimately that was why Ezekiel felt so distraught over this entire situation… because it kept feeling like the Scary Girl that he fell in love with last season was beginning to slowly disappear, and he hated it.

He hated that he couldn't do anything to try and alleviate some of the pain that Lauren was clearly going through, all he could seemingly do was just watch from the sidelines as she descended further into madness in a way that even he is uncomfortable with. Because he knows that this isn't the brand of crazy that he loves seeing his Scary Girlfriend express…

This wasn't simply her just trying to scare some of the others, he wouldn't have cared so much with that, because being scary and terrifying to the others is who Lauren was, and he wouldn't change that for the world. He loved seeing her in her element, but this was out of her control… her past trauma was coming back to haunt her and she was struggling to cope with it herself, pushing away everyone who could help her.

Ezekiel sighed quietly, his tears still flowing, he needed to find a way of helping her, but he just didn't know what to do…

Does he try and do what he can from home, keeping contact with the others and hoping that Lauren would reappear on her own? Or does he go back to the Playa… and actively help search for her himself…

He really needed to think about this in the morning, because he didn't want to rush into doing something stupid and accidentally make the whole situation worse. For now… he was drained, not just from crying his eyes out, but from the phone call with Damien before.

He slowly fell asleep, clutching the decorated skull in his arms like it'd disappear the moment he let it go, the tears not stopping until he was fully unconscious…

*The Next Morning*

It had taken a while for her to make her way back to the island, but Lauren was finally beginning to see the familiar sights of 'Camp Wawanakwa'... or at least, the island that they replaced the original with after the original island sank…

It had taken most of the night for her to make her way back from the mainland and across the lake, especially when she was only armed with a paddle to row her way back to said island.

However as Lauren approached the island in order to begin her payback against everyone, she began to notice a couple of things that seemed off about the island and its surroundings…

"Was that huge iceberg there before?" Lauren muttered to herself in confusion, seeing the iceberg sitting quite close to the island, with what looked like two of the interns pushing bobsleds into one of the entrances.

It must have been for the next challenge, and whilst she wanted to relish an opportunity to mess with the others as soon as possible. She just simply felt too exhausted after the amount of time it had taken to make the round trip to retrieve some of her belongings…

However she wasn't going to complain about the trip back to the funeral home in order to retrieve her outfit, it was worth it in the end just to tear apart that horrible outfit she had forced herself to wear in order to appear as a 'Normal Girl'. Even if she hadn't fully restored her scary looking appearance like she initially wanted to, at least now she felt like she could breathe slightly easier, and at least she would be slightly more recognisable in her signature outfit, unlike the other look where some of the others didn't even recognise her until Chris pointed it out.

Lauren cursed angrily under her breath as she kept rowing at the unintended reminder of several of her ex-teammates, even after several days she still felt that rage and humiliation towards everyone and everything for what was happening to her, and it was only getting worse and worse.

Both her abusive parents and adopted father…

Chris McLean and Chef Hatchet…

The other contestants both from her cast and before, even the ones she considered friends…

Even her darling Ezekiel to a small extent…

She just felt nothing but bitterness towards all of them in some form, her anger and sorrow blinding her to the truth, that there wasn't anything that her friends or even her boyfriend could have done to help her.

A small part of Lauren knew she was being slightly unfair to the Rat Faces, seeing as none of them had anything to do with this, and especially Ezekiel who had wanted to help her before she left…

However she had been the one to refuse his help, believing that things would go her way and that people would like her for trying to conform, to be normal…

Lauren shook her head almost as though she were possessed, trying to rid herself of those thoughts, at least for the moment. She wouldn't allow herself to show weakness so early into her revenge against the others.

At the very least her first priority once she dumped the boat somewhere hidden would be to find somewhere where she could sleep, she could barely think without these dark thoughts and she seemed to desperately need the rest after all the time spent travelling home and back for the dress.

And from what Lauren was seeing on the Dock of Shame, she swore that she must have been hallucinating…

Because there was no way in hell that she had just seen Ripper and Axel making out on the Dock. Last time she checked they hated each other?

Lauren first rubbed her eyes in confusion, thinking she was really just hallucinating, same with the giant iceberg still several hundred metres away in the lake, but this strange sight still remained. Lauren then slapped herself in the face, first with her hand and then afterwards whacking herself with the paddle, almost knocking herself out in the process.

But the sight hadn't disappeared, and Lauren's face paled in horror at the realisation…

Lauren had seen a lot of strange or horrible things in her eighteen years alive, from her abusive childhood, to the various strange sights during her time at the circus under her adopted father Mecidi's care, and even going as recent as her time on the show with her boyfriends feral state and the various mutant animals in the Fun Zone.

She was able to handle most things that weren't related to said trauma, but seeing Ripper and Axel kissing, especially in the intimate but disgusting way that they were…

Frankly the sight unnerved her, a feeling that she thought was reserved only for anything related to her childhood trauma. But something about them just looked really uncomfortable to her, she wanted to chalk it up to her dislike of the pair, especially Ripper, although Axel wasn't much better off in her books after everything that happened between herself and the survivalist at the Playa Des Losers last season.

However it didn't take long for her to figure out the real reason why she felt unnerved by the couple, as tears threatened to fall from her eyes…

She missed Ezekiel…

A part of her desperately wanted to turn around, to head back to the funeral home she'd been living in and forget about all of this.

Forget the competition, forget her revenge…

Just go back to the person she loved…

But as much as she wanted to see him again, she couldn't face him at the moment, especially with the whole 'stalking everyone for information' still hanging in the air for them, if the others hadn't already told him.

Lauren remembered the morning after her elimination once more, about all of the missed calls she had gotten from Ezekiel.

She shook her head once more, trying to rid herself of the bad thoughts as she opened the door to leave the room. Just before she did however Lauren began to feel her phone vibrating in her pocket once more, she reached into her pocket, pulling her phone out to see the missed calls from several of the others including Ezekiel. She stared at the notifications for a moment, only to immediately put the device away, not wanting to talk to any of the others in fear of their continued rejection.

Lauren sighed quietly to herself, stopping her rowing in order to pull her phone out for a moment, wanting nothing more than to call him right now and at least pretend that everything was okay.

But after a moment she put the phone away, sighing once more, a single tear falling down her cheek before she began to compose herself, continuing her rowing as she sailed around the island, not wanting to be caught on the campgrounds so soon after making it back. It was bad enough that Ripper and Axel could easily see her if they even took a moment's break from their making out on the dock.

She did giggle slightly at how fortunate she seemed to be at this moment, her thoughts drifting to her boyfriend once more, how was he taking this? If he even knew at all?

Lauren allowed that thought to linger for only a few moments before she focused once more, eventually finding a spot on the island that looked secluded enough to dump the boat, the Scary Girl left the boat tied up to a rock, before stepping off onto the rocky surface.

She sighed once more, allowing her negative thoughts to dissipate for the moment, before her usual expression snapped into place, smiling creepily as she skipped into the forest.

*Later that day*

Despite his fractured state of mind over everything, and having repeatedly told himself to think about everything in the morning, Ezekiel had completely forgotten about it for the moment. He hadn't had much sleep the previous night, and when he woke up he'd drove straight to the farm and practically threw himself further into his farm work in order to alleviate some of the pain that he was experiencing.

It was around midday when Ezekiel found himself falling to his bed in utter exhaustion, wanting to take a small break before attempting to continue with his chores for the day.

Ezekiel looked completely shattered, clear bags now under his eyes as he laid there on the bed, just trying to rest for a couple of minutes. He just needed to get on with it… he couldn't keep worrying about her, the others would find Lauren in time…

Despite trying to distract himself from the pain he was feeling about her current situation, Ezekiel just couldn't stop thinking about what to do about this, effectively contributing to his exhaustion.

"Zeke?" A small voice called from the doorway, snapping him out from his daze.

The prairie boy looked over, seeing his little sister Eliza standing at the door, the now four year old child had changed a little in the six months he'd known her, namely her white dress being swapped out for an outfit similar to his for the winter months, the main difference being her hoodie being a more dark purple instead of green due to outside influence from her new 'older sister' figure in Lauren.

Eliza was smiling at first as she called his name, however her happy expression quickly fell from her face upon seeing the state of her older brother.

"Are you okay?" Eliza asked quietly, unaware of anything that was happening outside of the farm, however even she could tell that Ezekiel wasn't looking too good. "Are you sick?"

Ezekiel blinked at her questions, attempting to process her words before smiling weakly after a moment. "I-It's fine sis… I-I'm just… tired i-is all…"

"Tired?" She responded, looking at Ezekiel, stepping further into his room.

"Y-Yeah… t-tired…" Ezekiel repeated, as if trying to convince himself and not just his little sister.

"You mean it?" Eliza asked again, looking at her older brother with a little concern.

Ezekiel nodded slowly, but sat up. "Did you… need me for something?" He asked in return, dodging the question as he knew he wasn't really okay, he knew what he really wanted to happen but he wasn't about to trauma dump onto his four year old sister.

If Eliza had noticed his reluctance to talk, she didn't say anything, her expression brightening as she remembered the reason why she had come to his room in the first place. "Oh! Um… Mom wanted to talk to you!"

Ezekiel blinked. "Mom wants to see me?"

He slowly got up from the bed, taking a moment to wipe his eyes, practically feeling them burning from a mixture of dried tears and exhaustion, before reluctantly following Eliza to where their mother would be waiting for them.

They left the house, heading back towards the barn, passing by the silo where their father had had his accident whilst Ezekiel was stuck on Boney Island. Eventually the siblings saw their mother sitting on a bench underneath a tree overlooking the fields.

"Ezekiel…" His mother, Elizabeth, called over, waving at him to join her on the bench, unlike Eliza who was now appropriately dressed for the cold, his mother was still wearing that blue dress, seemingly unbothered by the colder temperatures.

"H-Hey Mom…" Ezekiel greeted shyly, sitting down on the bench with her. "Y-You wanted to see me?"

"I did." She confirmed, looking at him with a large amount of concern, before moving her gaze briefly to Eliza. "Eliza sweetie, could you leave us for a few minutes." She asked authoritatively but with care, Ezekiel quickly realising that this conversation was going to be more serious than he thought.

Eliza nodded shyly. "Okay…" She muttered sadly, wanting to be around her family, but ultimately she ran off towards the house, leaving Ezekiel and Elizabeth to talk.

Once they were alone, Elizabeth sighed, turning to her son with worry plastered all over her face. "Ezekiel… what's going on?"

Ezekiel tried to smile weakly, he didn't want to make more people worried about him and by extension Lauren, it was bad enough that the whole of Lauren's cast knew about what was happening.

"I-It's nothing, Mom… I'm just…" Ezekiel tried to explain, but he was quickly cut off.

"Ezekiel." Elizabeth stated bluntly, irritation creeping onto her face. "I'm not stupid. I can see that you're upset about something…"

She sighed and then continued. "In fact… you've been acting a little off for a few days."

The Prairie Boy didn't want to have to talk about this situation right now, however he was getting the impression that he wasn't going to be able to leave anytime soon, at least, not until everything had been spilled about Lauren's whole situation.

His girlfriend was a bit of a mixed bag when it came to his family, and he knew exactly what the problem was. Lauren couldn't trust them, not with her secrets. Despite having known his family for six months at this point, Lauren had yet to come clean about her own past to them, and he had a feeling that her whole 'becoming Normal' issue had something to do with it, just like all of her problems lately…

Not that he blamed Lauren for anything that she was currently going through, he knew it was her parents fault for putting the idea of her 'needing to become normal' in her head…

Just the mere thought of what her abusive family has done pisses him off, and in a way it almost makes Ezekiel wish that he was still completely feral, just so he'd have an excuse to completely tear them apart…

Ezekiel shook his head clear of those dark thoughts almost immediately, even if he hated Lauren's biological parents, he couldn't think of something like that.

"Ezekiel? You've been quiet for a while?" Elizabeth spoke up, the worry and concern still clear in her grey eyes.

He sighed softly. "It's nothing Mom… honest." He felt a little bad for lying to his mother, but he didn't know if he could talk about what he was thinking about doing.

"I know you're lying Ezekiel, I can see it clear as day." She responded sternly. "What happened? Is it about that Lauren girl?"

Ezekiel winced slightly, and that was all the confirmation that Elizabeth needed.

Her face softened slightly, and she started thinking through all of the possibilities that could mean, before eventually biting the bullet with one of them. "You two aren't breaking up… are you?" She asked gently, her worry getting even stronger.

"WHAT!" Ezekiel's eyes widened in horror, his head snapping in Elizabeth's direction, his voice loud enough that she was certain that Eliza had heard him from the other side of the farm. "No! No it's nothing like that!"

"Then what is it?" She pressed him, almost reluctantly, however his response had piqued her interest, even if it was nothing to do with a break up it was almost certainly something to do with the Scary Girl that he'd been dating.

Ezekiel growled slightly, feeling extremely uncomfortable with the way this was going, but ultimately he relented, at least… with where she was, hoping that it would be enough to convince his mother to stop with her concern.

"Y-Yeah… It's about Lauren…" Ezekiel began slowly, his face lowered to avoid looking Elizabeth in the eyes. "She's… on another season of the show eh… a-and I'm just a little worried for her, that's all."

Elizabeth hummed slightly, taking this information in. "I see…"

She sat in silence for a few moments, it sounded plausible, however she couldn't quite help but think that this was barely scratching the surface of her son's issue, that there was a lot more to this then just worrying about his girlfriend being back on Total Drama.

Ezekiel meanwhile tried to keep his composure now that he'd spilled a small part of his worry, sincerely hoping that this would be the last they speak of it.

Elizabeth studied his expression for the moment, then slowly narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You're hiding something…"

She grabbed Ezekiel's head and forced him to look at her, her concern now having a mild amount of annoyance mixed in. "Spill it Ezekiel, I'm not letting you leave this spot until you do…"

"B-But… w-what about the f-farm work?" Ezekiel asked nervously, hoping to still find a way out of talking to her.

Elizabeth however just scoffed, a small smirk appearing on her face. "Oh please, we can handle some of the crops missing a day. Besides that's what the workers we hired after your fathers accident are for…" Her expression then became serious once more, almost deadly serious. "Now… start talking…"

Ezekiel gulped, beginning to shake under the pressure, he didn't want to talk about this with her. But then, he realised something. Why was he so worried about more people finding out? The entirety of Lauren's cast now knew about her past and the fact that she was currently MIA, and because of Chris everyone would now know about her living situation of living in a funeral home, which was something that Elizabeth knew about anyway.

It was like a switch was flipping in his head, maybe he should spill everything to her, and get a grown up perspective on how to approach the situation. He'd like to say he knew what he was doing, but even after getting accustomed to being fully human again and not a half-feral beast, he still struggled adapting to adult life, especially after he'd spent over four years of his life as said feral freakshow.

He sighed quietly, then began to spill. "It is about Lauren… I-I don't want to say too much, given she should be the person to tell you, but to sum it up… she's… not in a good place mentally right now…"

Elizabeth's eyes raised in concern, and whilst she was relieved that he was finally starting to talk about what was bothering him, she was worried about what exactly he was meaning with this.

"She got a lot of… criticism… after her last season… for being too scary…" Ezekiel continued, and she saw the discomfort flash in his eyes at the mere mention of that comment, as if it was blasphemous to say that about her.

And the worst part is that Elizabeth couldn't entirely disagree with those comments about Lauren… She felt unnerved sometimes by some of the things that Lauren said or did whenever she visited the farm, but that didn't mean that Elizabeth disliked her by any means.

Elizabeth could see that despite Lauren's flaws, Ezekiel loved her, so as long as her son was happy Elizabeth could tolerate the mini heart attacks the Scary Girl could sometimes give her. Of course, it also helped that Lauren did her best to avoid being too scary around Eliza, and that only cemented Lauren's status as part of the family in Elizabeth's eyes seeing this usually creepy girl treat her youngest child so well.

"Lauren got really hurt by all of the negative comments… they really got to her, and… she's hurting herself…" Ezekiel continued once more, and Elizabeth could see the pain in her son's eyes.

She gasped at his last statement in particular. "She… isn't self harming is she?" She looked really concerned at this.

Ezekiel widened his eyes and shook his head frantically, tears almost coming to his eyes from that comment alone. "NO NO! NOTHING LIKE THAT!" He shouted, his worry switching to frantic panic, Lauren may have been taking drastic measures in response to the bad comments however he knew she had never considered something like that.

"No! I-It was something else! S-She just… forced herself to learn to be 'normal'!"

Elizabeth paused after hearing that… "Normal?" She asked, confused.

Ezekiel looked really concerned now, however he pushed onwards, he needed to admit the truth, even if he left some of the worst parts out like the stalking he hoped he could explain enough that she'd actually be able to give him proper advice on what to do about his missing girlfriend.

"Y-Yeah… 'normal'… s-she'd been studying all these different things that people our age did… wanting to blend in more in order to go further and prove the people wrong who said all of those bad things about her…" Ezekiel explained solemnly. "A-And I could tell she hated it…"

He remembered that night before Lauren had left for the new season, that outfit she wore that didn't suit her in the slightest, the reluctance to talk and the pain in her eyes as she desperately looked at him for his approval. And worst of all, hearing her trying to hold back tears when she'd allowed him to hug her that night, as if she regretted every moment of trying to be this 'Normal Girl'.

"A-And the worst part is… I-I heard from some of the others on the island… she got kicked off first…" Ezekiel continued once more, his composure cracking. "And it's broken her… s-she's gone missing a-and she won't r-respond to anyone's calls or m-messages…"

Ezekiel finally cracked himself, the tears beginning to form in his eyes. Elizabeth stared at her son with pity, before gently pulling him into a soft embrace, allowing him to cry onto her shoulder.

"Shhh…" She shushed him gently, rubbing his back as soothingly as she could. "It's okay honey…" She attempted to reassure him, although honestly, she didn't know how effective this was going to be.

At the very least she knew that this wasn't just some little issue between the couple, but something much more serious, something that the Scary Girl wasn't able to cope with alone.

"I j-just d-don't k-know what t-to do Mom…" Ezekiel sobbed. "D-Do I t-try and w-wait for the s-season to end… and let h-her come to m-me… o-or do I h-head to t-the island a-again, a-and help her…"

Elizabeth finally understood where Ezekiel's problem was, he wanted to help his girlfriend with whatever problem she had after those comments, but because she'd gone missing after her 'elimination', he was effectively stuck in limbo with the guilt of being stuck separated from her eating at him.

She sighed. "I'm guessing you're not supposed to be there… and that's why you haven't already left…"

Ezekiel nodded, the tears still falling. "Y-Yeah…" He admitted nervously. "W-We got into a-a lot of t-trouble last time… a-after she r-rescued me."

His mother sighed again, thinking on his words for a minute, weighing up both sides of what was essentially the most important parts of this whole internal debate Ezekiel had been having until now.

"But… what do you want to do Ezekiel…" She eventually asked her son softly.

Ezekiel looked up into her eyes after a moment, his eyes still soaked in tears, although his gaze began to steel up slightly in determination. "I-I want to go h-help her… I… I can't leave L-Lauren to s-suffer t-through this a-alone…"

Elizabeth smiled softly, kissing her son's forehead before standing up. "Then… go be with her…"

"You… You mean that?" Ezekiel asked slowly, his eyes widening.

She smiled softly at her son. "Yes… believe me, she needs you right now… and besides…" Her eyes gained a little mischievous glint. "Didn't you say there was a lawsuit against that Chris McLean guy about his mistreatment of you? I'm sure he won't be able to do anything if you showed up… or else that will just add more evidence into what I'm sure is an already huge amount."

Ezekiel chuckled, wiping the tears from his eyes with his sleeve, before standing up with her. "Y-Yeah… y-you're right…"

Elizabeth smiled, before leading him back towards the house. "I'll help pack you some clothes… since I'd imagine you probably don't want to wear the same outfit the whole time" She smiled knowingly.

Ezekiel laughed. "No… probably not eh." He did feel a little better after talking about this, and at least now he knew what he was gonna do…

He was gonna head back to the Playa Des Losers… find Lauren… and do his best to help her…

He just hoped that wherever Lauren was right now… she was doing okay?

*Later that morning*

Lauren was beginning to really feel the signs of exhaustion now…

She had been slowly making her way through the forest for what felt like hours, and the sun had long since appeared overhead. The Scary Girl had to take her time with finding a suitable place to camp out, where she could finally begin planning out what she was going to do for payback against everyone else still in the game, especially against the people who voted her out.

This movement however was only slowed even more as she had to dodge her way past what felt like dozens of cameras, to be honest she actually wasn't quite sure what Chris would do if she were caught on camera having snuck back onto the island, so she played it safe for a change and used all of her agility and strength from years of practice at the circus in order to avoid detection.

Eventually she found a more secluded part of the forest that didn't seem to be as watched as other parts were, a small clearing surrounded on one half by trees, and the other half by what looked to be the side of a cliff. There was not only a small stream so she'd at least not die of thirst out in the woods, but to Lauren's delight there was even a small cave etched into the side of the cliff where she could hide out in.

Lauren walked in with the same look on her face that she had when she had first stepped foot back onto the island, taking a brief look at her new temporary home whilst the rest of the season was going on.

But honestly, there wasn't much to the cave, not that she was expecting anything spectacular, although she was happy at least to see that it went a little deeper than she first thought. It almost felt nostalgic in a way to her, remembering the couple days she spent cuddling up to Ezekiel in his old cave on Boney Island…

Of course, to her nothing would beat those couple of nights in the cave, spending time sitting in the nest he had called a bed, getting to know each other. How she got to spend the night with her favourite contestant, swapping various stories about their times on the show.

Lauren sighed almost longingly, wanting to go back to that day again as she walked further into the cave. Again the thoughts of turning back and going back to the funeral home surfaced in her mind, just to forget about all of this and stay hidden away with the person she loved.

It wasn't like they would need her for anything, if this season goes anything like her first season then no ones gonna return to the game, they'll probably have the double elimination and stick with only thirteen episodes, and unless they actively made her an obstacle in one of the challenges, most likely the finale, then there would be no reason for her to stick around for said finale.

But then, just as quickly as the thoughts of turning back hit her, they left her mind, replaced by her more darker thoughts of revenge…

Revenge on the others for just casting her aside, even when she put blood, sweat and tears into forcing herself into becoming a 'Normal Girl' for them. And for what… for her parents to ultimately be proven right about her…

Her parents…

Those goddamn abusive bastards…

Lauren growled menacingly, picking up a somewhat large rock and throwing it across the cave, embedding it within the wall with a loud rumbling sound as the wall partially collapsed where she struck it.

She fell to her knees, screaming out in pure rage and despair at her realisation. In her attempts at forcing normality she only proved their point… she couldn't be normal… she was only a psychopath… a freak…

It only served to piss her off even more the longer she thought about it, and not only was the pain, suffering and rage going inwards, it was being aimed at everyone else on the island.

She wouldn't go back on her words in the confessional that night she had been eliminated…

For a moment she breathed deeply, trying to calm herself down slightly before looking back up towards the camera, a look of utter loathing in her eyes as she began to vent.

"This is what you get for trying to conform with societal norms, carried into the sky by a drone!" She began before glaring directly at the camera. "I didn't even try to hurt anyone on my team this time!" She almost growled, trying to hold back tears of frustration as she knew that she didn't have much time.

She smiled, a cold look on her face as she continued to vent, briefly holding a hand to her chest in order to stop the shaking. "I taught myself how to smile forty percent less creepily!"

Eventually however she couldn't hold back the anger anymore, diving towards the camera and clutching it in both hands as a dark look overcame her eyes. "Ohh, this isn't the last of Scary Girl…" She muttered to the camera before a look of pure hatred entered her pale blue eyes, Lauren completely discarding the 'Normal Girl' persona she'd tried to create as she let her emotions completely overtake her. "I'm going to MAKE THEM PAY!" She almost screamed, a manic look entering her eyes before she stood up and kicked the door open.

Her eyes sharpened at the memory, her smile becoming fully psychotic as she began to plot to herself, what exactly could she do to the others in order to get her revenge…

And more importantly… Who does she target first? One of the people who voted her off? Or one of the members of the other team?

Either way she wasn't gonna stop until every person who'd wronged her felt the same pain she had during her elimination…or worse…

And she'd make sure that happened this time…

The doors to the funeral home slammed open, Ezekiel running in with almost reckless abandon in order to get to Lauren's room. He only had the foresight to close the door before he made a mad dash across the interior to his destination, an empty bag in his hands.

Ezekiel didn't want to waste any more time than necessary, only grabbing a few things that he thought would be essential for helping Lauren. Namely things to bring her back to her senses in case she had fully snapped in her self imposed isolation.

There wasn't much point in other stuff, Lauren usually only preferred to wear the one dress, somehow managing to keep it pristine and clean despite wearing it all the time. This seemed to stick even with the normal outfit, as when he did a sweep of the closet there only seemed to be a couple of other outfits, namely a swimsuit, some night wear, and one or two other outfits that he'd never seen her wear before, being a hoodie, shirt and two pairs of tracksuit bottoms, every single one of which was all black.

Ezekiel shrugged as he saw the only options, he was hoping to find Lauren quickly and if they were staying at the Playa Des Losers again she could do with at least a couple variations to her outfit, so he packed every single outfit into the bag reserved for her things, as well as her make up bag and some hair dye, just in case she hadn't fixed up her hair when she'd come back for her 'Scary Girl' outfit.

He tried to ignore the slight dirty feeling upon grabbing the rest of her clothes from her drawers, just taking a couple pairs of everything and shoving them into the bag along with the other items. It was better she was mad at him for this than to not take anything at all in his eyes...

Finally, he looked at the decorated skull that Lauren had taken from the island shortly before she landed on Boney Island and met him. It seemed strange at first, but after a few moments of thinking about it Ezekiel smiled softly, picking it up as well. The skull was like a memento to how they first met, remembering how he'd stolen it when he'd seen her for the first time, curious about the girl he'd found so intriguing. At the very least he'd bring it as a reminder of his girlfriend whilst they searched the islands for her.

"I think that's everything…" He muttered to himself, it wasn't as though food, essentials or any luxuries like movies or the sort. Since the Playa Des Losers already had enough of that where they could just hang out together once he found her.

A small part of him still felt a little uncertain if she was even on one of the islands, but it made the most sense to him, given if she was just trying to get away from the show after her elimination she would have just stayed at home instead of just coming back for the dress. It would have made things a lot easier but he was certain it was just the stress of the overall situation clouding her judgement over her ignoring him out of malice.

At least… he hoped he hadn't given her a reason to be mad at him…

Ezekiel shook his head as he finished packing up Lauren's bag, clearing his head of any bad thoughts… no, there was no way that Lauren was mad at him over this, he remembered that night once more, there was just no way she thought that.

He just wished he did know what was going on inside her head, he sighed longingly, hoping that he'd be able to find Lauren quickly, then began to make his way out of the funeral home.

*Later that evening*

The challenge had once again gone against the Rat Faces, every last one of them feeling disappointed like they'd personally failed after what seemed like a bright start to the game, completely unaware of the Skunk Butts cheating over the last three challenges.

All six of the remaining members made their way to the campfire ceremony, with only one of them looking remotely content with their current situation, not that the others noticed Nichelle's almost smug look, too busy fighting off their own conflicted emotions.

They all sat down at the campfire as Chris picked up the plate with five marshmallows on them, all of them too absorbed in their concerns to bother laughing at the ridiculous looking top hat that Chris had been wearing in order to hide his 'bad hair day'. Although Chef Hatchet stood to the side looking quite pleased with the work he had done to 'salvage' that particular mess.

None of the people sitting at the campfire were aware of the two eavesdroppers looking forward to seeing the events that were about to unfold…

"Team Rat Face…" Chris began, looking at them arrogantly as he held the plate of marshmallows. "You all must have really caught a chill today if you're willing to brave a third consecutive elimination ceremony just to get near the fire…" He taunted the losing team, flashbacks of the Killer Grips, Team Victory, and the Toxic Rats from previous seasons coming to mind as Chris thought of just how bad this team has become so quickly…

"Very funny!" Axel glared as she pointed angrily at the host, her words dripping with a mixture of anger and sarcasm.

Chris grinned, however he didn't respond to the bait that Axel threw out, instead gesturing with a smug look for Chef to walk forward. "Chef? Please recap our worst performances of the day." His grin widening as Chef stood by his side with his own smug look on his face.

"My pleasure…" Chef smiled before his expression turned into the usual angry look he had when addressing the screw ups of the day. "Zee!" He said sternly, pointing towards him, mouth open as he was about to call out his first contestant.

However before anything could happen Nichelle stood up confidently, shouting for Chef to wait as she did so.

"Don't bother Chef." Nichelle began smugly as she pulled out a contract from her pocket. "I just got hired to star in a superhero franchise. Three picture deal. EP credit. All guaranteed!" She held up three fingers at the mention of the picture deals, before pointing at the specific part of the contract saying how it was in fact, all guaranteed.

She put the contract away, however she looked just as confident as she spoke her next words. "And I've got to get back to LA tomorrow to start shooting!" Nichelle looked giddy as she held her arms towards her chest in excitement, beginning to run away from the campfire. "Soooo… Byeeee!" She finished as she began to run towards the Dock of Shame where the Drone of Despair was no doubt waiting to take her to the resort, where she could arrange to be picked up to be taken to LA for the shoot.

Damien however looked a little puzzled even as the other members looked a little shocked at Nichelle's sudden decision to just quit the game. "Hold up, but you told us you… hated Hollywood?"

Nichelle stopped running for a moment, turning back with clear anger appearing on her face. "Maybe you didn't hear me correctly…" She then stormed back up to his face, frightening him as the Action Star held three fingers to his face. "THREE! PICTURE! DEAL!"

Even Chris looked slightly startled as Nichelle continued walking away from the other contestants and towards him. "Hope you all have fun suffering through this for a measly million bucks!" Nichelle continued, picking up a marshmallow from the plate Chris was carrying, laughing to herself arrogantly as she ate it.

"NICHELLE LADONNA IS BACK BABY!" Nichelle cheered once more, pumping her arms in the air as she ran straight for the Dock of Shame, Chris smiling as she ran past him.

"Hold on… doesn't that mean she owes you a million dollars now?" Damien asked in confusion to Chris as he turned to follow Nichelle, remembering how he was forced to stay in the game even when he wanted to quit because of said rule.

"Oh, that?" Chris looked smugly at Damien. "That was just to convince you to stay! Seriously, you weren't the first person who wanted to quit mid-game!" Chris laughed as he turned once more, following Nichelle to the Dock of Shame.

Damien sighed in annoyance. "Of course it was…" He grumbled, accepting that he had been played there, besides there was no point of him getting too mad about it when it was six months ago.

After Chris and Chef had both left, Chris following Nichelle to the Dock and Chef heading back to the campgrounds since he was no longer needed. The five remaining Rat Face members sat there in disbelief for a moment before getting up, beginning to walk back to the campground themselves.

"Wow… I did not see that coming…" Damien muttered to the others as they walked away, only to be stopped by Julia of all people, who was now leaning against the wooden sign observing her nails.

"I did…" She stated smugly, not even bothering to look up to address them with, a smirk on her face.

"Um… how?" Priya asked, looking as confused as everyone else.

"Cause I wrote that big fat fake contract and left it on Nichelle's bed before today's challenge." Julia explained with an evil grin on her face, before turning around with that smug look still on her face. "Sweet dreams… Rat Faces…" She mocked before beginning to walk away.

"Remind me, NEVER, to cross that girl…" Damien stated as Julia walked away, the others just staring in shock as they processed that information.

Julia however dropped the smug look the moment that she had gotten enough of a distance away from the others. She had lied about that whole thing, the only thing she had done was leave the contract on her bed, but not only was that hastily AFTER the challenge when everyone else was in the Mess Hall, but she had to also hastily change any mention of her name to Nichelle's and make it look believable for a movie deal rather than the influencer deal she really wanted…

She had initially thought it was MK having been able to recover some paper after all when doing her usual cheating schemes in the intern outfit, but… then she had seen the contract already written in her name…

Someone wanted her out…

And whoever had tried that was going to pay…

As Julia continued walking away, now more determined to get revenge on whoever had done such a thing, she began trying to figure out who could have done that…

As strange a concept as it was to her, she trusted MK…

The Rat Faces couldn't have since they looked as shocked about the contract as she had been, so unless they were really good at faking shock then it couldn't be them…

And she knew that Wayne, Raj and Ripper all wouldn't be smart enough to pull something like this off…

That just left…

"Bowie…" Julia growled in frustration, clenching her fists tightly at the realisation, it made enough sense in her mind, and it wasn't the first time he had attempted sabotage like this, given what he did to Priya and Millie's friendship the night before the finale last season.

"Oh he is gonna pay for this…" She vowed to herself, storming back to her cabin, already beginning to plot ways to get revenge on her bitter rival for attempting to backstab her like that.

However she couldn't have been further from the truth, watching from the top of the cliff with a pair of binoculars in her hands was Lauren, giggling creepily to herself as she watched the whole elimination ceremony go down.

Lauren's plan hadn't worked out as initially intended, however… she'd heard Julia's words just then and this worked out in her favour…

The Scary Girl may not have accounted for Nichelle being eliminated with the contract she'd written up instead, but ultimately it didn't matter too much to her. Nichelle was gonna be so crushed when she found out that she quit for nothing, however that was Lauren's goal in the first place.

Her one plan of trying to cope with what had happened in between seasons had been crushed because of people refusing to accept her attempting to be a 'Normal Girl'…

So she wanted to do the same to them, she wanted to sabotage their chances at the million and watch as they suffered like she is.

Maybe then her own pain will start to disappear…

End Chapter

Author's Note: Okay first off, I'm not trying to hate on Rixel, I do like the ship, but in universe everyone did have negative reactions to them as a couple, especially regarding their PDA. Plus I'd find it funny if even Scary Girl found them unnerving, although in this case it was for different reasons.

Secondly, the contract. The original explanation was too contrived and out of nowhere, so I wanted to try and give a little bit of an expansion by having it be an attempt of getting rid of Julia, with her essentially using the already made contract and refurbishing it to the contract Nichelle read. It's not a perfect scenario I know, however Scary Girl isn't the smartest person as episode one of season two showed, but I feel like it's something Lauren would attempt, and in the way it worked out for her, someone still quit and Julia suspects Bowie of doing it.

Lastly, I want to give a couple shoutouts, first of all shoutout to every person from the 'TD Writers' discord. I may not talk that much due to a mixture of social anxiety, and fear of being disliked for these fics (mostly because of the Scarekiel ship tbh). But you all are such awesome people and, hopefully I can one day feel comfortable enough to talk with everyone.

But also more specifically since I was mentioned in one of their chapters, I'll shout them out as well. So uh, go check out the 'Dreams Come True' series by Caleb13Frede on AO3, or The Imaginationeers on FF, it's a really good crossover series that I'd highly recommend, with a particular shoutout to 'This Is Your Captain Crashing', their World Tour adaptation that focuses on Izzy, but with a lot of angst thrown into the mix! I'd really consider giving it a look if you haven't already.

Chapter Text

Author's Note: Heya, I may as well start by saying that I've been silly again with the whole 'procrastination' thing and I've only gone and taken over a month to write this chapter when I originally wanted it ready for the reboots anniversary on April 10th, then the 1st anniversary of 'Not So Scary After All' on April 25th.

But no… I only go and miss both… hopefully I got this out before the AO3 anniversary on May 6th.

To be fair, I have been trying to lay the foundations for a couple of other fics I wanna work on, one of which being the compfic sequel I want to potentially do after 'Not So Normal' is completed, but that's still in very early planning stages. The other fic being unrelated to Total Drama, but for the (very few) people who know me or at least looked at my fanfiction profile probably know that I also really like My Hero Academia, and I want to write something for that, specifically about a certain pairing I really love involving a certain green haired hero and a blonde villain, if you know you know. That being said, both of those are still in the early planning stages, especially until I get closer to finishing this fic.

On a side note, the reboot is finally getting a US release date! It's out on June 1st, so I'm begging all of you from the USA to please watch the official release of the reboot seasons. I've done my part with the UK release, but this is the big one that'll decide if we get a third season, whether it's this cast again, a mixture of the old ones, or a brand new cast!

Chapter Five

It had been quite late into the night when Ezekiel had arrived at the docks where he had last seen Lauren just before she had taken off for the new season…

Just before everything had started to go wrong…

There were unfortunately no boats at the dock at the time of Ezekiel's arrival, however there was one thing in particular nearby that caught Ezekiel's eye. The remains of what looked to be a small fire, but whilst the fact that a fire being made on what was supposed to be a public space was odd enough, what really caught the Prairie Boy's eye was the burnt remains of some familiar clothes.

The once orange shirt was almost completely charred, although he could see a couple small patches of orange fabric in amongst the now blackened and burnt fabric. The shorts were in a similar state, and the shoes had melted on themselves, almost completely unrecognisable. But the thing that really convinced Ezekiel was the sight of a single red ribbon, untied but trapped underneath one of the shoes, flowing freely in the wind.

There was no mistaking it for Ezekiel, this was the 'Normal Girl' outfit Lauren had been wearing the last time he saw her…

Which only confirmed for him that she was most likely back on the island, or at least on one of the nearby islands, he just knew that she wasn't at the Playa Des Losers resort, even if she was hiding on the same island.

Ezekiel did end up having to spend the night hidden somewhere in the docks, it wasn't too much of a bother to him after having spent several years sleeping on solid ground or hastily made nests. It had been something that he was still used to even after being cured of his feral state, although he definitely preferred both of his beds back at the farm and the funeral home.

He woke up early in the next morning, the docks were still empty however there was now a single boat docked up, with a man standing in front of the boat seemingly waiting for somebody to show up. Seeing the lack of available options to him at the moment, Ezekiel decided he needed to check to see if he'd be allowed to board the boat in hopes of being taken to the Playa Des Losers island to begin his search for Lauren, he left his bags at the side just in case, and began to approach the boat.

The man waiting in front of the boat looked slightly irritated as Ezekiel approached, and one glance at the Prairie Boy was all it took for said man to narrow his eyes, although the sight of the man looking through the clipboard in his hands was making Ezekiel think that there was a bit more of a reason than just being openly hostile. He was wearing one of the intern uniforms that was standard for Total Drama, so Ezekiel immediately knew to be cautious just in case this ended up getting back to Chris somehow.

They were lucky he somehow had no idea yet about Lauren going missing for the second season in a row, and Ezekiel was feeling more and more grateful to both Millie and Damien for keeping him in the loop somewhat about what was going on both at the Playa and the main island.

"Um… hey…" Ezekiel greeted awkwardly as he stepped up to the boat, the man glaring at him in response.

"What do you want?" The man responded, his voice quite rough, he sounded tired and looked fed up with Ezekiel already.

"I-I was just wondering i-if this boat was a-available eh…" Ezekiel asked nervously, sweat forming under his toque.

The man narrowed his eyes some more. "It isn't… and you don't look like the person I'm supposed to be picking up… so buzz off!" He didn't advance towards him, but it was quite clear that Ezekiel was not gonna be allowed on by conventional means.

Which normally Ezekiel would've accepted… if it wasn't for the fact that he currently had no means of getting to the island without swimming there himself, which considering he'd also have to carry both his and Lauren's things would at best be a long and tedious task, and at worst result in him possibly losing their things AND potentially drowning.

"W-Well… do you know if there's gonna be any other boats available soon?" Ezekiel replied somewhat nervously, realising that he was in fact running out of options.

He tried to ignore Ezekiel, checking the clipboard in his hands once more, then sighed. "Look man, I don't know anything about any other boats being here, nor do I care all that much. If there is, then it'll be fishermen bringing their own boats to the lake, or supplies being delivered to my boss. Either way I'm only here to bring my passenger to my boss for his stupid show, and you're not them… so I'm gonna ask you once more nicely… Please leave me alone."

Ezekiel sighed, realising that it was better to not risk picking a fight with someone who was clearly an intern working for Chris, so common sense won out this time as Ezekiel walked off grumbling to himself.

He turned the corner, heading back to his stuff where he'd then slump to the ground, trying to think of another way for him to get to the resort without needing to swim all the way there.

He spent the next few minutes in silence, completely distracted by his own thoughts, and he was only interrupted by a pair of large arms wrapping around his torso, hoisting him up and crushing his smaller body in a huge bear hug.

"Ezekiel!" Owen greeted happily, being the source of the bear hug that was currently squeezing the life out of the Prairie Boy. "It's so good to see you again!"

"Ack!" Ezekiel choked out, struggling to breathe slightly, he thought he was used to having the life squeezed out of him after spending the last six months living with Lauren, but clearly he didn't realise that there was a massive difference between a Scary Girl who for all her strength, was only around the same size as him, and the massive behemoth that was Owen, who wasn't exactly a slouch in the strength department either…

"O-Owen… p-put m-me… d-down eh…" Ezekiel gasped weakly. "I… c-can't breathe…"

"Huh?" Owen blinked, before realising what he was doing, he gently set Ezekiel back onto the ground, before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry dude, I'm just so psyched to see my friend again!" He cheered.

Ezekiel didn't respond for a moment, taking a moment to take some deep breaths back into his lungs, as the pain of his ribs and organs being crushed by Owen's bear hug started to fade away.

He took a moment to look at Owen, and he looked exactly the same as he always had whilst on the show, the only addition being the large backpack he was carrying.

"I-It's good to see you too eh…" Ezekiel admitted, smiling shyly. "But… what are you even doing here?"

"Well… Chris asked me to come help out with a challenge for tomorrow, so he's letting me stay at the resort for a couple of days…" Owen explained happily, opening his bag which turned out to NOT be full of clothes or essentials, but rather full of food, which he started digging into. "He did also say that I had to sign something that keeps me from leaking anything after what happened last season… something about that fight that got posted on social media…"

Owen then unwrapped a large sandwich that he had taken out of his bag, before stuffing the whole thing into his mouth. "Mmm… delicious…"

Ezekiel blinked for a moment as Owen ate, quickly realising that he meant the fight between Lauren and Axel that had happened so long ago… he'd completely forgotten about that incident if he was honest with himself.

And then he realised something else…

"Wait… you said you were heading to the resort?" Ezekiel asked Owen nervously, a plan beginning to form in his mind.

Owen finished his snack, before glancing at Ezekiel and nodding slowly. "Uh… yeah… Are you not?"

Ezekiel sighed, he didn't quite want to explain just yet, he'd rather wait until he was actually at the resort trying to find his missing girlfriend before explaining anything to do with the situation.

"I am, but unfortunately the knob manning the boat won't let me board, and I'm guessing you're the passenger they're waiting for." Ezekiel responded, glaring behind him at the corner where he knew led to where the boat was.

Owen thought to himself for a moment. "I mean… I guess I could help… but how?"

Ezekiel smirked and pointed at Owen's bag. "Remember Newfoundland? When you found me contorted inside that pan?"

Owen shuddered slightly at the reminder of that little incident after the Newfoundland challenge, he was fishing items out of the soup when he somehow had fished out Ezekiel, which given no one else had realised that Ezekiel was still stowing away on the plane at the time it ended up scaring Owen half to death.

"Uh… yeah…" Owen shuddered again. "I remember… I still don't know how you managed to do that?"

Ezekiel laughed awkwardly. "Yeah… I suppose if one good thing came out of World Tour, it showed me that I have a large pain tolerance eh."

He then shook his head, focusing once more. "Anyway, I was thinking… if they won't let me on the boat, maybe you can sneak me inside your bag? They never saw my bags so if I stay quiet, they won't notice me…"

After a moment of consideration Owen had to ask something, his tone sounding slightly unsure. "I'm getting the impression that you're not actually supposed to be there…"

Ezekiel just sighed. "Look, I'll explain once we're at the resort, but I really need to be over there!" He pleaded.

Owen thought on it for a moment, then shrugged, opening his bag fully and pushing the food to the side so it created some room for Ezekiel to squeeze into.

Ezekiel smiled for a moment, only for it to drop when Owen picked him up, trying to shove him into the bag roughly.

"H-Hey! Watch it yo! Ow! Owen!" He complained, feeling severely uncomfortable being shoved into the bag, almost contradicting his earlier statement about his supposed 'pain tolerance', but eventually Ezekiel was inside the bag, with Owen closing it up.

"I'll get you there little buddy! But when we get there I wanna know why I've had to do this…" Owen said to the bag now containing Ezekiel, oblivious to the fact that his new companion was in an uncomfortable position.

Owen hoisted the bag back onto his shoulders, before picking up Ezekiel's bags and heading around the corner, almost immediately spotting the boat and walking towards it.

"HEY!" Owen yelled at the intern, who groaned slightly to himself before checking the clipboard. "How's it going man!" Owen greeted happily, not noticing the intern's poor mood like Ezekiel had.

The intern skimmed his clipboard once, looked back at Owen, and sighed in relief. "Oh good, you're here." He forced a smile and unlocked the hatch to let Owen onto the boat. "As much as I like having a break from being tortured by McLean… I was beginning to get tired of waiting."

Owen just laughed, attempting to make casual conversation, setting both his and Ezekiel's bags down onto the floor as he sat down on one of the seats. "I feel ya man, I mean… doing the challenges in the past were hard enough, I could hardly imagine having to test them!"

The intern just rolled his eyes and suppressed a sigh, realising that this was going to be a long trip to the Playa Des Losers to drop this guy off. And then he'd had to do this tomorrow as well to get him to the island for the Baking Challenge Chris wanted him there for…

As the boat set off and Owen kept the intern distracted with a mostly one-sided conversation, Ezekiel sighed quietly from within the bag, having both felt and heard the boat beginning to move away from the docks and towards the cluster of islands where the show took place.

'I'm on my way Lauren…' Ezekiel thought silently to himself, a determined look on his face. 'I just hope you're doing alright… wherever you are right now…'

*Around the same time*

Lauren sighed quietly to herself as she walked quietly through the forest, deep in thought about what she was going to do next.

Her first idea of revenge hadn't gone amazingly well… sure she did technically cause someone's elimination, and despite Julia being able to flip it onto Nichelle she was at least glad that it did put the villainous influencer on edge…

And again, she could only imagine the rage, the sadness, the horror on Nichelle's face when she realised that she had been duped into quitting, and it pleased her… especially knowing that she was technically blameless for the elimination since it was supposed to be Julia being hit with the contract… not that it bothered her.

What did bother Lauren however was that the realisation that… well…

She didn't really have a plan for what she was gonna do to the others for revenge…

And that was an issue for the Scary Girl, how was she gonna make good on her promise when she didn't have a clue on how to go about it? Does she just try to sabotage people's chances at the game? Does she try and just humiliate them? Does she even try and physically harm them? She just didn't know...

Of course, she'd save that last one as a last resort… and only for the people she didn't like or care about that much, like Axel, Ripper or Julia…

Because as much as Lauren was pissed off about her elimination, their rejection of her trying her hardest to be normal… to try and show her abusive parents that she wasn't just the monster they thought she was…

Lauren did have to admit that a couple of the others from her cast had become something close to 'friends' for her… like Priya, Zee and Damien…

She didn't know if she actually wanted to harm her… 'friends'... in the same way that she would've six months ago. She would definitely scare them, it was her favourite pastime after all, and she always knew the limit of how far she could take her scares before it became too much…

She didn't once own her own attraction at her father figure's circus just because of her looks, she knew exactly how to push people's buttons in order to extract the most fear from them…

Lauren shook her head slightly as she kept walking, she knew that she could scare them still, even get them eliminated as revenge, they wouldn't hold it against her forever if they found out what she was doing right? She watched the show, plenty of other contestants did these things in the past and they were still liked after the show… right?

She just had to pick and choose who to really hurt, and who to only scare and get kicked off the show…

As she kept contemplating her thoughts, she started to pass by the campgrounds, being just out of view of anyone that could easily catch her…

That is… if any of them were actually outside, when they clearly weren't.

Lauren didn't pay attention to this, and almost completely walked past the camp until an explosion in the Mess Hall caught her off guard. She immediately turned with a shocked look on her face, only for it to turn to excitement as she saw the hole that had formed on the roof.

"Ooh, what happened?" She giggled creepily to herself as she skipped over, leaping up to grab the edge of the roof, quickly climbing up onto the top of the Mess Hall and shimmying over to the hole that had opened up, peering over the edge and into the interior of the Mess Hall to listen in on whatever had just happened.

She got there just in time to hear the end of Chris's explanation for the teams merging, and she could just about see the nervous looks on most of the contestants faces as they processed this information.

That was… apart from MK and Julia, the villainous duo both smirking at the turn of events, realising that they had managed to survive what looked like seemingly impossible odds at the start of the team phase of the competition.

"Oh it is on!" Julia proclaimed smugly, leaning forward with her head resting on her hands, looking almost arrogantly at Bowie, who looked around nervously at the realisation that he would need to win that individual immunity otherwise he was likely gone, especially with some of the members of the other team also still disliking him after what happened at the finale last season.

"Wait… already?" Lauren muttered quietly to herself in disbelief at the turn of events. "But only five of us have left… isn't it too early?"

It just didn't make any sense to her to merge after only five episodes… even her previous season didn't merge this early, and she was genuinely confused… did something happen to warrant this, or was Chris already bored with how the teams are looking and decided to make some changes?

After giving all eleven remaining contestants a moment to process that the merge was happening, as well as the Scary Girl currently spying on them, Chris began the second, and more intriguing part of his announcements.

"In addition to the merging of the teams, there will now be an immunity idol in play!" Chris began eagerly, pointing towards Chef who had pulled out a small golden bobblehead statue of Chris, the Co-Host flicking the head with a content smile on his face.

"This handsome specimen will be hidden somewhere on the island…" Chris continued eagerly as all eleven of the still competing teenagers looked at him with varying expressions. "He's beautiful, but not easy to find! It might be in a tree, or underground, or even inside something else…"

Lauren smirked deviously as she eyed up the immunity idol from her vantage point up on the roof of the Mess Hall, whilst she still didn't have too much of an idea of how she would sabotage the others in her quest for revenge, but stealing the immunity idol for herself would be a good start.

Plus the thought of watching the others aimlessly searching for the idol whilst their chances of survival in the game dwindled was amusing to her… it wasn't her usual brand of scaring people, but it would do…

"Can't be in here coach." Wayne smirked, knocking on his head with his fist, and Lauren could swear she heard nothing but a thick skull. "There's no room…"

"Wayne was in a medical journal…" Raj agreed, both Hockey Bros oblivious to the fact that it wasn't exactly a thing to be proud of, especially in Wayne's case with how he looked away from Chris with a proud look on his face.

"I believe that…" Chris responded with a deadpan look on his face, before turning to the other contestants with his usual smile back on his face. "As I was saying, whoever finds the idol can use it at an elimination ceremony to save themselves from being voted off."

As he spoke he glanced around at each of the contestants, noting their nervous expressions, outside of the confident looks on Julia and MK's faces. Chris tried to keep his expression neutral, wanting to save his surprise for the cheater until he got to explaining the challenge.

"Feel free to search for it during your free time…" Chris finished his idol explanation before gesturing towards the door. "But for now… meet me outside… It's challenge time!" He smirked before beginning to make his way outside, the contestants soon following him out.

As Chris was finishing his explanation, Lauren noticed Chef Hatchet in the centre of the campgrounds instructing one of the interns to hide the idol somewhere deep into the forest, wanting it to be somewhere that the others would never find it, the intern running off with the immunity idol as the others started to slowly make their way out of the Mess Hall.

Unfortunately for the Scary Girl, with everyone now heading onto the campgrounds to start their challenge, she was unable to follow the intern straight away without risking getting caught by the others, so she reluctantly stayed on the roof for the moment, ducking away from view so nobody would notice her as Chris began explaining the challenge.

And considering the moment they left the Mess Hall, Lauren saw Ripper and Axel beginning to make out, she would take hiding away for a change…

There were few things that could scare Lauren… but those two being in a relationship was just disturbing to her…

It definitely didn't help that she really didn't like Ripper, and the only reason her and Axel weren't at each other's throats was because Axel and Ezekiel were still civil with each other.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she missed the initial explanation of the challenge, although she saw MK stood on her own looking slightly uncomfortable as everyone else started to pair up. She looked confused at this, considering she thought MK and Julia would have been pairing up straight away…

Lauren watched as MK looked around with a lot of concern on her face as the others paired up, before turning back to Chris with a nervous look on her face.

"W-Why's it gotta be me who doesn't get a partner huh?" MK asked with a scared smile on her face, her expression fearful as she nervously tapped her fingers together.

Chris smiled as he knew his moment had arrived, and began to slowly explain exactly why MK was going to be alone for the challenge…

"Oh! If you prefer a partner, maybe you can work with one of the interns!" Chris proclaimed gleefully as he began to walk over to the nervous MK. "I know the perfect one!"

He faked a confused expression, looking around as he stopped in front of MK. "Hmm I don't see him… he's about your height, with nervous deceitful eyes, a moustache…" Chris explained the appearance of this 'intern', making hand gestures with every point he made.

"Where is he?" Chris then proclaimed, an evil smile appearing on his face as he pulled out a black marker pen from his pocket, taking off the cap and quickly scribbling a moustache onto MK's face, much to Lauren's amusement.

"There he is!" Chris smirked, glaring at MK who paled as she finally realised that she had been caught.

"Aw crap…" MK muttered to herself as the other contestants crowded around the pair, curious about what was going on.

"That's pretty impressive…" Chris continued, his grin widening as he noticed all of the Rat Faces in particular crowding around him and MK, and he knew that there would be fireworks from the opposing team as to the real reason why they had lost so many challenges in a row.

MK just rubbed her arm in embarrassment as Chris just continued to explain what she had done, knowing that she was most likely screwed unless something drastic happened during the challenge.

"Dressing up as an intern to get information on the challenges so your team could cheat…" Chris glared, letting out the secret to the Skunk Butts success in the last few challenges.

"WHAT!" Priya shouted, glaring menacingly at MK as she realised that this cheating may very well have been the reason why Millie, Emma and Nichelle had all been eliminated back to back to back.

"Interesting…" Lauren muttered to herself, still sitting on the roof of the Mess Hall hidden away from everyone else, at least this explained why he'd merged the teams even earlier than the previous season.

"There are two things in this world I can not stand!" Damien began, glaring at MK. "Cheaters! And double dutch…"

Zee's eyes just widened in disbelief, and Damien had to scramble to explain what he meant. "It's too many ropes…"

Thankfully for Damien, he was saved from having to explain further when Chris blew an air horn to signal the start of the challenge.

"More information will be given once you get to the lake" Chris instructed, before pointing upwards. "GO!"

Lauren watched as everyone grabbed their canoes and began to run towards the lake in their pairs… Everyone except for MK, and Lauren took a moment from her spot on the roof of the Mess Hall to smirk at the thief's misfortune.

Chris had also left for the Lake alongside Chef Hatchet in order to prepare for the contestants arrival for the next part of the challenge, which allowed Lauren to finally leap down onto the ground from the roof, now that she was finally alone again.

"Interesting… so MK cheated at the game… and there's an immunity idol…" Lauren muttered to herself, a creepy smile growing on her face. "Well then… I better try and grab that idol for myself, just so no one else can have it…"

She giggled for a moment before heading in the direction of where the intern had gone previously, hoping that she could catch up to them before the idol was successfully hidden away…

*Around 30 minutes later*

"Alright… we're here…" The tired voice of the intern stated aloud to himself as the boat parked up at the dock leading up to the Playa Des Losers resort.

"Awesome! I get to see my friends from the new cast again!" Owen exclaimed happily as he stepped off the boat, dragging all three of the bags with him, trying to be a little careful considering he was still hiding Ezekiel inside of his own bag.

The intern sighed and checked to see if everything was off the boat, before turning towards Owen once more. "Right… just remember what McLean told you… no leaking stuff on social media… and you need to be here first thing tomorrow morning so we can prepare you for your cameo in the challenge…" He explained once more, sounding like he was almost reading off of a script.

Owen smiled and nodded, he'd do his best not to forget that information… but at the same time he did want to at least send something to the rest of his friends back home like Izzy and Noah.

The intern didn't say anything else, instead sitting back down at his seat. Moments later the boat set off once more, heading back towards the main island where the competition would still be going on.

Owen watched the boat leave for a few moments, then when he was certain that they wouldn't be able to see him anymore, he picked up his bag and unzipped it, unceremoniously dumping Ezekiel out of it, some rubbish and some food falling out of the bag alongside the Prairie Boy.

Ezekiel yelped as he was dumped onto the wooden planks of the dock, groaning slightly from the impact, before wincing slightly as he felt the soreness of his body after having contorted himself into a cramped bag for over half an hour.

"Remind me to never do that again eh…" Ezekiel groaned softly as he stretched his limbs out, trying to get some feeling back into them, before slowly pushing himself off the floor, getting up onto his feet and looking at the resort.

Owen chuckled, before nudging his friend playfully. "Aww what's the matter little buddy? I thought you said you had a pain tolerance?" He teased, chucking again.

"I thought so too… I mean, I've done much worse than this eh?" Ezekiel responded, but he ultimately shrugged it off. "Ah well… it doesn't matter, it still worked."

Ezekiel picked up his bags, taking slightly more care with the bag filled with Lauren's things, as Owen swiftly pushed the food that had fallen onto the dock back into his own bag. They then started to slowly walk towards the resort's entrance, Ezekiel looking a little more apprehensive about being on the island now that he'd actually made it, compared to the happy go lucky expression on Owen's face.

"So uh…" Owen began awkwardly, chuckling slightly to himself as the pair left the dock. "You gonna tell me why you're here now?"

Ezekiel didn't answer for a moment, still deep in thought about how he was going to go about things now that he'd made it to the resort. All he knew about Lauren's whereabouts was that she was most likely somewhere on one of the three islands…

He was hoping that the worst case scenario of the three wasn't the one she was hiding on…

He REALLY didn't want to go back to Boney Island if he could help it, and especially NOT the Fun Zone…

The Prairie Boy was brought back to his senses by Owen clicking his fingers in front of his face loudly, almost flicking his face in the process.

"Hello… Ezekiel? You in there?" Owen looked a little more nervous.

"Huh? What?" Ezekiel blinked before snapping his eyes over to Owen. "Did you say something eh?"

"Uh yeah…" He chuckled nervously in response. "I asked why you were here…"

Ezekiel blinked again, then sighed, nodding slowly. They had gotten close to the resort's entrance now, and they had yet to hear any sign of the contestants that should've been there yet…

"Well… it's a bit of a long story…" Ezekiel began, looking away in the direction of where the main island was. "You remember Lauren, right?"

Owen thought for a moment then shook his head slowly. "I don't think so… I mean…" He then blinked in realisation. "Is she the purple haired one? Scary Girl? The girl Izzy became friends with?"

Ezekiel couldn't help but chuckle at his larger friend's naivety, and nodded with a small smile as they approached the doors to the resort's entrance. "Yeah, that's her… sometimes I forget the majority of the world know her as 'Scary Girl'... she's always just been Lauren to me."

He stopped before he could open the doors to the resort, and sighed slightly. "Well… I'll explain fully when we meet up again with the others… but to sum it up… something happened over the break between seasons… and she tried to force a change in personality in herself because of it." Ezekiel explained, his smile vanishing as he spoke.

"You mean… like how Izzy tried to become 'E-Scope' back during Total Drama Action?" Owen responded, looking slightly confused, yet he could see the clear concern on Ezekiel's face and knew this wasn't simply a quirky girl doing her own thing.

Ezekiel shook his head slowly, he remembered the crazy girl's 'switch in personalities' during that season, and this was nothing like it. "No… unfortunately it's nothing like what 'E-Scope' or 'Explosivo' were... she was clearly struggling and… well…" He sighed softly. "She got booted out first despite everything… she hurt herself mentally for months without telling anyone and she snapped… she disappeared from the resort and none of us have seen her since…"

"Oh…" Owen looked a lot more sombre after hearing his explanation, and he knew that there was a lot more going on that he hadn't said yet. "So… you're here to find her then?"

Ezekiel just nodded as they opened the doors leading into the main lobby of the resort. "Pretty much… she needs someone with her right now… even if she doesn't think she does…" He muttered quietly, almost whispering the last part to himself.

They walked through the main lobby, ascending the stairs towards the residential wing where their rooms would be…

"I'm probably gonna stay in Lauren's room like last time…" Ezekiel said quietly, heading towards the wing where the contestants had stayed during the last season.

Owen just nodded in response, turning to head into the opposite wing. "I guess we just drop off our things and meet back here to look for whoever else is here?"

"Yeah… I'll only be a minute…" Ezekiel smiled, before walking away towards his room, he quickly found the room that he'd stayed in last season with Lauren, taking a deep breath in order to prepare himself.

"Okay… let's see how bad the damage is eh…" Ezekiel muttered to himself, before opening the door and stepping into the room, only to pause at the amount of debris that she had left behind in the room.

Ezekiel just sighed, knowing that he'd be cleaning up at least some of it later, he dropped both his and Lauren's bag on a part of the floor that didn't have any debris nearby, before stepping out of the room and closing the door.

For now… it was time to meet up with the others once more…

Lauren had been searching for the immunity idol for around an hour now, and it was fairly obvious to her at this point that she had no idea where to look for the damn thing.

She had realised fairly quickly that she had no chance of catching up to the intern that had hidden the idol away, so instead she stopped bothering with looking for the person carrying it, and just started with a full scale search of the forest.

It was almost a shame that she was missing the challenge, as she really needed ideas on what to do about the others. And more importantly, she wanted to watch them get hurt or scared…

She sighed softly to herself as she combed through another bush for the idol, she really wished she had something to occupy her time with…

Her head just kept going in circles regarding this whole 'revenge' thing, and whilst only a small part of her wanted to just forget about it and go back to the resort, she knew she was in too deep now…

Besides… quitting now meant admitting that her abusive parents were right about her… and she wouldn't allow them to be right…

It was then that Lauren began to hear people heading in her direction, and she quickly scrambled up the nearest tree to hide from them. It was only when she got to a high enough vantage point where she was certain that she wouldn't be spotted that she realised that it was Priya and Caleb, who thankfully didn't seem to notice her.

She saw them heading into two different bushes, both seemingly doing the exact same thing that she had just been doing only moments ago. She saw Priya stick her head back through, hearing them both begin to talk to each other.

"Huh… nothing in shrub number one hundred and ninety seven…" Priya muttered loudly to herself, moving on to the next bush as Caleb popped out from his with a soft grin on his face.

"Chris did say that it would be hard to find." Caleb responded, looking over towards the path that they were currently looking through, and Lauren noticed that they were heading in a different direction to the way that she'd just come from. "It might take a while…"

A plan began forming in the Scary Girl's mind, instead of just simply getting away from them and continuing her own search, she was going to follow them from above, just in case either Caleb or Priya ended up finding the immunity idol. Then she'd try to move in swiftly and steal it from them, even knock them both out if it meant that she wouldn't be caught…

Lauren knew that she should be capable of taking Priya out by surprise, she wouldn't want to, not after she'd realised that she did like having someone like her as a 'friend' over the last few months, and even if her stalking did end up completely alienating herself from the others she'd still consider her a 'friend'...

The other reason she'd need to though was that considering the training her parents put her through, Lauren knew that Priya was probably one of two people on the island who could realistically take her on in a fight. And whilst Lauren still felt like she could win with her almost unnatural strength at times, Priya wasn't exactly a slouch either…

But then there was Caleb to consider, as Lauren didn't actually spend much time 'researching' Caleb like she had the various other members of her cast whilst trying to become 'normal'... because honestly…

Caleb was kinda boring in Lauren's eyes… even as a normal person…

However it meant that she didn't know how strong he actually was, she remembered him frequenting the gym when they were all at the Playa Des Losers resort last season, but outside of the resort she didn't really try to stalk him.

She carried on listening to the pair, trying to gather more information on them whilst watching out for if they spotted the idol.

"No worries…" Priya smiled nervously, looking quite flustered as they moved on to their next respective bushes. "One time… my parents made me find a needle in an actual haystack… they said it would teach me the patience to win reality TV show challenges." She explained with a smile that looked just a little too fake in Lauren's eyes.

"That actually sounds kinda fun…" Caleb replied smoothly as he walked out of the bushes, moving towards a rather large rock in order to check underneath it. "I didn't get to have any fun until I finished my homework." He continued as he lifted it above his head, only to find nothing.

"When you're studying to get into MIT… the homework never ends…" Caleb finished, his expression looking almost saddened.

Priya ran up to him with a lovesick expression on her face, one that Caleb didn't seem to notice, but Lauren sure as hell did. Priya giggled softly as she clutched her hands together as she looked at him dreamily. "Okay… maybe I'd take the haystack…"

Caleb laughed as he threw the rock away, turning to face Priya. "I thought so…" He grinned, before frowning, looking deep in thought. "Wow… our parents are both a little much huh…" He gestured with his hands as Priya frowned at the comparison.

"Yeah…" Priya stood up straighter as she began to realise the same thing, although it quickly turned into another smile as she looked up at Caleb again. "I guess we have that in common…"

Caleb chuckled again as they began walking further down the path, continuing to look for the idol. "Yeah… I guess we do…" He smiled again, although he looked deep in thought like he was beginning to realise something important.

Back up in the trees however, Lauren looked shocked at what she had just heard. Taking a minute in order to process the conversation she'd just heard before she would follow them again.

"There is no way I just heard him compare doing homework to brutal reality TV training…" Lauren muttered, her tone gradually getting a little more annoyed as she realised just how weird that sounded. Something in her mind snapped, and she really felt annoyed at that comment, even if it wasn't intending on hurting anyone.

"What would he say to what MY parents did to me! Just pat me on the back and go 'I feel you, my parents always scolded me when I was young too'." Lauren almost growled, her eyes twitching as she stared at the retreating Caleb and Priya, almost mocking Caleb when she did her 'impression' of him.

She watched them head further into the forest with an angry glare, taking a moment to let out some rage before she did something drastic, even if it would be fun to her.

"Caleb may have had strict parents, but at least it sounds like they want him to do well in life… Mine didn't give a shit about what I wanted! Priya may have been forced to train for a reality show most of her life… But at least some of that might have ended up being fun for her!" Lauren ranted, her voice raising slightly as her anger grew, she was thankful that they had moved away from the area she was in, knowing that she would have easily been caught if they hadn't.

Tears began to slowly form in Lauren's eyes as she continued ranting to herself. "I'd have taken either of those… but no! I just had to suffer through countless beatings! Being verbally abused and called a 'Psychopath' and a 'Demon' by my own family! They didn't have to worry every night if they would even wake up the next morning!"

Lauren started breathing heavily the more she continued ranting, she clung onto the tree branch she'd been previously standing on with all of her strength, just so she didn't fall as she felt herself panicking.

"A-And even after all these years… they still try to control me… I… I just want it all to end…" She finished ranting, breaking out into more sobs, grateful that nothing could see her from where she was currently sitting.

She took a few minutes to calm herself down slowly, and Lauren was thankful that of all of the things that she had forgotten to take from her brief trip back home to swap out her outfits… it was her makeup bag… because she knew for a fact that it would be running badly right now.

Home… she really wanted to just go home and forget about this season…

She missed Ezekiel…

Lauren had to slap herself gently in order to block out that trail of thought, she couldn't let herself be distracted anymore, she needed to keep going.

She slowly pushed herself back onto her feet, before beginning to jump from tree to tree, trying to catch back up to Priya and Caleb, more determined than before to find that Immunity Idol before they could.

She caught up within a couple of minutes, seeing them still searching through several bushes as they kept talking, and Lauren found herself reluctantly listening in once more.

"Exactly!" Priya exclaimed happily as Caleb disappeared into one of the bushes. "Wow… I didn't think I could like you more than I do…" She said dreamily to herself, before gasping in shock as she realised what she'd just admitted to in front of her crush.

Caleb's eyes were wide as he popped out from his own bush, looking directly at last season's winner. "Sorry what?"

Priya turned to him with an extremely scared look on her face. "WHAT?"

Caleb however only grinned at her in response, although he looked a little confused. "I didn't hear what you said…"

This only caused Priya to laugh hysterically to herself. "That's so funny I didn't even hear what YOU said!" She laughed nervously again.

Caleb just chuckled again as he searched through a couple of more bushes as Priya mentally slapped herself for the slip up that had almost cost her.

Lauren meanwhile found herself even more dumbfounded by the new piece of information that she found about the pair…

'Really?' The Scary Girl thought to herself as she looked down at the two of them from the trees. 'You really friendzoned Damien in between seasons just for this guy?'

She smirked deviously, finding the current situation hilarious, and it almost made her forget the mental trauma that the pair had unknowingly put her through only minutes ago…

Almost… because Lauren was definitely going to use this to her advantage at some point…

She continued to watch them, noticing them walking up to each other in the clearing, looking just about done with their brief search of the forest for the immunity idol.

"I don't think we're gonna find the idol today…" Caleb said calmly as the two walked up to each other, he then pointed in the direction of the lake where the challenge would still be ongoing. "We should probably head back…"

"M-Maybe we should try again tomorrow?" Priya smiled at him, looking flustered.

"Deal." Was Caleb's simple response, pointing at her with a flirtatious tone in his voice, the pair of them looking into each other's eyes for just a little too long.

Lauren watched with her creepy smile still in place as Caleb and Priya started walking away once more, and whilst she was tempted to follow them in order to see how the challenge ended since it was apparently still ongoing, she found herself too mentally drained from the past few minutes…

She climbed down the tree back onto solid ground, and promptly collapsed against it for a few moments, thankfully out of sight of any cameras.

"So… Caleb and Priya huh…" Lauren chuckled sinisterly to herself, it seems like she found something to focus on as part of her revenge beyond the idol. "Interesting…"

Lauren slowly got up, beginning to head in the opposite direction from where the pair had gone, instead deciding to head back to the cave she was 'living' in to rest for the moment, still feeling drained for the moment.

She could always go and look for the idol in the evening, and she might even be able to eavesdrop on some more of the contestants if she was lucky enough. She just hoped that it wouldn't be as taxing as this conversation was.

"Wait? A baking challenge? Are you serious?" Ezekiel laughed as he and Owen walked down the hallways of the resort towards the outdoor pool area, where they suspected that the four eliminated contestants were.

"Yeah! That's the challenge Chris wanted me on, something about me being the best judge of character for food?" Owen responded, before chuckling along with Ezekiel. "But honestly, I think I'm only here because he knows I'm the least picky eater from the whole cast."

"I guess so…" Ezekiel shrugged, it was probably more so for 'popularity reasons', but Owen's reasoning also made enough sense to him, so he wasn't going to argue with it.

They kept walking a little bit further, eventually beginning to hear sounds from outside. They smiled, having finally found the other contestants, and opened the doors to the pool area, only for their faces to drop upon what they were witnessing.

"I SAID NO CHASE! JUST STOP!" Emma shouted furiously as she tried to storm away towards the tiki bar, with said influencer trying to follow her looking completely unfazed, with Millie just sat on the deckchairs looking completely fed up with their arguing.

"Aww come on Emma… but I've got this awesome collab we can do!" Chase tried to reason, holding up the camera that he'd taken from the island, having yet to put it down since he'd arrived at the resort several days ago.

Emma stopped and turned around with a hateful expression. "Chase! Just! Stop! It's over… it's been over for months! I don't wanna date you! I don't wanna even collab with you! And if it wasn't for Total Drama I wouldn't even wanna see you again! Just… leave me alone…" She sighed at the end and walked away, not even noticing the two newcomers.

Chase just sighed, for a moment seeming genuinely regretful, before perking up again. "Ah well… maybe she just needs more time before coming back to the Chasester!" He smirked to himself, posing into the camera as Millie just rolled her eyes from where she was sat.

"You're such an embarrassment…" Millie muttered to herself, before looking past Chase towards the doors where Owen and Ezekiel were standing, gasping in shock. "Wait… WHAT!"

Emma and Chase both looked at Millie for a moment, then followed her gaze over to the other two. "Owen? Ezekiel!" They both gasped, all three of the eliminated contestants running over to the pair.

"You actually showed up?" Millie asked Ezekiel, looking a little concerned about the situation, remembering what Ezekiel had said a couple of days ago.

Ezekiel nodded, genuinely thankful for their support "Thanks eh, b-but promise me you'll keep me up to date, I'm about one bad situation away from making my way to that island myself!"

Millie laughed nervously in response to that. "W-We'll make sure it doesn't come to that…"

Ezekiel just smiled nervously, nodding slightly. "W-Well… I guess that bad situation came about…"

Millie winced. "Oh god… what happened?" She asked, clear concern in her voice.

Ezekiel sighed quietly to himself. "Well… apparently the other day there was a 'either or' challenge…"

Emma scowled immediately at the mention of that particular challenge. "Oh I remember that challenge alright…"

Ezekiel looked at Emma, his expression looking a little more nervous since she was there for the 'Funeral Home' reveal. "Um… d-did you hear Lauren's comment then…"

Emma shuddered at the reminder, a small frown on her face whilst Millie also looked slightly uncomfortable, having been told about that particular challenge after Emma's elimination. Chase on the other hand just shrugged, not seeming too bothered by the comment.

"Eh, she says creepy stuff all the time… what makes skeletons in her closet in a funeral home any different…" Chase responded.

Ezekiel glared at Chase for a moment, not wanting to hear any insults towards his girlfriend from Chase of all people, even if he wasn't exactly wrong about Lauren, but he liked it about her.

"Um… maybe because she never said those things…" Ezekiel almost growled.

All four of the others blinked, not understanding what he meant, and in Owen's case just in plain confusion at where the conversation was going.

"Wait, but there was video proof of it?" Emma looked confused, then her eyes widened. "Hold on… are you implying it's been spliced?"

Ezekiel nodded, his annoyance now directed towards Chris rather than any of the others in the resort. "Yeah… I was there when she did her whole 'would you rather' question, and not once did she mention where we were living… No way was she gonna give that away when her abusers were looking for her…"

Millie and Owen widened their eyes in shock, whilst Chase looked indifferent towards his comment. Meanwhile Emma had her hand on her chin, looking deeply in thought about the video that had played during the challenge she'd been eliminated in.

"Now that you mention it… I think something was off about the audio in that clip… and the video might have been edited as well to match what she was saying…" Emma muttered to them, still thinking back to the clip of Lauren during the challenge.

"No skeletons in my closet!" Lauren announced gleefully, the audio then sounded the slightest bit off but in their concern for her next words none of the cast registered that. "I mean… there are, but only because I live in a funeral home…"

"But her video was extremely glitchy… so maybe it was to cover up the editing?" Emma guessed, shrugging her shoulders, mostly because she was unsure if it was genuine or if Scary Girl just somehow gave the effect off, she just didn't know when it came to her.

Chase nodded in agreement. "Well she's not wrong, I mean… Emma was our old editor for our vids back when it was 'Three Guys and a Girl in a Beach House'." He smiled at Emma, only for her to turn away from him with a loud "Hmph!"

"Well… Damien and I seem to think that Chris might have got someone to follow us home for the information, because Lauren and I never told anyone about where she really lived until he called me asking about it after that challenge." Ezekiel explained, looking somewhat upset since he knew what would end up happening after the season aired.

"Hey, not to go off topic or anything…" Owen interrupted, looking around the pool area of the resort. "But um… five challenges have already aired right? And I know Sca… I mean… Lauren isn't here but… there's still only three of you right now…"

Ezekiel looked around and realised he was right, meanwhile Chase and Millie gave each other concerned glances, whilst Emma chuckled nervously at the question.

"Yeah… so um… Nichelle supposedly got given a contract yesterday for a movie that she quit the game for…" Emma began, chuckling again, and it was clear to the pair that something had gone wrong with that. "And well… the thing is that… um, it turned out someone faked making the contract to get her out and now she's sooo incredibly pissed off… personally, I'd avoid her for a couple days." She explained to them.

"Do we know who made this fake?" Ezekiel asked.

"Nope! No clue! Although I'd bet on it being Julia who did it, given those two were butting heads the whole season before I got kicked off…" Emma replied, trailing off into a grumble at the mention of her own elimination.

"Ouch…" Owen winced, not knowing what else to say to this.

"Yeah… word of advice… don't mention Hollywood at all. She'll be super pissed if you do…" Emma warned them, to which both Owen and Ezekiel nodded.

"Speaking of people who should or shouldn't be here…" Millie looked at Owen. "I understand Ezekiel's here to find our missing Scary Girl… but why are you here?"

Ezekiel suppressed a knowing smile as Owen smiled happily in response, jutting his chest out and pointing proudly to himself. "Oh me? I'm going back on the show tomorrow."

"YOU'RE WHAT!"

End Chapter

Author's Note: This chapter was a prime example as to why I needed to rewatch these episodes again before planning out the chapter, because Lauren's sections went through a few changes purely because I thought the bear found MK before the main challenge, and I'd planned her first section to be about her overhearing the cheating reveal and setting a bear on MK as 'revenge', but instead it turns out that the bear was only there for the challenge, so it became the idol reveal instead.

Originally as well I wasn't going to show how Ezekiel had gotten back to the resort, but then I remembered how Owen had cameoed in this season, and whilst he could have easily made it to the island and back within a single day, I thought it'd be better to have him make a minor appearance in the story.

Chapter Text

Author's Note: Every time I post one of these chapters, I keep thinking… "There's no way I'm gonna break the word count after this one." The last two went further into the 9k word count, and I thought that would end up being the limit. This one's only gone and hit the 10k mark, easily making this the longest chapter that I've ever written. (Hooray for milestones!)

Also, I apologise in advance if one of the sections doesn't look so neat in this chapter, in preparation for the potential compfic sequel to this I want to try and add some confessionals into this. You'll see what I mean when it comes up in the chapter.

You'll also see a couple of more 'retcons' that I'm adding to this season, more so just for a little more interconnectivity between the two seasons, after all if something was never explained or explained poorly, then it should be okay to work more connections in as long as it doesn't contradict the original material.

That being said, I do have an important question about the whole 'canon compliant' part of this fic, which I have addressed at the end of this chapter. For now however, I hope you guys enjoy the latest chapter.

Chapter Six

It had long since turned to night on the island, and everyone of the ten remaining contestants were back in the cabins, eating food in the Mess Hall or were otherwise preoccupied back at the campgrounds.

With the sixth contestant voted off the island and the episode for the day wrapped up, Chris and Chef had long since departed back to their trailers, and with no interns around the campsite either, it had left the confessional completely exposed…

The door was currently open, and inside the sounds of tampering could be heard with the confessionals camera. The camera was currently covered up by something so that whoever would end up reviewing the footage to edit for the episodes wouldn't be able to see them.

Not that Lauren was going to keep any footage of her from after the first day… she wouldn't allow herself to be exposed because some interns or possibly Chef Hatchet actually did their jobs for a change.

She smirked with satisfaction as she yanked free the wire that MK had used last season to connect the camera to her phone so she could download all of the confessionals onto her phone. It was a sneaky tactic that, for the thief had ultimately failed to pay off due to her overconfidence…

But the Scary Girl wasn't planning on revealing anything to anyone…

"Oh my… and MK made it out to be so hard when she bragged about it at the resort last season…" Lauren giggled creepily, her smirk unwavering. "But if even little ol' Lauren could do it after watching her 'friend' do it a few times… maybe she's not so special after all."

It also helped that she'd managed to pick up on several of the more underhanded tactics that several of the others did, things that Lauren had… 'researched' in between seasons in her quest to become normal…

After all several of the others had been quite strategic and underhanded last season, why wouldn't a 'Normal Girl' like Lauren have tried to do the same thing had she stayed longer. It wasn't like she would've been scary doing so… right?

She plugged the wire into her phone, and smiled widely in sadistic glee as she started to scroll through the videos recorded by the confessional over the last few hours. She'd download them all anyway so she'd have a complete idea of what had been going on on the island whilst she had been gone, but for now she decided to stick with the day that had just gone…

She needed the ideas for how she was going to proceed from here after all, especially once she found that immunity idol…

"What to do… what to do…" Lauren mused quietly, a small creepy smile on her face as she scrolled through some of them. "Oh there's just so many to choose from!" She grinned as she kept scrolling, seeing so many to choose from.

She thought for a few more moments then shrugged, just heading back up towards the most recently recorded confessionals, seeing the still images of the people that had recorded them.

"Oh well… I've got all night, I can wait for all of the potential gossiping and slander from the others! I wanna see who got voted off!" Lauren cackled as she tapped on a random video, the confessional beginning to play.

—CONFESSIONAL: ZEE—

"Caleb is just a big flirt machine…" Zee spoke nervously, groaning softly as he slouched over. "Aww man… Priya won't be happy when she figures it out…"

—CONFESSIONAL END—

Lauren blinked, confused for a moment as this wasn't what she was expecting, then her expression flickered for a moment between her usual crazed smile, to pure rage, to fear, then finally to a deviously gleeful expression.

"So I'm not the only person who knows about these two…" Lauren smirked, but then her expression fell slightly. "Too bad it's all revolving around 'Mr. Nice Guy'..." Lauren almost growled, still slightly pissed off with Caleb after his earlier comments with Priya when searching for the Idol.

Caleb didn't know it yet, but he was quickly joining Julia and Ripper on the top of Lauren's 'hitlist' for people to eliminate for her revenge, not that the others weren't on it, but they were the top priority…

"He's such an asshole for that… sure I wasn't supposed to hear it, but strict parents are still better than downright abusive ones…" Lauren grumbled angrily, the shock had since worn off so she wasn't in danger of another panic attack over it, but she was damn well sure about making sure he felt the same pain if he crossed the line again…

Lauren sighed softly, before her signature smile appeared on her face once more. "Well… this whole 'relationship drama' just got a whole lot more interesting, but I've got all night to find out more…" She reasoned to herself, before going slightly further up with the confessionals, actually finding the votes this time.

"Now let's see what happened here?" She giggled again, before pressing play on the first one, beginning to watch through each confessional one by one.

—CONFESSIONAL: ZEE—

Zee sighed again as he leaned against the wall. "Well… that whole cheating thing from this morning really bummed me out, and maybe Julia's telling the truth but… oh I dunno man!"

Zee hunched over again, head in his hands as he got more and more stressed. "I guess she could be right… I'm voting for Bowie…"

—CONFESSIONAL: WAYNE & RAJ—

Both Hockey Bros sat together, looking quite smug as they looked at each other, then towards the camera.

"Well, Bowie didn't win immunity which kinda sucked…" Raj began, slightly deflating before perking up again with a smirk. "But on the bright side, neither did Julia or MK!"

"So Bowie asked me and Rajie to help him finally get rid of Jules!" Wayne grinned, hitting his chest with pride.

Raj just rolled his eyes playfully at Wayne's enthusiasm before pointing at the camera with a smirk on his face. "Shouldn't have cheated Julia…"

—CONFESSIONAL: MK—

MK was sat clutching her face, her face having been injured from having to fight a bear during the last challenge as a punishment for all of the cheating.

"Ohh my face… this rots…" MK groaned, before glancing at the camera. "Julia said she has a plan to get rid of Bowie… for both of our sakes, let's hope her plan works for a change…" She grinned with a small smirk and the slightest blush on her face, before groaning again from the pain.

—CONFESSIONAL: CALEB—

Caleb sat looking quite confident in himself.

"This alliance with Priya is going so smoothly, and who knows what it could turn into…" Caleb smiled to himself for a moment, before addressing the camera coolly once more, albeit with a small glare. "I'm not too sure about Julia's claims regarding the cheating… but between what Bowie did to me last season, and the whole thing with trying to ruin Priya and Millie's friendship, I'm not against going along with it!"

His glare hardened for a moment with a small smirk appearing on his face. "Nothing personal Bowie, you're just too big of a threat."

—CONFESSIONAL: RIPPER & AXEL—

Both Ripper and Axel were just passionately making out in the confessional for a few moments, before separating reluctantly.

"I won't tolerate cheats, so MK is going down…" Axel growled softly, before glaring at Ripper. "Right… Ripper?"

Ripper nodded nervously, a little scared to tell her that he had known about it and didn't stop them once. "Right… yeah… of course babe!"

Axel smirked. "Good…"

She pounced on him and they began making out again.

—CONFESSIONAL END—

Lauren had to stop watching the confessionals for a few moments, blinking before doing a double take at what she'd just witnessed.

"Seriously… what the hell went on while I was gone for… that to happen?" Lauren muttered quietly, shocked out of her scary persona for a second, before shaking her head. "Ugh… never mind…"

She smiled again and tried her best to ignore that last confessional, continuing to watch the rest of the votes.

—CONFESSIONAL: DAMIEN—

Damien looked excited as he sat down in the confessional.

"Man, I still can't believe that I won the last challenge." He smiled, genuinely shocked at his own achievement. "Maybe I am better than I thought I was…"

He then frowned slightly. "Anyway… Julia told us that Bowie was the person behind the whole cheating thing. I'm not sure if I believe her… but I remember what happened last season with Bowie."

Damien glared. "That was NOT cool of you! But then… we might not get another chance to split up the other two…"

He sighs. "I'm voting for MK… we've gotta split her and Julia up, otherwise they'll just pick us off"

—CONFESSIONAL: BOWIE—

Bowie looked a little nervous as he sat down in the confessional, but then put on a confident smirk as he looked into the camera.

"So I didn't win the challenge… on the plus side, neither did Julia." He put his hands on his hips and laughed.

"Surely the others remember how much of a threat she was last season…" He finished, and just before the camera cut out his expression fell back into that nervous one.

—CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA—

Priya looked giddy as she sat in the confessional, playing with the flower that Caleb had planted in her hair.

She giggled again, before speaking happily. "Caleb is soo sweet! I really can't wait to be able to confess to him!" She squealed again, before pausing and blushing in shock. "Confess that I totally do NOT like him!"

She slapped her forehead hard. "Gah! This is exactly what my parents warned me about with this show!"

She shook her head and addressed the camera. "Oh! The vote. Um… well I'm not too sure about Julia's claims… but…" Priya suddenly glared harshly at the camera. "Don't think I haven't forgotten about last season Bowie! Julia may be a heartless person, but at least she didn't try and ruin my friendship with Millie! You're so going down!"

—CONFESSIONAL: JULIA & MK—

MK was back in the confessional, however this time she was sat on the right side of the confessional, with a smug looking Julia sat to her left, albeit Julia's face was marked with a busted up nose.

Not that the influencer seemed to care that much, staring smugly into the camera as MK looked at her whilst resisting the urge to clutch her face again.

"I told the Rat Faces it was Bowie's idea to cheat with the intern costume…" Julia proclaimed smugly as MK stared into the camera.

"I can't feel my face…" MK muttered towards it before groaning softly, clutching her injuries once more, not noticing the brief look of concern on Julia's face before she regained her composure and smirked at the camera.

"Sure I didn't get Axel's vote… but between our votes, and the four other Rat Faces votes. We have six total, more than enough to send Bowie packing!" Julia proclaimed before chuckling to herself. "And even then, I doubt Bowie, the two Hockey losers, Ripper and Axel have all voted for the same person. So I think we have leeway!"

MK just groaned again, but gave her a thumbs up. "You're right, you did get better at strategizing during the break between seasons…"

"I know… I'm the best…" Julia smirked, holding a hand to her chest in a mixture of confidence and genuine appreciation for MK's compliment.

—CONFESSIONAL END—

Lauren finally stopped the confessionals, a small smirk on her face as she processed everything that she had just watched.

"So another one of my 'precious' former teammates have finally been sent home have they…" Lauren giggled creepily to herself. "Good… Bowie was such a jerk, and after I tried being so nice to him when he picked me to be on his team." She giggled again, unaware that it was only because she had been creeping him out when she was trying to be a 'Normal Girl'.

A ping went off on her phone shortly afterwards, indicating that all of the videos had finished downloading onto Lauren's phone. She smirked gleefully, using the phone to delete the recordings of her infiltrating the camera, altering the footage of the last several minutes to show a repeated loop of an empty confessional, before setting the 'live recording' to restart once the video ended in the next few minutes.

It gave her just enough time to unplug her phone and reconnect the wires she'd disconnected in order to hijack the confessional, and she finally tore off the piece of paper that she'd used to block off the camera before closing the door, just as the 'live footage' of the confessional kicked back in.

Lauren gleefully skipped back into the forest, she was happy with her new discoveries, and she was going to take great enjoyment in watching through everything else. Most importantly, how Zee knew about this apparent secret that involves Caleb and Priya…

And how she would end up twisting it to her advantage…

*Around an hour earlier*

"Ugh… finally… any longer and I swear my hand was gonna get cramped up…" Bowie muttered in annoyance and slight pain, nursing his wrist that had been clamped by the Drone of Despair as he was brought along to the Playa Des Losers following his sudden elimination.

Not that he could blame any of the others who had voted him off, he knew he was a viable threat, especially after almost winning the previous season and after everything he had done across both seasons.

That being said, it didn't make him any less annoyed about the fact that he had lost, and the fact that Julia and MK were both right there alongside him just ready and waiting to be voted off…

It didn't make sense as to how he was picked over them? Sure he still had people angry at him for the whole 'trying to tear apart Millie and Priya's friendship' thing from the finale last season, but that was just strategy to him, he wouldn't have done it if there wasn't a legitimate chance that the girls wouldn't have just ganged up on him during that lava challenge.

And he'd technically done nothing wrong this season? Well… there was the whole 'cheating' thing, but that was Julia and MK's idea in the first place, he only allowed it to happen, and even then surely between Julia, MK and even Ripper, there were plenty of problematic contestants that Bowie was sure would go before him.

He ignored the fact that he had willingly allowed the cheating during the glass panels challenge just because Wayne and Raj wouldn't notice. Nor the fact that he had allowed the cheating in the other two challenges until Raj had gotten too upset over it…

Bowie sighed softly as he began the walk up to the resort's entrance, slightly confused by the lack of the other contestants around. While he wasn't around the resort last season due to making it to the end, didn't Raj say that everyone came out to greet the eliminated contestant each night?

"You'd think after all of the breaches in security that they'd enforce at least some rules?" Bowie muttered to himself, pulling the tissue out of his pocket that Raj had given him as a distraction.

"Oh Raj… you better win this stupid competition for us…" Bowie said sadly as he held the snot covered tissue, thankful that it had dried up before it could potentially get all over his clothes. It was a disgusting gift to remember his boyfriend by whilst he was still competing, but it was a gift from Raj, so Bowie would treasure it regardless…

"Actually… If Raj doesn't win… I hope at least the other lovable idiot wins…" He continued, now briefly thinking about the other Hockey Bro. Bowie wasn't nearly as close to Wayne as either of them were to Raj, however Wayne had been one of the only contestants to stick by him after the whole 'Millie and Priya' incident, so he'd be damned if he didn't at least give Wayne some support for the competition. Even if when it came down to it he'd choose Raj over Wayne every single time in the finale.

As Bowie got closer to the front doors, he could hear the sounds of laughter and chatter from within the doors. He narrowed his eyes with a small smirk as he stepped up, pushing both doors wide open and strutting inside as though he owned the place.

"Your king has…" He started to greet, glancing around at what he thought would only be the other four eliminated contestants at the resort, Lauren obviously being the absentee due to her current MIA status. His greeting however trailed off, and his eyes could only widen in surprise at not one, but TWO of the older contestants just casually sat on the couches with the other four.

"Oh, hey Bowie." Ezekiel greeted back, waving at him from his position sitting next to Emma. With Millie and Chase sat on the opposite couch, Owen taking up his own on the third next to Zeke and Emma with a grumpy looking Nichelle sat opposite him.

"WHAT!" Emma looked over in shock, immediately rushing over to Bowie and grabbing the hand not holding Raj's… present…

"Y-Your team voted YOU off! When Julia was right there!" Emma continued shouting, leading him over to sit next to her and Ezekiel on the couch.

Bowie sighed as he sat down, looking around at everyone before his eyes landed on the two first gen contestants.

"Before I explain… Can someone tell me why these two are here?" Bowie asked, pointing at Ezekiel and Owen.

"The big guy's apparently a judge for tomorrow's challenge… and Scary Girl's boyfriend is, well… here for Scary Girl…" Nichelle grumbled out, pointing at Owen and then Ezekiel, the latter of which just nodded in agreement as the former ate some more food from his bag.

"Huh… so it's really that bad now huh?" Bowie responded, before glancing at the Prairie Boy once more. "Does that mean she's around here somewhere? Or should I text Raj to keep an eye out during tomorrow's challenge?"

"I mean… I can relay a message if it helps?" Owen offered, smiling happily just at the thought of catching up with all of the others, knowing that he'd have to play it off as not having met any of them whilst on camera. "At the very least I can get an idea of if she's around the main island…"

"God I hope so… as much as I'd not want to risk encountering Chris, better him than the mutants in the 'Fun Zone'…" Ezekiel shuddered, not wanting to risk an encounter with anything in that part of Boney Island.

"Can we get back to the interesting part, I wanna hear how Bowie got kicked off." Chase dismissed Ezekiel's concerns, smiling at Bowie like they were old friends, not noticing how annoyed both Bowie and Emma were at the mere interruption.

Bowie sighed. "Fine…" He muttered, rolling his eyes as he began to explain. "Well for starters the teams had already merged…"

"WHAT!" All four of the other eliminated contestants in the room shouted at once, even Nichelle had spoken up here, the fact that the merge was so early had lit a fire in her eyes.

"Are you kidding me! After only five of us had been kicked off!" Nichelle shouted angrily, and no one could tell whether she was angry at Bowie or herself. "So if I hadn't fallen for that fake contract that was left on my bed! I'd have made the merge!"

"Hey, at least you're not the only person who failed twice from our cast." Chase grinned, unaware of how annoyed Nichelle was getting. "You get to share that honour with our resident Scary Girl after all."

"SHUT IT CHASE!" Both Nichelle and Ezekiel glared at him, the former not appreciating the reminder of both of her early exits whilst the latter took offence at the verbal jab towards the absent Lauren.

Bowie glanced at them for a moment, then smirked as he realised a certain piece of information that the former star would be so angry to hear about.

"About that Nichelle… I know who put that contract there." He said almost mockingly, watching as her face snapped over to him, her anger giving away to curiosity for a moment.

"Who did it?" Nichelle responded, her expression darkening as a small grin made its way onto her face. "Who's ass am I gonna kick once I get my hands on them?"

Bowie smirked in return. "Well a certain blonde that we both disliked bragged this morning about tricking a certain member of the opposite team into quitting."

Nichelle's eyes narrowed as she stood up. "Julia! I knew she had something to do with it!" She shouted angrily. "Was this because I insulted her yesterday morning!"

Bowie shrugged. "Something like that… she's a little petty like that, you know. She probably took me out for the same reason tonight."

"So wait… Julia won the challenge then? And everyone other than you and probably the Hockey Bros voted you off?" Emma asked, making the assumption that Julia must have won the challenge, especially considering that was her only way of survival during their previous season.

Bowie's eye twitched for a moment at the memory of who actually won the challenge, and sighed. "Surprisingly… No. The challenge was essentially a tournament on the lake, we were split into pairs and had to knock each other off canoes. The last person left was the winner, and I unfortunately lost in the final round…" He explained, sounding slightly bitter.

"Okay, so if it wasn't Julia… Priya?" Millie guessed.

"Nah surely it was Axel? Girl's built for challenges like this." Nichelle responded, a small smile making its way onto her face.

"But Caleb's so muscular? Surely he'd have wiped the floor with everyone." Chase added.

Ezekiel thought for a moment, then added his own guess. "Maybe one of the Hockey Bros eh?"

Owen just shrugged. "I dunno… Ripper maybe?"

Bowie just sighed as they listed off every candidate that they thought would have bested him in the challenge, then grumbled to himself, the truth being infinitely more embarrassing than any of those guesses.

"Damien…" He muttered, none of them hearing him at first.

"What was that bro?" Chase questioned, a small smirk on his face.

"It was Damien… somehow he beat Zee, Julia and myself to win immunity." Bowie explained, still in shock himself from the results of the challenge.

"Wait! WHAT!" Everyone else replied in shock, apart from Owen who just shrugged, knowing Damien the least so this didn't sound so surprising to him.

"Huh… actually I can kinda see it?" Ezekiel muttered to himself with a small smile.

"I can't… but maybe if he did something like with the raptors last season?" Millie responded, a little more on the fence about the revelation of Damien winning the last challenge.

"So… how did he win it?" Emma asked.

"Honestly… a mixture of overconfidence from me and Julia, and Damien just flailing around and screaming." Bowie admitted.

"O-Oh… y-yeah… I kinda see how he won now…" Millie deflated slightly, having hoped that maybe Damien had been able to recover enough from the whole 'slide incident' that he wouldn't be so afraid of everything.

"Yeah… maybe I should train him up after the season ends…" Nichelle mused to herself, wanting to repay the act that Axel did for her after her season one elimination by helping her friend Damien overcome some of his fears.

"So… how'd you get voted off then if Julia was also not immune?" Emma asked.

"Well I know myself, Wayne and Raj all voted for Julia, Julia and MK will have voted for me, and Axel will have likely voted for MK considering MK got caught cheating in the challenges." Bowie explained.

"I KNEW IT!" Emma snapped, looking extremely pissed off, and despite not being directed at Bowie she still glared at him, knowing that of the three eliminated Skunk Butt members he was the only one who could've possibly been involved in the cheating. Chase had only sabotaged himself this season and Lauren had been voted off too early for any sort of cheating shenanigans.

"Yeah… that's another thing I forgot to mention." Bowie admitted somewhat sheepishly, not wanting to admit that he'd allowed them to cheat in those challenges, and even took part in it himself. "MK and Julia had been cheating in the challenges by having MK infiltrate meetings dressed as an intern. So uh… Millie, Emma, Nichelle… your eliminations are all partially their fault…"

This only made Emma and Nichelle angrier, whilst Millie just sighed, she didn't exactly deserve to stay in the game anyway after what had happened with Damien and the four point slide.

"Well… at least that explains the rotten luck our team seemed to have…" Millie rationalised.

"But that still doesn't explain the votes eh? You've explained six of them, but what about the others?" Ezekiel asked, trying to figure it out for himself.

"Well… Ripper will have voted with his girlfriend…" Bowie began, before being cut off.

"WHAT!" Everyone else shouted, apart from Nichelle who groaned knowingly.

Bowie just looked confused at Nichelle. "You didn't tell them about Ripper and Axel?"

Nichelle just shrugged in response. "Honestly, between believing that I'd been given a new series of films to start in, and the revelation afterwards that I'd been lied to… it slipped my mind."

"Ripper… and Axel? But wait? Didn't they hate each other?" Ezekiel questioned, from what he remembered about their interactions from the resort last season, Ripper had been the only person Axel hated more than both himself and Lauren after that fight.

"They did, but apparently all it takes is to write a cheesy poem and it melted the ice around Axel's heart." Bowie responded, unsure himself as to how Ripper had managed to pull it off.

Nichelle however visibly gagged. "Ugh, don't remind me… I was actually there for that and it sucked! My cousins in the second grade and SHE could write a better love poem than Ripper…"

"Aww come on guys, he can't have been THAT bad…" Chase jumped in, trying to defend his best friend on the island.

"Trust me Chase… it was that bad." Nichelle replied dryly. "You'll see what I mean when the episode eventually airs. And Emma, be glad you missed it, it happened right after you left…"

Emma raised an eyebrow in confusion at that, but didn't question it further. Instead she looked back at Bowie, wanting to hear what happened to get him eliminated.

"We done… okay! As I was saying, Ripper will have voted MK alongside Axel. Which means at least two of Priya, Damien, Caleb and Zee had to have voted for me, with none of them voting Julia or MK." Bowie revealed. "But honestly I think they just saw the chance to get rid of me and took it, especially considering they were still mad at me for what happened with the notebook."

"Odds on Julia somehow convincing them?" Nichelle grumbled.

Bowie sighed. "High… they're surprisingly high considering everyone should know how much of a snake she is?"

Ezekiel yawned, then nodded in agreement. "She really is like the second coming of Heather eh."

Emma smirked in response. "I dunno Zeke… Wasn't Heather actually good at strategizing sometimes? All Julia could do last season was win challenges, Bowie was the actual strategist last season whilst none of Julia's plans actually worked out, she's closer to Courtney or Mal than anything else…"

They all shared a laugh once more at this, until Ezekiel yawned again, getting up and stretching slightly.

"Something wrong Homeschool?" Bowie asked him, raising an eyebrow since it wasn't THAT late into the evening.

"Tired… mostly…" Ezekiel yawned again. "I slept at the docks last night… think I need an actual bed eh?"

He'd leave out the part where he'd spent a considerable amount of the day after having caught up with the others cleaning up the debris Lauren had left behind in her… no… their room.

"Fair enough…" Bowie shrugged.

"See you tomorrow Zeke!" Emma waved politely as Ezekiel smiled and waved goodbye back at everyone else, and he quickly ascended the stairs to the residential wing. Leaving the other six occupants of the resort to their own devices.

Ezekiel yawned softly once more as he walked into the now mostly cleaned up room, some of the destroyed furniture now being replaced by the bags that he had brought to the resort with him, the vase that had been on the bedside table before being replaced by the decorated skull that Ezekiel had brought with him back to the island.

For once, Ezekiel's thoughts weren't clouded by worry for where his girlfriend would be, although they were definitely still there. Instead he just drifted off into a dreamless sleep, the skull being his only company…

*The next morning*

Lauren peeked out from the bushes, staring off past the beach into the lake, where she could see a small wooden barge in the middle of the lake that, like with the iceberg the other day, hadn't been there the last time she had looked out across the lake.

"Is that for the next challenge?" Lauren blinked slowly, before smirking sadistically holding out a bag full of 'goodies' that she'd… acquired… from the craft and services tent on the way to the beach. "Interesting… Let's see what we can find… and maybe… what we can add!"

She noticed one of the boats still yet to be moved over to join the other boats at the barge, despite the lack of people actually on the small wooden platform. She grinned once more, glancing around at the surrounding area in order to see if anyone else was in the vicinity.

When it turned out that there wasn't, Lauren hoisted the bag of 'goodies' onto her back with no hesitation and booked it for the boat. Jumping in and dumping the bag onto the boat, barely paying attention to the other bags that were already sitting in the boat.

She started the engine quickly, and took off for the wooden platform, making it there in less than a minute. She made sure to park it similarly to the other boats in case anyone passed by the beach, just so it'd look a little less suspicious, and she quickly hopped off the boat and onto the wooden platform with what she thought was her bag of 'goodies'.

Just when she was about to dump everything onto the ground however, that was when she noticed that it was actually a bag of flour, and not the items she had brought with her.

"What the?" She questioned, throwing the bag to one side and glancing back at the boat where, alongside the bag that she had brought with her was a bunch of other bags containing different food ingredients.

"It's all food ingredients… aww…" Lauren sulked for a moment, kicking one of the bags of flour that were already scattered around the platform.

"So I came all this way with a bag of weapons for what's going to be a cooking challenge? Lame…" She sighed to herself. "And here I thought they were doing something fun! Like a Hunger Games challenge!" She smirked, but then sighed, quickly dumping the other bags, including her bag onto the platform.

Maybe she was wrong and that some of the bags did have traps in them, but to her dismay, only the stuff she had brought was actually dangerous…

"Darn… well… I suppose I could just leave this pointy little trident here? No one would actually use it right?" She giggled, placing it somewhere discreet, but not too hidden, wanting more so to give off the illusion that there was more to this barge than meets the eye.

She also left a couple of other… surprises, before finally pulling out the last bag, a bow and arrow.

She sighed quietly, the archery kit reminding her of Ezekiel once more, knowing how he'd started to attempt to pick up on his skills once more after he'd finally been able to go home after last season, before shaking her head in an attempt to shake off those thoughts once more.

"Surely no one would use this either… I'll just leave it in the bag…" She tossed the bag with the bow into the pile of bags, before sitting down for a moment.

It was still early into the morning when she had arrived here, so there would be plenty of time for her to search for the immunity idol today, even before the other contestants would be out looking for it.

So Lauren decided to take a small breather before heading back onto the island, wanting to mentally go over some of the plans brewing in her head regarding the other contestants, after having spent a couple of hours going through the confessionals that she had downloaded onto her phone the previous night.

And frankly, she was both shocked and pleased with some of the things that she had discovered in regards to a certain 'couple' that was brewing up. Priya loved Caleb? But Caleb seemed to be using her just for an alliance?

The more Lauren heard about their situationship, the more she hated it. She wasn't about to be the person who tried to tell Priya who she could or couldn't date, but all the signs seemed to be there for him just blatantly using her…

And the worst part of it all… Zee seemed to know both sides, and the poor guy was now stuck in between both of them, struggling to keep a secret in regards to this. On one hand, not wanting to tell Caleb that Priya was obviously crushing on him, and on the other, not wanting to tell Priya that Caleb was just using her.

Admittedly, some of the last confessionals did start to paint a slightly different picture about Caleb's half of the story, but in Lauren's eyes it was irrelevant. He was using her 'friend', and it only served to put Caleb further up Lauren's hitlist…

Something she was going to be so happy to put into action the next chance she got…

During her 'research' in between seasons, Lauren had discovered a lot of different things about the other contestants from her cast, things that they would prefer to keep a secret from everyone else.

Every. Single. One.

Even Chris and Chef weren't immune to this, having been told their stuff specifically by Ezekiel in an attempt to spite his ex-tormentors, albeit Ezekiel did seem to feel a little guilty when it came to Chef's calf implants.

Although she had to admit, she'd not expected some of the dark secrets that he'd revealed to her about Chris, especially regarding that mutant flytrap that she faintly recalled seeing once back when her and Ezekiel had gone on their little adventure into 'The Fun Zone' back when they were just getting to know each other.

She never recalled seeing a plant that vaguely looked like Chris in the Fun Zone, but she trusted Ezekiel's word for it, and it was only proven right when they had ended up rewatching Total Drama All Stars in between seasons, but even for someone as disturbed and as crazy as her, doing things like 'that' to a plant was just way too far…

Chris was somehow even more of a freak than what people made HER out to be… although Lauren rationalised it as Chris being a different type of 'freak' compared to her. She was just scary and sometimes crazy, he was… well… Chris…

Lauren shook her head in order to take her mind off that particular thought, and refocused her attention back on the original trail of thought she had, that being how she was going to utilise these secrets.

Whilst she already knew about Zee's bad reputation when it came to keeping secrets from her time stalking him in between seasons, she had never actually seen it being applied to a situation until now. So seeing him in his confessions actively looking stressed out at the mere thought of having to protect the truth about Caleb's 'feelings' towards Priya was making her excited.

She knew how to not only get rid of Caleb… but how to get revenge on everyone else on the island…

All she had to do was take a gamble in regards to herself, and reveal herself to Zee when he was alone. Then tell him all these secrets that she'd found out about the others before he could reveal to the others that she was on the island…

No one would believe it if he said it after he revealed all of their secrets after all, they'd just think that he was trying to cover his tracks after embarrassing everyone on international TV…

Before Lauren could scheme any further, she noticed movement coming from the beach, seeing three interns moving what looked to be cooking appliances onto the beach, presumably for the ingredients that were currently on the wooden barge with her.

She took advantage of the fact that none of them had noticed her, and dived into the water, beginning to swim back towards the island whilst keeping her distance from where the interns were.

Besides… she had an immunity idol to find before she moved on with any of her other plans… although if she managed to catch Zee alone as she did so, that wouldn't be a bad thing either.

*Around the same time*

"So uh… what exactly is your plan for this whole 'Lauren situation'?" Owen asked Ezekiel, as all seven of the resort's occupants were sitting in the resort's dining area, having just finished their breakfasts for the most part.

The sole exception to this being Owen himself, who still had a rather large stack of pancakes doused in maple syrup, all still waiting to be devoured by the big guy. Owen stabbed into them with his fork, the syrup sticking them together enough in order to be all picked up at the same time, and the entire stack was quickly engulfed in one huge bite.

A majority of the newer cast, namely Bowie and Millie shuddered, not having gotten used to the larger man's eating habits.

"Ugh, and I thought Ripper was bad…" Bowie muttered quietly to himself.

"This is almost as gross as the time Axel brought that squirrel meat into camp…" Millie agreed, much to Chase's discomfort.

"Oh god don't remind me!" Chase whimpered slightly, his stomach churning at the mere reminder of that day, how Zee and Lauren had managed to eat that he'd never know…

Ezekiel seemed to be the only person completely unfazed, and just replied to Owen's question like nothing had happened.

"Well, once you've been taken to the island, I think I'm gonna try and explore this entire island, just to make sure that Lauren isn't just playing mind games on us and is just in the nearby forest." Ezekiel explained his plan.

"And if she isn't?" Nichelle asked him.

Ezekiel seemed to deflate slightly at this, and sighed sadly. "...then I might need to find a boat or something to get to Boney Island… or even the main island if it turns out she's there…"

Owen swallowed the stack of pancakes that he had been chewing on, then turned to the Prairie Boy with a concerned look on his face.

"Hey Zeke? Are you sure you don't want me to call Izzy to see if she and the others could help you find her?" Owen asked softly, knowing that at the very least Izzy and Dawn would want to help out their friends, especially Dawn since it was looking more and more clear that at least one of the couple was breaking down mentally over this.

Ezekiel closed his tired eyes for a moment and shook his head, a soft smile on his face as he opened his eyes to look at Owen.

"I appreciate the offer Owen… but I can't accept it…" Ezekiel replied slowly, the look in his eyes getting slightly sadder. "I don't wanna risk Chris taking it out on everyone if he finds out that I'm back here… plus… I think I'd be the only person she'd listen to anyway…"

Most of the others exchanged confused but concerned looks at each other, but Bowie instead pondered on this, and quickly voiced his opinion on the matter.

"Because the rest of us shunned her for her attempt at being 'normal'? She probably isn't too happy with any of us, even though it was the whole 'stalking' thing that got her booted." Bowie reasoned, looking at Ezekiel with a small frown.

"I mean… if the room she'd trashed is any indication, then she's at the very least furious with herself." Millie added, remembering how damaged the room was before Ezekiel had arrived, at least now that he was using the room, it meant that the damage that had been done by Lauren had been cleared up. There were things missing that couldn't be replaced, however at least the hotel room was now liveable, and it wasn't like Ezekiel spent much time there other than to sleep or to shower.

Ezekiel just sat there and listened for a moment as the others kept bringing things up that indicated Lauren's current mental state when it came to the cast, and soon enough he had to intervene.

"Look! I get it… she's upset, she's probably pissed off, and I know that to some degree it's getting slightly concerning for everyone involved…" Ezekiel said, before sighing. "But… I need to be the one to help her… you guys don't know her the way I do… and she may not appreciate it if say, Millie or Emma found her and spilled things that could make things worse…"

"You mean… about her home life?" Emma asked nervously. "Or about the 'normal' stuff?"

"Both I suppose…" Ezekiel admitted softly, a sad look in his eyes. "You guys weren't supposed to find out about the situation with her parents until she was ready… and the whole 'becoming normal' thing was just the consequences of that…"

Ezekiel sighed again before continuing. "I'm just worried that the longer she's missing, the worse she's gonna get… But to be honest, there's an almost irrational thought that keeps creeping into my mind, one that's making me more worried than I should be."

The last part was the most concerning, and for a moment no one wanted to be the person who asked the question. But eventually, one of them did.

"What do you mean?" Owen asked softly, having an idea as to what this would be about. There was only one other case of something like this happening after all.

Ezekiel looked up at the others, a dark look in his saddened eyes. "I'm worried that, if things get bad enough, she could become something like I had become back on the plane…"

Everyone else gasped, having seen at least images of what Ezekiel had been like when he was feral, and for most of them they'd seen how deteriorated his appearance had been the last time he was at the resort. Even Bowie and Millie who'd only seen Ezekiel's feral state in person when the cure to his mutation was already beginning to heal his battered body knew of the sorry state that Ezekiel had been left in for years.

"I know it's stupid… plus for all we know she could come back today and be totally fine… but…" Ezekiel sighed again, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "What if she doesn't come back… even after the show ends… a small part of me keeps thinking that, when we eventually find her… she'll have become the same monster that I was…"

Everyone was shocked into silence by the admission that Ezekiel had about his worst fears, to the point where even the snarky people in the group like Chase and Bowie were stunned.

The worst part was, no one could exactly blame him for feeling like this… the events of World Tour had deeply scarred Ezekiel, all because he'd refused to leave when he should have, wanting retribution for his early elimination, and now here he was almost five years later, with the exact same events seemingly unfolding with the person he cared the most about.

There were of course different circumstances, but the issue remained the same, Lauren was isolated with thoughts of revenge consuming her mind, likely living amongst the animals in order to avoid being found by Chris or anyone else on the island, and that was assuming that Lauren was on that island…

"I just wish she'd call back, you know…" Ezekiel continued quietly, his tears now streaming slowly down his face. "I'm so scared right now… and I'd do anything just to hear that creepily adorable laugh of hers…"

This comment made some of the others exchange nervous glances, knowing that Scary Girl's laugh was anything but adorable in their honest opinions. But no one was exactly gonna make the snarky response to that when they knew that Ezekiel was clearly going through a rough time with her disappearance.

The only person who seemed to not care about his comment was Emma, who just gently started rubbing Ezekiel's back comfortingly, trying to silently reassure him that things were going to end up fine, that Lauren would be found before anything awful happened.

It was in the middle of this moment that Owen's phone started to go off, and he took one look at it before he got up slowly, glancing towards the exit of the dining room.

"Well… looks like they're almost here for me…" He chuckled, still concerned about Ezekiel but knowing that he couldn't allow that to show on his face when he made his way to the island. "I'll uh… probably be back before whoever gets voted off next will be?"

"Good luck Owen! Say hi to the others for us!" Emma waved with her free hand, still trying to soothe the sobbing Ezekiel with the other one.

"And try to make sure that Wayne and Raj don't hurt each other in my absence." Bowie snarked, although the soft smile on his face indicated a more warm opinion of the Hockey Bros, his boyfriend in particular.

Owen just chuckled again in response as he walked towards the door, stopping just as he was opening it to leave. "I will guys… and Ezekiel?"

Ezekiel looked up slowly at him, noticing the soft smile on Owen's face. "Y-Yeah…?"

Owen grinned and nodded at him. "We'll make sure she's okay if we see her… okay?"

Ezekiel stared for a moment, then nodded softly, a weak smile on his face. "R-Right…"

Owen nodded again, saying his goodbyes to the others, before walking out of the dining room. He walked through the hallways until he found himself back in the main entrance to the resort, where the same intern that had brought Owen and Ezekiel to the resort was standing by the doors waiting for him.

The intern looked up when he heard the giant approaching and sighed in slight relief. "Oh good, you're here earlier than I thought."

Owen smiled and nodded, and the pair headed towards the boat parked on the dock, where another intern could be seen keeping the engine running.

"We're gonna be driving you to the beach where the challenge will be starting soon… I'm supposed to be debriefing you on what to do to 'introduce yourself on the cameras'..." The intern rolled his eyes at the last part, clearly thinking it was some sort of joke by Chris.

"So uh… waiting for a signal and making an entrance for the cameras?" Owen guessed as they made it to the dock.

"Exactly!" The intern smiled. "Basically you just wait off camera further down the beach until you hear the signal about the 'special guest', and you run towards them whilst doing your own thing."

Owen thought for a moment, then grinned and nodded. "I can do that."

"Perfect, makes my job a lot easier…" The intern grinned, glad that Owen picked up on it quickly.

The pair made it to the boat as the second intern, a female one, smiled and waved at Owen as they boarded. The moment everyone was secured, and the hatch was closed, the boat set off for the main island.

Owen's official return to the show was almost ready…

"Come on… where is it!" Lauren muttered to herself, searching through another tree.

Ever since she'd made her way back to land, she'd retreated back into the forest in order to try and find that elusive immunity idol. But no matter how hard she looked, the Scary Girl was just unable to find it…

Not that she wasn't the only person on the island currently out in the woods searching for it, even if she was the only one who wasn't currently still competing for the million dollars. But Lauren had seen a few of the others out in the woods already.

She nearly had a close call already with Axel, who whilst searching for the immunity idol with Ripper was also showing him how to hunt for food. And whilst most of their other moments that Lauren had witnessed were kinda gross in Lauren's eyes…

For a moment, seeing Ripper genuinely take an interest in Axel's hobbies…

It was kinda sweet to her, even reminding her of how Ezekiel had taken an interest in her lifestyle even though they were basically opposites…

That being said, Lauren still made sure to leave swiftly before any of those said disgusting moments could rear their head in front of her, she needed some form of innocence to stay in her mind when it came to Axel and Ripper, otherwise she'd only be reminded of the 'ick' whenever she'd try to scare one of them in the future.

Lauren hadn't seen Damien, Zee or the Hockey Bros yet, however from what she had seen in the confessionals that she'd downloaded, the Hockey Bros were probably off doing their own thing.

And she had only briefly heard both Priya and Caleb, peeking up from the top of a tree just in time to see Caleb fall off a cliff because of a snapped branch, with Priya screaming his name and diving off the cliff in order to try and catch him.

She'd also caught sight of Julia and MK in the distance in a nearby clearing, and whilst she had only briefly heard a couple of the comments that the pair had made during their own search for the idol, the comments she did hear only added fuel to the theory that Lauren had assumed based off the confessionals that she'd watched.

Julia and MK had mutual crushes on each other… but neither of them realised it…

"Why? Because you like me?" Lauren remembered MK saying sarcastically, a sly smirk on the thief's face.

And she definitely remembered and took some satisfaction on the flustered and the look of almost disbelief on Julia's face in response. "What!? No uh… no that is…"

"YOU DO!" MK looked a little too happy, albeit she didn't seem to realise it either. "You do like me! #BFF!" MK had laughed at the time, but Lauren could almost smell the suppressed scent of the closet on both of the girls.

She'd know… because she'd been in both of their closets after all… it was hard for her to not do research on either of them without infiltrating their private sanctuaries, it wasn't like she hadn't done that with literally her entire cast…

Plus… between that, and the 'If MK's brain drove a cool car, I'd date it' comment that Julia had made in the confessional… Lauren would be shocked if neither girl was at least bisexual, but she was certain that it was the case, the two clearly had a secret liking for the other person that not even they had noticed yet.

As these thoughts kept swelling around Lauren's mind, for a moment she was reminded of her own current relationship, and those regrets once again started to appear. Was Ezekiel okay? Does he know about what she's doing? Does he care…?

Lauren sighed, and forced both her humorous thoughts about the potential MK/Julia relationship drama, and the more serious thoughts about her own relationship with Ezekiel out of her head, and began searching for the immunity idol with more vigour.

It was only around ten minutes, and around a dozen trees later, when Lauren began to hear the sounds of someone else in the distance.

She began to jump between the trees, closing in on a small pathway through the forest, staying out of view of whoever it was that was walking through the forest.

Lauren smirked slightly as Damien came into view doing what she could only think was the dumbest, most dorkiest attempt at a confident strut that she had ever seen in person. The only thing that topped this was seeing the replays of Ezekiel's first season, and how that Cody person had made himself look like a fool in an awkward attempt at trying to hit on the various girls in his cast…

She suppressed a creepy giggle as he kept strutting along, striking finger guns at nearby squirrels that he was passing on the pathway. She almost couldn't believe the sight, and she even took her phone out in order to record the ridiculous sight as potential blackmail material for once the game was over…

Well… in the event that she'd still be friends with any of them after this was over…

She groaned softly at the sobering thoughts, but persisted with the recording of her future material, watching as he kept the strut going as he approached the set of trees that she was hiding in.

"Ha! I'm so getting the hang of this place." Damien smiled confidently, his fears having completely vanished for the moment as he was still riding the high of his win during the previous day's challenge.

She watched with a sinister look on her face as she noticed that he was paying absolutely no attention to what was in front of him, making it all the more satisfying when Damien would inevitably face-plant on the log that he was approaching.

"Big challenge win under my belt! Sun is shining!" Damien continued, posing with every sentence, and bringing the finger guns back for his next sentence, making the inevitable face-plant even funnier in Lauren's eyes. "Nothing's gonna bring me down!" He said right as his foot caught on the log, sending him screaming and tumbling to the ground and landing in a heap next to the opening in the log.

Lauren bit her tongue hard in order to contain her laughter, not wanting to be caught just because she took a bit of delight in hearing Damien scream once more. She watched as he clutched his knee in pain before looking into the log, and her face turned from delight at his screams to shock as she overheard his next words…

"Hold up!" He shouted in surprise as he reached into the log, and to Lauren's surprise, pulled out the same immunity idol that Chris had shown everyone the previous day. "The immunity idol!"

Stars were practically in Damien's eyes as he held it up to his face, completely in awe at how his luck on the island had completely turned around in the last twenty-four hours.

"With this little baby in my back pocket! I could go all the way!" He gushed as he held it close to him. "Now I don't have to be scared of anything!" He grinned again before the sound of a horn coming from the loudspeakers spooked him, making Damien scream again and almost drop the idol.

The sound of the horn had also almost made Lauren yelp in surprise, however she had managed to just about keep her composure, her eyes not leaving the idol that was currently in Damien's hands.

"...starting now…" Damien said once more, panting from fright as he caught the idol, clutching it to his face as he spoke, just as the loudspeaker activated once more.

"Challenge Time! Campers to the beach in five minutes!" Chris spoke from the speaker, a smug tone in his voice as he did before the loudspeaker cut off once more.

Damien panted for another couple moments, before holding the Idol close to him once more, a look of brief panic in his eyes.

"O-Okay… I'll just… drop you off someplace safe on the way to the beach… I'm not risking anyone stealing it mid challenge…" He said to himself once more, before taking off in the direction of the cabins, not noticing the Scary Girl directly above him watching him depart with the idol.

Lauren smirked, it wasn't the most ideal thing in the world, but if there was anyone that she was glad to have found the idol, it was Damien…

After all, he was one of, if not the person she'd stalked the MOST during her 'research', she knew exactly what he was going to do with that idol…

And if it wasn't going to be in the cabins well… she'd just have to catch him out at some point in the near future in order to steal the idol from under his nose…

"Sorry in advance Damien…" Lauren cackled to herself as she watched him run through the forest, a creepy grin on her face as she slowly began to follow him from above the trees. "But it looks like I'm gonna have to spoil your luck…"

End Chapter

Author's Note: Right, I do have one important question in regards to how the rest of this fic will proceed from here. I'm somewhat struggling to figure out how Lauren is actually going to sabotage the game from here, especially as she'll want to take a more active role as her composure breaks and she hits her lowest point.

I've spoken to a friend in the Total Drama Writers discord, and they said that perhaps altering a couple minor things in the episodes to suit the changes with Lauren being there would help. The challenges and elimination order would remain the same, and the last thing I'd wanna do is to do an entire rewrite of the season just to slot in Lauren and Ezekiel. There are plenty of other amazing fanfics both already out there or in progress that have their own spin or even completely rewrite season two of the reboot.

But I'll leave it up to you guys as to how I proceed with the rest of season two, particularly since we're getting into the bad part of the season. Should I stick to canon as best as I can? Or do I change small parts of the episodes in order to give Lauren more to do?

Chapter Text

Author's Note: So after some time deciding on what to do (thanks to those who did answer my question BTW) I have decided to actually go through with making some small changes to the events of the season. Like I said in the last chapter however, this doesn't mean any of the major events like eliminations, challenges or relationships are changing, just things that would make sense with Ezekiel's and especially Lauren's inclusion on the island.

Tags on AO3 may be slightly adjusted for this, but ultimately the episodes won't change too much, so I'm not about to rewrite the entire rest of the season in order to compensate for this, only some of the stuff that Lauren directly changes.

There is also a scene in this chapter towards the end that may be a little… unsettling. So consider this the warning for the last section if you don't wanna see anything like that.

With that being said… on with the chapter! (AND SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG AGAIN!)

Chapter Seven

"Sorry in advance Damien…" Lauren cackled to herself as she watched him run through the forest, a creepy grin on her face as she slowly began to follow him from above the trees. "But it looks like I'm gonna have to spoil your luck…"

She had followed him from a distance until he had reached the clearing to the campgrounds. Lauren choosing to hang back for the moment within the relative safety of the trees as Damien quickly disappeared into the men's side of the former Ferocious Trout turned Rat Faces cabin.

When Damien ran out around 20 seconds later, he looked a lot less stressed compared to when he had taken off for the cabins only a few minutes prior. More importantly in the Scary Girl's eyes, was that he no longer had the idol stuffed in his jacket pocket.

"O-Okay… t-that should be good enough until the challenge is over…" Damien said nervously, looking around briefly around the campgrounds before sighing in relief, straightening himself up and trying to give off the impression that nothing was wrong.

"Okay… time to go and ace this challenge." He grinned, trying to psyche himself up for the challenge he was about to partake in, before taking off towards the beach where Lauren had previously seen housing both the cooking equipment and the wooden barge from her trek earlier that morning.

Lauren waited a few moments after Damien was out of sight, glancing around suspiciously just in case any of the others were running late, or for any interns or even Chef to be hanging around the cabins, before jumping off of the branch she was standing on, plummeting several feet to the ground.

She landed safely onto the ground, using another branch on the way down to slow her descent, and the moment her feet touched the grass below she started making her way towards the Rat Faces cabin, making sure to dodge any sight of the cameras…

She was confident when it came to the confessionals camera about altering the footage, and she'd probably be able to do the same thing when it came to the cabins, however she wasn't going to risk doing so out in the open.

The last thing Lauren needed was to be caught by one of the contestants, the interns or Chris and Chef whilst tampering with anything unnecessary…

Lauren started scaling the campgrounds until she was out of sight of any cameras, then rushed towards the Rat Faces cabin. She hugged the wall, before jumping up and grabbing a hold of the edge of the roof, pulling herself up until she was close enough to the cabin's window.

She giggled, pushing against the brittle wood surrounding the glass with one hand until a part of the frame snapped, she carefully pushed the window open once it was loose enough, and her slender figure slipped through the small gap she had created with little issues.

Once inside she briefly glanced around at the bunk beds in the cabin, noticing quite quickly that none of the three male Rat Face members shared a bunk, which made it slightly easier for her to deduce which bed belonged to who's.

The one closest to the door was completely empty, and the one opposite that one she almost immediately figured out belonged to Zee, due to the suitcase filled with various different flavours of soda sitting neatly on the top bunk. And right in the corner just next to Zee's bed was the camera for the cabin.

Lauren smirked slyly, climbing up onto the top bunk of Zee's bed, careful not to knock over the suitcase filled with soda cans, as she reached over towards the camera's wires. Thankfully for the Scary Girl, the cameras seemed to function in the same way as the confessionals camera did, so it didn't take her long at all in order to rig the recordings to her phone in the same way.

Unlike with the confessional, she didn't download any of the footage to her phone, she doubted that she would get too much from seeing their casual conversations anyway. Instead Lauren rewound the footage a few minutes to when Damien had run in with the immunity idol.

She watched with a dark glee as he kneeled under his bunk, being the one next to Zee's, and he spent a few moments placing the idol under the bed, before sighing happily.

"There we go… I'll hide it somewhere better later on…" Damien had muttered nervously as he got up from underneath his bunk bed, no longer holding the immunity idol.

Lauren smirked as she watched the footage, seeing him then walk out of the cabin, before finally pausing it.

"Good spot there Damien…" Lauren giggled creepily to herself as she went back to the live footage, pausing it and deleting the last couple of minutes from the moment where she'd been spotted breaking the window in order to get into the cabin.

"Too bad you didn't account for Scary Girl's watching you from the window… oh the poor guy never learns…" Lauren continued, smiling sinisterly as she repeated the same trick as she had done the previous night with the confessionals footage, altering the footage of the last several minutes to show a repeated loop of an empty cabin, before setting the 'live recording' to restart once the video ended in the next few minutes.

She would have around ten minutes this way to grab the idol and leave the cabin in the way she'd found it, which she was confident was more than enough time… if not, then she'd just need to do the trick again…

But she'd rather not risk being found if she somehow didn't find it the first time…

When she was done with hacking into the camera, she quickly reconnected everything, taking a couple of minutes to do so, before jumping off of Zee's top bunk, landing on the wooden floor with a slightly loud bang.

Thankfully no one was around to hear it, and Lauren darted straight for Damien's bunk, diving underneath the bed and attempting to grab a hold of the idol hidden underneath…

Only to not find anything there…

"Wait… what? W-Where is it?" Lauren blinked, looking slightly confused at first. She saw the footage, Damien had the immunity idol in his hands when he crawled under the bed, and didn't when he got up, so surely it had to have been here… right?

She growled for a moment, a small part of her wondering if Damien had been too paranoid to do something like this… or worse… he'd known he was being watched.

She punched the floor in annoyance, only to wince when the floorboard gave out under her hand, the other side of it hitting her in the knee.

"Ow! Hey… wait a minute…" She began to realise, shifting back slightly and pressing on the floorboard again, before smirking when it turned out that the wooden plank was loose.

When Lauren removed it, she found a couple of items, namely a chemistry book, some sweets, and to her amusement, Priya's 'Total Drama guidebook'. But more importantly to the Scary Girl, was the small golden Chris statue hidden in the corner.

She scooped it up with an evil smile, chuckling to herself as she cradled the immunity idol to her chest.

"I never thought I'd be glad to see Chris's smug face… but here we are…" Lauren giggled creepily to herself, stuffing the idol under her dress before gently placing the loose wooden board back where it originally was, before climbing out from under Damien's bunk with the idol in her possession.

"Ooh he's going to be so mad…" Lauren laughed, before pondering on him for a moment. "Hmm… I wonder if his screams are just as good when he's mad compared to when he's scared?"

She giggled madly again before shrugging it off, it didn't matter too much for her when she wasn't going to be sticking around the campgrounds for the inevitable fallout. All that she cared about was that the immunity idol was now in her possession, and no one was going to be allowed to use it…

She smirked at the thought of everyone running around like headless chickens looking for the idol, especially Damien since he would no doubt be on edge at the thought of someone else having stolen it. None of them ever realising that the person who had it wasn't even in the game, and had no intentions of playing it…

Lauren giggled one more time as she climbed on top of Damien's bunk, his bed being the closest to the window she'd partially broken in order to climb through, and she quickly climbed back through.

She landed back on the grass outside the cabin, only to immediately jump back up to grab a hold of the roof, using one hand to pull the window back closed. The cracks in the window frame didn't look too obvious, and for a moment she wondered if anyone would even notice that it was broken, before shrugging it off as she fell onto the grass once more.

Lauren pulled out the immunity idol from under her dress, smirking deviously at her new prize. A small part of her did want to watch the challenge, but a more sinister part of her wanted to hide her idol in a place that would genuinely be impossible for any of the contestants to find.

In the end she didn't feel too interested to try and sit through what she knew was a cooking challenge, and she needed to still figure out some plans for how she was going to execute her next sabotage…

It was that or let her thoughts trail off into places she didn't want to think about… like the reason she'd done all of this in the first place… or the thoughts of going back home to Ezekiel and forgetting about all of this…

So with her mind made up, she took off back into the forest once more, intent on hiding the immunity idol away. If she was quick she'd make it back for the end of the challenge anyway.

*Around the same time*

Unbeknownst to the Scary Girl, only a couple of miles away on one of the neighbouring islands was said Prairie Boy…

Ezekiel had taken off into the forests surrounding the Playa Des Losers soon after Owen had left the resort in order to assist with the current challenge on the main island. Ezekiel's eyes and mind were still somewhat sharpened from his days as a feral freakshow, and although the cure that Dakota had supplied to fix his mutation had restored his appearance and humanity, nothing could take away the skills he had learned during his time on the plane, in Wawanakwa's radioactive mines, and especially during his time living on Boney Island.

The resort had already been covered extensively by some of the others… mostly Millie and Emma… before Ezekiel had even made his return to the island. He wanted to trust their word that she wasn't hanging around the resort, and thus he had stuck to the surrounding areas first as he did a sweep of the island…

He hoped he would find her sooner rather than later, because Ezekiel really didn't want to think about having to retread ground on Boney Island… or worse… heading back to a copy of the island where his problems had begun over five years ago…

'I think I see a bird!'

Ezekiel's eyes narrowed at the mere memory as he stopped walking through the forest, grimacing at the naivety he remembered having when he first stepped onto the show.

'I know you don't get out much, been homeschooled your whole life, raised by freaky prairie people, just don't say much and try not to get kicked off too early, okay.'

He grumbled as the memories kept pouring in, even as a stranger Chris had hated him… he'd made it known from day one, masking it behind a false sense of concern. He'd watched every greeting after in person, and the ones before his on the TV numerous times both before World Tour, and after Lauren had saved him years later, and Chris had only shown hidden animosity towards HIM.

Why…? Why only him and not any of the other twenty-one contestants that season? What about the two who joined them on the plane?

Sure he had heard about the other two generations between his and Lauren's seasons, that kind but mysterious girl Dawn had been in the second generation, the same one as Dakota had been and his one-time crush Anne-Maria.

No one in that season seemed to be outright despised by Chris either, even as he had slowly gotten more and more outwardly sadistic…

It was only the third generation, the one that he'd never seen before that seemed to have some of the only other people Chris hated. He'd never watched the season, but Priya and Lauren had both filled him in on some of the 'oddballs' that had apparently pissed Chris off during the apparently controversial 'Pahkitew Island'...

'Well, I just don't get why we lost eh, they're the ones that have six girls.'

Ezekiel growled softly, a hint of his former feral state resurfacing as he continued searching the island for the missing Scary Girl. His second biggest mistake after stowing away on the plane coming back into his mind.

'Well, guys are much stronger and better at sports than girls are.'

He tried to block it all out of his mind as he searched every bush, every tree, just anywhere big enough for Lauren to be hiding in…

It was somewhat stupid, he knows it, if she was actually around here he would've heard her by now. It's not like he was going to stumble upon a body, besides she was the opposite of those beliefs that his father had told him years ago. Lauren was strong and capable, she wouldn't let a couple days hiding in the woods take her out.

'My dad told me to look out for the girls here eh, and help them in case they can't keep up.'

Ezekiel shook his head wildly, trying to forget about every damned thought from that island, he couldn't allow himself to be dragged back into the past, especially when it considered his stupid mistake that led to his humiliation and isolation, his mistake that led to the series of events that had made him desperate enough in the first place to want to cling onto the plane, to what had made him into a monster for years.

Besides… He had a job to do and right now, he needed to focus on finding Scary Girl, and he couldn't let the past distract him.

He came across a small cave, one that he faintly recognised as the same one that he had hidden in several months ago. Alone and afraid, trying to hide away from the people who had a hand in his loss of humanity…

The Prairie Boy remembered sitting there for what had felt like hours, trying to come to terms with the fact that two of the people who had effectively condemned him to his fate as a feral ghoul had returned. He remembered the blonde moonchild who had come not to judge him, but to reassure him and even apologise for her accidental involvement in The Fun Zone's creation.

He remembered how Dawn and Lauren had sat with him once they had found him hiding away, trying to help him come to terms with the fact that those same people who had cast him aside were now wanting to make amends, something that he had ultimately been able to do even with a couple of bumps along the way…

"It feels so long ago…" Ezekiel muttered softly to himself, taking a moment to sit in the small, dark cave. "What happened to change everything so badly…"

He sighed quietly, thinking about everywhere he'd looked, he'd seen no sign of anything in the forest that gave any indication of someone living out here, and he was beginning to doubt that Lauren was even on the same island as him.

Which left either Boney Island or the new 'Wawanakwa'...

Neither of which Ezekiel really wanted to return to…

He was still going to check the rest of the forest just in case, Lauren was pretty good at covering her tracks after all. But he'd also lived with this girl for six months at this point, he had gotten pretty good at finding her.

Even if that hadn't stopped her from stalking the others without his knowledge…

Ezekiel shook his head once more, standing up with a soft groan, dusting himself off before stepping out of the cave. He knew it very well could be a fruitless endeavour to keep searching the resort's surroundings, but until he searched every last corner, he'd do the same with the other islands if he had to.

Even if it meant that it ruined him to do so…

He just couldn't stop until Lauren was found… even if it was to save the Scary Girl from herself…

*After the challenge*

Lauren was giggling to herself quietly as she hid in the trees near the campgrounds, having missed most of the challenge due to hiding the immunity idol she had stolen from Damien.

She had gotten close to the beach when she'd seen everyone walking away from the challenge area, which whilst Lauren was disappointed about missing yet another challenge, mostly because of the potential to sabotage people from behind the scenes, she knew she had arrived just in time for the main event in her eyes.

She was going to get to see Damien's reaction to his idol being missing, and Lauren was going to enjoy the screams that followed…

Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of the Scary Girl currently stalking them all from within the trees, the remaining ten contestants all in varying states of mood after the challenge. Most notably Priya, who was glaring in annoyance at Ripper and Axel, with Caleb trying to reassure her that things would be fine.

Julia however looked smug as she hung back with MK, still fresh off her victory after single-handedly carrying the Hockey Bros throughout the challenge. It also helped that Ripper's big mouth had for once been useful rather than a detriment, seeing as his reveal of being involved in the finishing touches for Priya's cake in such a disgusting way had cost her team the challenge.

"Hey… wanna pull a prank on the rest of these losers?" Julia whispered with a sly smile.

MK took one look at everyone ahead of them in order to ensure that they weren't listening in, then smirked in response.

"You bet I do." MK replied, showing her own sly smile back to her partner in crime as they both whispered to one another. "So uh… what're we doing?"

"I was thinking… maybe we could put some fear into some of them? Use some of that paper we had left over from the whole 'Nichelle contract' thing…" Julia explained, hiding the fact that the contract hadn't been intended for Nichelle, and that someone had tried to target her.

She still didn't know who had done it, and considering how no other attempts at sabotaging her hadn't been made since that night, Julia just assumed that her hunch on it being Bowie was correct, blissfully unaware of the real culprit's identity.

"Uh huh… and what exactly are you scheming Julia?" MK looked at her with slight confusion, but was otherwise down for mischief with her only friend… not that MK would ever admit that they were friends of course…

"Let's see if we can trick some of them into turning on each other over the idol." Julia grinned. "We'll write anonymous notes to everyone saying something like, 'I know you have the immunity idol.', then we'll watch as everyone gets getting paranoid over who has it." Julia explained her plan, thinking it as being flawless.

MK however looked a little more skeptical. "Okay, as much as I love seeing you trying to be all schemy and mean to people, don't you think everyone's just gonna see right through it."

"I mean…" Julia trailed off, would they see through it, or would they be gullible enough to do so. Julia smirked as she looked around briefly at the others ahead of them, all of them none the wiser as she pointed to them one by one.

"The Hockey losers and Zee are idiots, the kissing idiots over there are gullible, and while this ones a stretch, I can see Damien being paranoid enough to take the bait." Julia explained, smirking as she noticed MK's expression sour when she had pointed at Ripper and Axel.

"Ugh, hopefully one of them will be voted off tonight… I'm getting sick of seeing them making out all day, especially after they sabotaged the challenge for me." MK muttered in annoyance, her usual snark disappearing as she remembered being dragged down during the challenge.

"Ugh, don't remind me… those Hockey Losers slowed me down so much… they're so lucky I had experience with baking." Julia grumbled, muttering under her breath about wishing for their eliminations.

"And don't even get me started on Owen trying to eat our cakes throughout the challenge!" MK snarked a little loudly, causing not only some of the other contestants to momentarily turn back to look at them, but unbeknownst to everyone else Scary Girl as well.

Lauren blinked in shock, almost losing her footing on the branch she was crouched on. Owen was here? One of the old contestants was on the island?

The Scary Girl stopped for a moment as everyone else carried on towards the cabins without ever noticing her presence, she needed a moment anyway to process the information.

The thought kept gnawing at her stomach as she gradually started to follow the others from within the trees again. It didn't sound like much to Lauren, and yet she got the feeling that there was more to this…

Lauren's thoughts were racing for the rest of the trip back, those feelings of longing and guilt crashing into her full force. She forced herself to push those feelings down, her revenge had to come first!

She made a mental note to check the confessionals recordings thoroughly tonight… just in case Owen had confessed anything during his brief return to the island. She knew she was being overly paranoid about the prospect of this, but she had to know if more was happening behind the scenes.

It was silly to even consider, he couldn't possibly know after all, and yet… the thought never left Lauren's mind, the thought that Ezekiel somehow knew more about her revenge than she previously thought…

She had already known from before that he was at least a little concerned about her, the numerous calls and texts that she had ignored springing to mind immediately, but until now she had put the thoughts to one side.

Now however, was there more to this? Did Ezekiel know what she was doing? Was he…

Her thoughts were completely halted when she began to notice Damien splitting off from the other contestants, a creepy grin forming on her face as she began to make her way to the Rat Face cabin's window, her darker thoughts put to one side for the moment to focus on her plan once more.

Zee noticed Damien began to walk to the cabin instead of the Mess Hall like everyone else, and called out to him.

"Damien! You coming or what man?" Zee asked curiously, watching as Damien turned with a somewhat nervous smile, but considering how jittery Damien had been this season he thought little of it.

"Y-You go on ahead Zee… I've just gotta grab something from the cabin quickly." Damien responded, trying to hold his nerves so no one would follow and discover the idol he'd hidden away.

"Want me to come with you?" Zee asked innocently, drinking from his soda.

"No no It's cool! Couldn't you uh… go talk to Priya and Caleb or something while I'm gone?" Damien suggested nervously, in his own panic he didn't notice Zee's own expression tense up slightly, Zee's growing concerns about the pair's relationship continuing to fester as he kept the secret about Caleb's original intentions to himself.

"I… I dunno man…" Zee hid his nervous smile behind his soda can, drinking large gulps from it to mask his unease. "I guess I could try to catch up with Ripper? Although I think him and Axel are still playing tonsil hockey?"

Damien and unbeknownst to the pair Lauren both shuddered upon hearing that, Damien in particular getting horrid flashbacks to their earlier scene on the beach during the challenge.

"Please don't remind me… I think I'm scarred for life after that image…" Damien replied, shuddering nervously. "B-But uh… good luck with that I guess."

Zee drank his soda and waved him off, neither Damien nor Lauren noticing his expression dropping as he walked off towards the mess hall.

Damien sighed, before turning and running into his cabin, unaware that his idol had already been taken.

Lauren smirked from her hiding spot, grabbing a hold of the window ledge and peeking in just in time to see Damien peeking under his bed.

"Okay… time to go find another spot for this idol…" Damien muttered nervously, not noticing the pale blue eyes gazing down at him unnervingly. He removed the loose floorboard and reached in to grab the idol… only to grab thin air.

"Huh?" Damien blinked, before looking under the board, noticing the severe lack of an immunity idol. "W-What!"

He shot up from under the bed, the blood draining from his face as he darted around the room in a panic.

"WHERE IS IT? WHO TOOK IT? OH I KNEW I SHOULD'VE KEPT IT ON ME!" He shouted in despair as he searched under every bed, checking every corner of the room, not once noticing the Scary Girl watching from the window, said Scary Girl trying to suppress her laughter at the scene in front of her.

Lauren smirked as she quietly fell to the ground once more, hearing his screaming and shouting as he frantically looked for the idol, unaware of who had actually taken it.

"Okay… okay… i-it's fine… I can find it…" Damien tried to calm himself down, although he was clearly still in shock that someone had taken it. "Think Damien, think… Who left during the challenge? Priya, Caleb and Zee were with me the whole time. Julia and MK were both stuck carrying their respective teams… and… ugh… Axel and Ripper were making out the whole time."

His eyes then widened in shock, a small amount of realisation creeping into his expression, albeit with a fair amount of doubt.

"Wait… Could Wayne and Raj have taken it? They were the only two to go missing after the raft during the challenge?" He reasoned to himself, unaware that the real culprit was still listening in on him. "Surely not… would they?"

He frowned to himself and began muttering under his breath, the words unable to be heard by his one audience member. But it didn't matter as Damien walked off towards the Mess Hall, wanting to try and confirm his suspicions about whether or not the Hockey Bros had stolen the immunity idol.

Lauren giggled quietly, careful not to be heard, only allowing herself to laugh normally once she was at a safe distance in the forest. Her plan was working… The idol was hers and she was spreading some level of discourse between Damien and the others.

She disappeared into the depths of the woods once more, her work was done for the day after all, and she couldn't grab the footage for the confessional until after the elimination ceremony, so there was little point in sticking around.

Maybe once she gets a hold of it then she would be able to confirm her own suspicions about her strange feelings regarding Owen's surprise appearance, and what it means about Ezekiel...

*Later that night*

The day had soon turned to night, and things were getting the smallest bit more tense when it came to the whole 'Scary Girl' situation as the usual time approached for the next eliminated contestant to arrive at the resort.

As expected Ezekiel hadn't seen any signs of the ever elusive Lauren, and the moment he had returned to the resort he had closed himself off once more. Owen had returned soon after from the main island after completing his role in the challenge, but unfortunately aside from bringing a life sized cake version of Chef Hatchet with him he also had nothing to show.

But unlike the resort's island they couldn't rule out the Wawanakwa replica, Owen had explained to the others over pieces of the Chef cake that he had basically only stayed for the challenge before being escorted back to the boat to come back to the resort. Basically meaning that he had been unable to check any part of the island for Lauren's whereabouts.

The only thing that Owen had been allowed to do was access the confessional on the way back to the boat, where he admitted that he had dropped in a small message for Lauren in the unlikely event that she was able to listen in.

Ezekiel was currently sitting on the docks at the front of the resort, staring off in the direction of where the other two islands were, his eye bags slightly bigger than before and his face frozen in worry.

All of the eliminated contestants were currently sitting in the lobby, most of them talking just to pass the time whilst they waited to see who would be eliminated next, with some of the more empathetic contestants like Owen or Emma occasionally glancing out of the window down towards where Ezekiel was sitting, concern for him etched onto their faces.

After several minutes of this however, Emma couldn't take anymore, proceeding to stand up and move for the front door.

"Hey? Where are you going?" Nichelle called over as Emma grabbed the handle for the door, a slightly confused look on her face.

Emma looked back at the others, a mixture of concern and frustration on her face.

"To go check on Ezekiel..." She responded simply as she opened the door. "Even if it doesn't help much... someone needs to be there for him."

"Since when did you get so worried about him?" Chase scoffed, a slightly annoyed look on his face. "Do you like him now or something?"

"Are you kidding me Chase!" Emma groaned as she turned around, her face flushed bright red, whether it was from embarrassment or anger no one knew. "Just because I feel sympathy for someone clearly going through a lot doesn't mean I like them!"

"Besides..." Bowie smirked, looking at Chase with a mixture of amusement and mockery. "Do you really think she'd want to risk something like that knowing he's dating Scary Girl of all people?"

"It'd probably be the worst relationship mistake she'd ever make!" Millie added, looking flabbergasted at his comment, causing Nichelle to scoff in amusement.

"Yeah, apart from the fact that she dated Chase in the first place." Nichelle smirked, with everyone else bursting into laughter, the aforementioned YouTube Prankster being the sole exception.

"Hey! I wasn't that bad... right?" Chase responded nervously, looking around at the others. "Right? Emma...?"

He turned to try and seek approval from his ex-girlfriend, thinking that she would back him up, only for said influencer to have already left for the docks.

"Stupid Chase... thinking I'm crushing on Lauren's man..." Emma grumbled as she stomped down the steps leading to the docks, her face reddening further. "I know he was stupid... but I didn't think he was THAT stupid..."

She fanned her face slightly, trying and succeeding in cooling her flushed face down as she approached Ezekiel, the Prairie Boy not having noticed her approaching until she stood right behind him.

"Hey... mind if I sit here?" Emma asked him gently, smiling softly down at him as he looked up at her with a blank expression.

"Yeah... sure eh..." Ezekiel muttered in response, sighing slightly as he looked back in the direction of the other islands.

"What's wrong Zeke?" Emma asked softly as she sat down with him at the edge of the dock, looking at him with concern.

Ezekiel looked at her for a moment, then straight ahead once more, as if debating for a moment whether he should open up to her or not.

"I... I don't know if I can go over there eh..." Ezekiel admitted softly. "Both places hold so many bad memories for me..."

Emma winced slightly, knowing about what he had been through on the original Wawanakwa and Boney Island, even if the island she'd competed on wasn't quite the same as the one Ezekiel had, there were probably enough similarities that it would still trigger some kind of bad memories for him.

Especially if he had to go back to the island he'd been forced to live on for around three years...

"Like... I know Lauren is gonna be on one of them..." He continued, his expression darkening slightly. "And I know she needs me... I have this feeling that she's really not doing okay at all eh..."

She looked at him with clear worry in her eyes, seeing the dim look in his grey eyes, his spirit clearly beginning to falter slightly. She gently took one of his hands in hers, causing him to glance at her once more.

"Look... I get it..." Emma began, smiling reassuringly, giving his hand a soft squeeze. "It must be so hard having to go back there."

"It's not just that..." Ezekiel muttered softly, looking into her eyes with a tearful gaze, one that made Emma's heart ache slightly at the sight of.

"Then what is it?" She responded just as softly, still trying to reassure him.

He looked away for a couple moments, back towards where the islands would be, sighing softly before turning back to Emma, looking down towards their held hands.

"Promise you won't laugh at me..." He asked her gently, almost desperately.

Emma's eyes softened even more, her heart aching more as she noticed his tears beginning to run down his face.

"I won't... I promise." She responded, her thumb beginning to run over his fingers gently, trying to soothe his worries even the slightest amount.

Ezekiel looked up at Emma, who smiled reassuringly back at him, before sighing and nodding slowly.

"Okay... I'll tell you..." Ezekiel sighed once more before beginning to explain. "I'm just... worried that... if I find her... she'll be just like what I was..."

He sobbed slightly, his body beginning to shake slightly as he voiced the concerns he had the whole day to someone else. Emma's heart broke completely, pulling him into a tight hug, letting the Prairie Boy cry into her orange sweater as she rubbed his back gently.

"It's gonna be okay Zeke... she won't become feral..." Emma whispered to him softly, pushing him away from her for a moment so she could look him in the eyes, the Tik Tok star noticing for the first time just how exhausted he was getting over the whole situation.

"B-But... h-how do you k-know?" Ezekiel muttered weakly, neither of them noticing the bubbles forming in the water nearby, coming closer to the beach next to the docks.

"Because Scary Girl is the strongest, scariest and most adaptable girl I know!" Emma exclaimed, grinning softly at him. "If there's one person I can see surviving out there its Lauren!"

She then faltered slightly, smiling sheepishly as one of her hands went behind her head.

"Um... other than Axel of course, she is a survivalist after all" Emma chuckled awkwardly.

Ezekiel smiled faintly for a moment, before his expression darkened again slightly.

"W-Well... t-that's not the..." He began to explain, only for a loud splash of water to catch both Ezekiel and Emma's attention, their heads both whipping in the direction of the beach where to their surprise, both Axel and Ripper emerged from the water.

Or rather... Axel was dragging an unconscious Ripper onto the shore with the Drone of Despair in her other hand. The survivalist looked slightly strained from having swam to the resort with the 'Alpha Male' in tow, her expression extremely concerned as she tossed the Drone to the side, before flipping Ripper onto his back and beginning to perform CPR on him.

"Come on you damn idiot... wake up!" She shouted in her panic, pressing several strong compressions into his chest before pressing her lips against his, trying to force air into his water clogged lungs.

Emma and Ezekiel watched with concern, and Emma was even about to rush over to help Axel after the second set of compressions before Ripper suddenly began to stir, sitting up as he started coughing up water.

For a moment Axel looked relieved as Ripper kept coughing up water, before her face hardened into a more serious expression, looking more and more pissed off. The moment Ripper stopped coughing she slapped him hard across the face, sending him into the sand.

"Ow! What gives babe?" Ripper complained as he sat back up, groaning softly.

"Don't give me that you idiot!" Axel almost snarled as she grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him close until they were nose to nose, her fiery glare gazing into his terrified eyes. "What the fuck were you thinking Ripper!"

"Me! What the heck was that!" Ripper exclaimed, looking shocked and hurt by her angry words. "'Yeah it's been fun, see you around maybe'. Is that really all you think of me?"

This actually took Axel off guard, the survivalist realising for the first time how bad her words must've sounded to him.

"O-Oh... um..." She stuttered out, flushing slightly from embarrassment.

"Was I really just a fling to you Axel?" Ripper asked her, looking like he was about to burst into tears. "Or do I actually mean something to you?"

Axel was at a loss for words, her angry expression slowly softening.

"Of course you mean something... I... I guess I just didn't want to admit it out loud..." She admitted to him, her usual gruff tone sounding soft as she spoke to him. "But that doesn't excuse jumping after me Ripper."

It was Ripper's turn this time to look sheepish, the 'Alpha Male' blushing from slight embarrassment as he realised his mistake.

"Yeah... in hindsight I guess I shouldn't have done that..." He grumbled out, looking at the ground as the ramifications hit him, his eyes widening as he clutched at his face. "Oh crap... Does that mean I owe Chris a million dollars?"

"Actually..." Emma called out as she walked over, dragging a reluctant Ezekiel along with her as both Axel and Ripper noticed them for the first time. "Nichelle told us that it wasn't an actual rule. Apparently Chris made it up in order to scare Damien into not quitting last season."

Ripper audibly sighed in relief, whilst Axel just nodded in agreement.

"I remember, I was there when Chris said it..." Axel muttered, her usual tone back in place now that she knew there were others around. "But that doesn't excuse Ripper for quitting the game!"

"Wait, you actually quit!" Emma and Ezekiel both exclaimed, looking at Ripper in shock, the latter hanging his head in shame upon feeling the duos gazes on him.

"Yeah, this idiot decided on a whim that he'd rather chase after me when he thought I was dumping him, then to stay in the game and try to win it for both of us!" Axel explained, glaring slightly at Ripper once more, although compared to her earlier anger this one was a lot softer.

"B-But babe..." Ripper tried to weakly defend himself.

"But nothing Ripper, we both know full well that I would've been the first to meet you here, whether you were the next person voted out or as the winner of the whole damn thing!" Axel responded, before hugging him tightly. "Oh well... what's done is done... Chris has probably officially eliminated you anyway..."

"Look, I'm sorry Axel..." Ripper muttered quietly, gently hugging her back, for once not caring about his image as both Ezekiel and Emma watched on in shock. "I uh... probably should've thought about the game first huh..."

"I said it's fine Ripper..." Axel responded gruffly, before smirking as she pulled away to look him in the eyes. "Besides... remember what I said before?"

"W-What?" Ripper asked nervously, a small blush creeping onto his face as Axel's grin widened.

"When couples fight... they make up..." Axel almost purred out, before pushing Ripper to the ground, beginning to make out with him passionately much to Ezekiel and Emma's disgust.

"Um... ew!" Emma almost gagged upon seeing it, backing away slowly alongside Ezekiel.

"I think I finally see what Nichelle and Bowie meant eh..." Ezekiel agreed, his earlier melancholy replaced by horror at the sight in front of them. "D-Do we just... leave them here?"

"Yeah... I uh... think we should..." Emma nodded, the pair turning to head back into the resort to tell the others the news, leaving the couple to make out on the beach, knowing that they were fine for the moment.

*???*

"Hey! Pass the ball over here!" A boy called out to his friend.

It was a small park, filled with children of varying ages all going about their business, playing games, hanging out with other kids their age. In the trees at the corner of the park, a small figure was watching two boys and a girl playing soccer, using a makeshift net as the goal, all three looked around five years old.

"No David, just shoot, or are you afraid of losing to a girl." The girl grinned mockingly, her hands covered up by brown goalkeeper gloves that looked way too big for her, her long brown hair swaying in the wind alongside the large red ribbon in her hair as cool brown eyes gleamed at both of her opponents, she was otherwise dressed in a small red sweater and blue pants.

The boy, a blonde now known as David, glared at the girl with piercing green eyes as he prepared to kick the ball. He was dressed in a simple white shirt and black shorts.

"Oh it is on Gabby!" David smirked arrogantly as his foot reared back, ready to kick the soccer ball at full force.

"Dave don't! It's what she wants!" The other boy shouted, a black haired boy dressed in a Manchester United kit and white shorts, his brown eyes glaring back at him.

"Shut it Marcus, I know what I'm doing!" David responded, glaring at him as he booted the ball towards the top corner of the goal, only for Gabby to just about smack the ball away with her fingertips.

The ball ended up smacking the post and back towards the now fuming David, who in his anger booted the ball once again, this time missing it entirely and sending it sailing straight towards the small figure.

"Ahh!" They screamed, falling to the ground clutching their face.

"What the!" Marcus gasped, as both he and Gabby quickly noticed the small figure rolling around clutching their face in pain.

"David you moron!" Gabby scolded as she smacked David on the top of his head. "You've hurt someone."

"Oh shut it nature lover..." David mumbled angrily in response, although his temper was being curbed slightly at the sight of the injured person. "They shouldn't have gotten in the way..."

Despite his words, he joined the other two kids in walking towards the injured figure, partially to check on them and partially to get their ball back.

"Hey... are you okay?" Gabby asked gently as she reached them, crouching down and finally getting a good look at them.

It was a little girl around a year younger than the trio, with long brown hair going past her shoulders, wearing a worn purple long sleeved shirt, a black skirt and black leggings. Her eyes were scrunched up in pain, with her pale hands covering her right eye.

"Oww..." She groaned softly, her uncovered eye opening, showing her pale blue iris. "That hurt..."

"Hey, we're sorry... our friend just got angry and didn't think about where he was shooting..." Marcus tried to explain, as Gabby stuck her tongue out childishly at David, who turned his head away and scoffed.

The girl sat up, glaring angrily at David. Her hands slowly clenching into fists as she removed them from her other eye, revealing a bruised eye shoddily covered in makeup, makeup that was rubbed off slightly after being struck by the soccer ball, also leaving a small red welt on the edges of where the make up would've met pale skin.

"That really hurt!" The girl seethed, a slightly scary expression on her face as she got up.

"Hey! You shouldn't have been watching us from the bushes like a weirdo then!" David replied, glaring daggers back at the girl.

"Dude calm down." Marcus held him back from advancing towards the girl, shooting panicked looks at both of them. "It was just an accident, okay?."

"No..." The girl flashed a wide smile at them, a slightly terrifying wide smile. "Let him come..."

"See!" David smirked, still glaring daggers at the girl. "She even knows it herself!"

"David... you should stop... Now!" Gabby held his other arm, glaring at him, although she seemed to be avoiding the younger girl's gaze. "She did nothing wrong... just let her go and we'll go back to our game."

The girl just advanced closer, her expression unflinching, almost challenging the arrogant boy in front of her to strike first.

"What's the matter? Too scared of a little girl?" She giggled, her laughter sounding like a mixture of childish curiosity with a hint of a more menacing undertone. "Or are you just weak?"

"Oh that's it..." David growled, trying his hardest to break free from the grip of the other two children. "Let me at her!"

The three children descended into arguing as the unnamed girl stood in front of them smirking, her smile becoming a little creepier, only for that smile to vanish when she heard someone shouting.

"LAUREN! GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!" An older female voice shouted over, all four kids looking over to see a woman in her late twenties approaching. None of the other kids noticed what little colour in Lauren's face was draining at the mere sight of her.

"B-But Mom..." Lauren replied meekly, the complete opposite of her earlier self. "I-I..."

"No buts young lady!" The woman approached Lauren, grabbing her small arm tightly as she stormed away from the other kids with her daughter in tow, almost dragging her along the grass. "I told you not to be going around scaring the other children!"

"B-But they hit me with t-their b-ball..." Lauren protested weakly, knowing that not even the truth was going to help her.

"Oh please, you're just trying to excuse your demonic actions..." The woman sneered down at Lauren, the scary look on her face contrasting the bright sunflower dress she was wearing.

"I... I'm not lying!" Lauren shouted desperately, her free hand gripping her mothers dress in fright. "I p-promise! T-They hit me s-straight in the eye!"

She pointed at her swollen eye, at which the mother only sneered more at.

"They probably only did it because you frightened them so much..." Her mother responded, dragging Lauren to the car, almost throwing her into the back seat.

Lauren quickly realised that there was no escaping this, and just quietly strapped herself into the back seat, staring despondently out of the window as they left the park...

She never saw those kids again... nor was Lauren ever allowed back anywhere near there again...

The moment the car parked up at her house, Lauren was dragged into the living room, being thrown harshly onto the couch.

"Ow!" Lauren yelped, banging her bruised face against the armrest, but she was quickly grabbed by her long brown hair and forced to look at her mother's angry expression.

"You do NOT talk back to me like that!" She practically snarled, using one hand to hold Lauren by her hair as she started smacking her with the other hand. "You think you can just go around scaring and hurting people you demon child!"

Lauren screamed out in pain and fright, her tears washing away the makeup on her face to reveal the purple bruise around her right eye.

"M-Mom s-stop it... p-please..." Lauren begged weakly, only to get smacked hard on her bad eye, causing her to scream louder.

"SHUT UP!" Her mother screamed back at her. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop talking back! Ugh! If it isn't acting psychotic it's talking back with you!"

Lauren couldn't stop quivering in pain, her tears freely falling down her cheeks, too scared to respond any further.

After a few more hard smacks her mother yanked at her hair even more as she pulled Lauren off the couch, dragging her kicking and screaming through the house until they reached Lauren's bedroom.

Or... at least what was supposed to be a bedroom, only consisting of a single dirty mattress with an old pillow and a small blanket, and only a small school uniform and another change of clothes slung in the corner.

"Now you are going to stay locked in here and think about what you've done you psychotic demon!" Her mother screamed once more. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!"

Lauren at this point could only nod weakly, afraid of being struck once more. "Y-Yes m-mother..."

She grunted at her daughter's submission, before glaring down even more harshly at her.

"And you can forget about going outside for the foreseeable future! From now on you're NOT leaving the house unless its for school or appointments!" Lauren's mother continued almost mockingly.

"W-What?" Lauren's eyes widened in shock and fear, her young mind unable to comprehend what was happening to her. "Y-You can't do that!"

Her response was met with another hard smack to her cheek, sending the young girl crying and stumbling onto her dirty mattress.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO TALK BACK TO ME!" Her mother growled at her, almost looking tempted to walk into the room to strike her again, but thankfully she relented, standing behind the door's frame.

Unfortunately for the young girl, her mothers next words were just as bad, if not worse...

"Just you wait until your father gets home from work and hears about this young lady..." Her mother threatened, before slamming the door closed, locking her inside the empty room.

"He's not gonna like hearing how rotten and vile you've been to other people today!" She threatened loudly as she walked away from the now locked bedroom door, uncaring of the growing panic in her young daughter's voice.

"N-No... no please!" Lauren screamed, getting off the mattress and running to the door, scratching and clawing at it desperately, tears running down her bruised face. "A-Anything but him... please! PLEASE!"

Lauren kept screaming and pleading, until eventually succumbing to exhaustion, slumping to the floor. She gathered up all the energy she could muster, and let out a loud scream of horror.

Lauren woke up, shooting up from the cold ground of the small cave she was hiding in, screaming in terror as she recoiled from the nightmare of one of her many traumatic memories. Tears began to stream down her pale cheeks, landing on the dark fabric of her skirt as she struggled to regain her bearings.

"No more... no more... please..." Lauren sobbed quietly, curling up into a ball and crying her eyes out, unseen and unheard from anyone, with not even a flicker of moonlight hitting her from the outside of the cave.

She hated nights like these... nights where her trauma came back to bite her with nightmares of one of the many times one of her parents abused her. The worst part for the Scary Girl was... she knew that this was one of the tamer memories.

She just wished it could all go away, but no matter what she did it just wouldn't, and they only increased in frequency ever since that night her parents had found her circus home, that night she had begun trying to force herself to conform into normality…

Ezekiel being there for her had helped with the worst nightmares, his presence a soothing contrast to the years of bitter loneliness that her childhood had been. But even having a caring boyfriend like him to hold her through the night didn't make the nightmares go away.

And now... with her all alone again... she felt like she was mentally falling apart…

Lauren could only hope that things would get better, but as she cried herself back to sleep, she knew that things were only going to get worse before they got any better.

End Chapter

Author's Note: Well then… um… sorry bout that.

It was not a fun part to write, and honestly it just makes me hate the fact that I've done this to my favourite reboot character…

Um… I'd say the next chapter wouldn't be as eventful… but given we're heading into episode eight next that's not really an option given what happens during that challenge…

On a slightly lighter note since I can post this on AO3 (wish FF would allow it too), I wanted to show my contribution to the collab one of my friends (shoutout Caleb!) is doing on the TDW discord, and I was obviously going to include my favourite duo! The context was them in an airport preparing to go on holiday, hence the bag and suitcase, as well as the slight change in wardrobe. I'm personally pretty happy with how they turned out, and I really wanted to share it with you guys! (Think of it as an apology for the last part!)

The background is still being made so I'm gonna see if I can add that image once the collab is completed, but for now, here's the background less image!

Chapter Text

Author's Note: Yeah, at this point I'm just going to stop trying to say 'sorry for taking so long' because every time I say it I end up taking at least a month before I get anywhere with the new chapter. On the plus side, I did use the time this time to start planning out the compfic/sequel fic in 'Total Drama Island: Generations', so the time hasn't been entirely wasted XD.

One thing I can say though is yet another record broken for 'longest chapter', we've only gone and gotten over 11k words!

With that being said, on with the extremely long chapter!

Chapter Eight

*Early the next morning*

It had just hit sunrise the next morning, but already the Playa Des Losers was bustling, namely in regards to the interns refuelling the boat outside as they prepared to take Owen back to the mainland.

However they weren't the only ones who were starting to prepare for their own boat trip, as evident by the tired looks on two faces in particular.

"Wow… you two look like a hot mess…" Bowie smirked as he noticed Ezekiel and Axel both slump onto the couches in the main lobby, with Ezekiel carefully hiding next to Owen at the end of the couch so he'd have time to hide when the interns came for the big guy.

Axel just grunted, rolling her eyes as though she hadn't just done another all nighter, whilst Ezekiel yawned and slumped against the armrest, mild cuts on his hands and his clothes covered in soot.

"Well we did have to repair a boat well enough to at least get us to that Boney Island place…" Axel huffed, glaring at Bowie.

"Wait? You know how to repair boats?" Millie asked incredulously.

"Well… Yeah…" Axel rolled her eyes. "What if I get stranded or my boat breaks down mid excursion… I need to know how to either repair it… or break it down into something usable…" She punched her hand at that last part.

"Wait… you actually fixed a boat? You two…?" Bowie responded, looking as bewildered as Millie did.

"Well it's not gonna get too far eh… but it should get to Boney Island and back" Ezekiel smiled weakly, still slumped on the couch.

"And going there finally gives me a reason to have this…" Axel said as she hoisted a dark green duffle bag onto one of the tables, the zipper breaking to reveal the countless weapons hidden inside, much to the surprise and concern of everyone else in the room.

Everyone except Ripper, who just chuckled and smirked at his girlfriend.

"Heh… my girl is awesome…" He grinned.

"But why bring them down here?" Emma questioned.

Axel just smirked and pointed at Ezekiel, the look in the survivalists eyes looking ecstatic about the prospect of Boney Island.

"Because if Zombie Boy over there is serious about going back to that place to find Scary Girl… he needs something to defend himself from the wild animals, especially in that 'Fun Zone' place he's mentioned." Axel explained, before looking at him. "And I'm coming too… got that?"

Ezekiel looked ready to protest, but the sharp glare from the survivalist made his words die in his mouth.

"You may know the island well, Zombie Boy… but you're no longer that Feral Freakshow that you were when Scary Girl found you. You're gonna need someone to help you…" Axel added, her gruff expression softening slightly.

The other contestants all looked at each other, some in shock that the person who made her distaste for the Prairie Boy known so much last season was the one willing to step into potentially dangerous territory with him just to find a girl who may not even be there.

Ezekiel in particular looked stunned that she was willing to go so far to help him, especially considering she had been reluctant to help him the previous night, he'd almost had to beg Axel for help with fixing the boat once she had returned to the resort following her late night make out session with Ripper on the beach.

But then he remembered the conversation they had last season… the apology for what she had done to him coming back to him…

"Look… I still don't like you, either of you…" Axel continued, glaring at Lauren in particular. "Especially you Scary Girl, but I'll admit… I was wrong to hate on you for your condition…"

Ezekiel looked up at her once more in confusion as Lauren tilted her head slightly.

"I'm not asking to be friends… hell I don't want to be friends with anyone here, training Nichelle is bad enough…" Axel kept going, not noticing Dawn's small smirk at the mention of her training Nichelle. "But I'm willing to forget about this whole thing if you do, start over…" She finished, looking expectantly at the pair, waiting to hear what they had to say.

Ezekiel and Lauren glanced at each other, not knowing how to respond. Lauren already knew her opinion on the matter, she didn't like Axel, but she was willing to respect whatever Ezekiel wanted to do on the matter, she nodded slowly at him, letting him know that she'd follow whatever he said on the matter.

Ezekiel smiled softly at Lauren before turning back around to Axel. "L-Look, I don't know if I c-can fully trust you to l-leave this behind…" He began.

Axel just sighed slightly, "Fair enough…" She muttered, only to be cut off by the Feral Homeschooler.

"But I-I'll give you the b-benefit of the doubt eh. I f-forgive you…" Ezekiel smiled, holding out his hand to the survivalist.

Axel looked at his green, scarred hand for a moment, wondering to herself for a brief moment about if she had made the right choice or not, before smirking, taking Ezekiel's hand and shaking it firmly. Dawn clapping happily in response now that the tension between the pair was lifting.

"Just so we're clear…" Lauren interrupted, causing Axel to turn her head to him. "I'll respect this as long as you do Axel… If you go back on your apology, if you hurt him… I know where you live…" She said eerily, glaring at the survivalist for a moment even as her smile remained.

Axel just nodded silently in response, not willing to get into another argument with the Scary Girl, as much as she'd never admit it she still felt sore in some areas from her fight with Lauren days prior. "Whatever…" She simply responded as she let go of Ezekiel's scarred hand.

"Is this your way of making it up to me?" Ezekiel asked softly, sitting up properly and looking over at Axel. The others immediately looking over to the survivalist for answers.

Axel looked back at Ezekiel for a few moments, before nodding.

"I've… had my perspectives changed on certain issues from last season…" She admitted, before smiling almost shyly. "Heck, the man I swore I hated last season is now my partner."

Ripper grinned and flexed his muscles, making Axel roll her eyes playfully as Emma and Bowie both looked away in disgust.

"Eww! Ripper!" Emma gagged, remembering the event her and Ezekiel had accidentally stumbled upon the previous night.

"What? Jealous I have such an awesome partner while you're still single?" Ripper bragged, not noticing or hearing the groans from several of the others.

"Dude come on… she's not single…" Chase tried to respond, only for everyone except Ripper to respond with a loud "SHUT UP CHASE!"

Before he could respond at all, the entrance to the resort swung open, Ezekiel taking the chance to dive under the couch in the seconds it took for the interns to appear through the door, looking straight at Owen.

"Owen, the boats ready… say your goodbyes and let's get you home." The male intern stated, nodding at him as they waited for the big guy to join them.

Owen sighed as he stood up from his couch, picking his bags up from beside him, one of which opened up slightly as he picked it up, revealing the torso of the Chef Hatchet cake that he had brought back with him.

"Well… I guess I'll see you later guys…" Owen waved at the others, only to be swarmed with a group hug from several of the others. Ezekiel, Axel and Ripper being the exceptions.

"Take care Owen…" Emma responded happily.

"We've got this from here." Nichelle added confidently.

"We'll uh… talk to you after the season I guess." Millie finished.

Owen nodded and smiled, letting go of the others as he walked off towards the entrance to the resort where the interns were waiting for him. Owen stopped as he was about to walk out, glancing under the couches where Ezekiel was hidden, his eyes peeking out as the two first gen contestants looked at each other.

Owen nodded at him once as if to say 'you've got this', before he turned and left the Playa Des Losers for the last time.

Everyone stayed silent for a few moments until they heard the sounds of the boat setting off outside, everyone else heading to the doors to see the boat departing the docks as Ezekiel climbed out from under the couches.

"Okay… so now that Owen's gone…" Axel stated as she turned to look at everyone else. "I suppose Homeschool and I are going to head over to Boney Island to find Scary Girl now…"

Ezekiel did look slightly hesitant to allow her to join him, but in the end he knew that ever since he was cured of his mutation, he wasn't as capable of surviving the 'Fun Zone' on his own. He still had his feral instincts which hadn't diminished in the six months between seasons, but without the acid spit if he came across one of the apex predators in the 'Fun Zone' like Fang or Larry, there was a strong chance that he wasn't coming out of that in one piece alone.

"A-Alright…" Ezekiel conceded. "But I don't suppose being a survivalist includes fighting mutant animals and plants eh." He joked, cracking a small smile.

Axel scoffed in response, however the wild grin on her face told everyone in the room that she was looking forward to the challenge.

"Oh it doesn't… but I'm relishing the fight if it comes to it…" The grin on the survivalists face almost reminded everyone of Lauren's dark grin, reminding everyone that whilst not nearly as insane or erratic as the Scary Girl, Axel wasn't exactly the most 'normal' person of the cast.

"Hell yeah! We've got this babe!" Ripper bragged, stepping forwards only for Axel to put a hand out, stopping the 'Alpha Male' in his tracks. "Hey, what gives?"

"Yeah… no." Axel glared at him. "You're not coming Ripper…"

"What?" Ripper responded weakly, looking like Axel had just punched him in the gut. "B-But why?"

Axel sighed, taking a deep breath before looking at him with the slightest vulnerability.

"Because if this 'Fun Zone' is as dangerous as Homeschool and Scary Girl made it out to be last season… then you could get seriously hurt you idiot." Axel explained, the concern and fear obvious even with her harsh tone.

"B-But…!" Ripper tried to respond, only for the survivalist to cut him off.

"I'm not letting you go and that's final Ripper." She glared at him. "Look… just… I'll make it up to you… I promise."

Ripper looked at Axel like she'd grown a second head, before eventually sighing and nodding.

"Fine fine… I won't go… but you better come back in one piece!" Ripper warned, only for Axel to scoff and roll her eyes with a smile on her face.

"Jeez Ripper… have some faith in me." She smirked, before glancing at Ezekiel as though signalling for them to go.

"Wait!" A voice called to Axel and Ezekiel, everyone turning to see Nichelle stepping towards them. "I'm coming too!"

"What!" Axel and Ezekiel responded as the others gasped in shock.

"I said I'm coming to Boney Island…" Nichelle repeated, before placing her hands on her hips defiantly. "Besides I'd be just as capable as Ezekiel over there, plus what better way to see if I'm ready to perform again than to test my new acrobatic strength in what's basically a real life action set."

Ezekiel paled slightly at the implication as Axel glared at Nichelle for several moments.

"You do realise this could be extremely dangerous right?" Axel warned the Action Star, who just smirked in response.

"All the more reason to see if I'm ready, if I can handle the real thing then the movies should be no problem." Nichelle responded, crossing her arms in determination.

Axel and Ezekiel looked at each other, before Ezekiel sighed.

"Fine… you can come too…" Ezekiel relented, before glancing around at the remaining contestants. "Anyone else want to volunteer eh?"

Millie and Bowie immediately shook their heads, whilst Emma looked a little more torn. Chase however looked a little more eager at the prospect of filming on the mutated island.

Axel however noticed his smile and glared daggers at the YouTuber.

"If you think you're bringing that camera along with you to film this, think again…" Axel threatened, stomping closer to Chase and glaring into his eyes, making the YouTuber gulp in slight fear.

"Y-Yeah… on s-second t-thought, I think I'll s-stay here…" Chase backed down, stepping away from Axel, much to the amusement of Ezekiel, Bowie and Emma.

Axel gave everyone one last look over, before turning to Nichelle and Ezekiel.

"Come on… let's go look for the creepy girl…" Axel grumbled as she picked up her duffle bag full of weapons, before stomping out of the front doors.

Nichelle and Ezekiel looked at each other and shrugged, before following her out of the resort. The remaining five contestants stood there looking at each other for a moment, before they started to disperse across the resort once more…

That was except for Emma, who froze the moment she felt a hand touch her shoulder, and the voice of the person she wanted to be around the least speak to her.

"Hey Ems? Wanna join me in the hot tub together? It'll be like old times at the beach house?" Chase asked her, a dopey grin on his face, the YouTuber not noticing the uncomfortable look on his ex-girlfriends face.

It took all of two seconds before Emma was rushing out of the entrance to the resort, rushing after Ezekiel, Axel and Nichelle.

"Wait up guys! I'm coming too!" Emma shouted as she disappeared down towards the docks, leaving Chase standing alone by the front doors, not noticing the disapproving looks Mille and Bowie were giving him as they disappeared into the resort.

"...she could've just said no…" Chase muttered before perking up. "Ah well, I'm sure she's just playing hard to get."

*Around the same time*

The wildlife of the island for once was almost eerily silent, with not even birds chirping or the squirrels going about their business. Even the bears and the sasquatchanakwa were keeping to themselves in their respective caves.

For any of the production staff or the remaining eight contestants, they would barely notice this in the comfort of the production tents and the campgrounds respectively. Everyone going about their early morning routines as usual as they prepared for the next gruesome challenge to be announced. But it was a hell of a lot more noticeable the further into the forest someone went, until the sounds of sniffling could be heard from a nearby small cave.

Lauren hadn't been able to stay asleep for long before more issues had kept her awake for the rest of the night, and it was starting to show in her appearance. Her purple hair was beginning to get slightly dishevelled, strands of hair falling over her face the more she moved around. Her gothic dress was beginning to become slightly filthy, her socks starting to show small holes in them, and the warmers around her wrists were covered in dirt and dust. The bags under her eyes were beginning to get more and more noticeable, her pale blue eyes getting more bloodshot from a combination of a lack of sleep and the amount of crying she'd been doing throughout the night.

She had been tossing and turning the whole night ever since she'd woken up from her earlier nightmare, and once she'd realised that she couldn't go back to sleep, she had simply curled up into a ball in the corner of the cave and tried to hide from the rest of the world.

Once the first rays of sunlight had begun to shine into the cave, Lauren finally gave up on trying to sleep, slowly getting up with a soft groan. She stretched her sore arms in annoyance as she prepared to undertake the next part of her 'revenge scheme'.

The first part of which was watching through the confessionals that she'd downloaded the night before in order to see which of her victims had been eliminated in last night's ceremony. Something that she could've just ended up doing during her restless night, it wasn't like her nightmares were going to let her sleep anyway?

Lauren grumbled to herself as she crawled over towards her phone, the device sitting flat on one of the rocks scattered in the cave, a portable charger connected to the phone's USB port.

The Scary Girl made herself comfortable as she began to open up the folder with all of the confessionals in it, scrolling through until she reached the most recent ones. She noted the image of a confused Wayne, Raj and Zee on the last video recorded before she'd downloaded the previous day's confessions, but Lauren decided she'd save that one for after she found out the elimination.

She quickly found the first confessional of the ceremony and quickly began to play through them…

—CONFESSIONAL: JULIA—

Julia was leaning back in the confessional for a few moments filing her nails, before eventually putting the file away and leaning forward to address the camera.

"Okay… Axel… or Ripper…" She pondered for a moment, before grimacing. "Ugh… Those two are both equally gross… and I need the votes to protect my partner…" She tapped her chin, deep in thought, before she smirked evilly at the camera. "Got it! I'll convince everyone to vote off 'the bigger threat' in Axel!"

She giggled to herself before freezing, realising what she'd just said and blushing a bright red.

"I-I meant my p-partner in c-crime! As my a-alliance m-member!" Julia stuttered out, hiding her reddening face in her hands. "Oh god… I've gotta keep some distance now before she thinks I've got a crush on her or something…"

—CONFESSIONAL: WAYNE & RAJ—

Wayne and Raj were both holding out their hands towards the other, one hand laid out flat whilst the other was curled into a fist.

"We couldn't decide on who to vote between Axel or MK so we're coming to a fairer compromise…" Raj explained, glancing at the camera as he addressed it. "Especially since we're friends with everyone on Zee's team plus Ripper."

"Okay, we do this fair Rajie… if I win we vote Axel, if you win we vote MK" Wayne grinned.

"You got it Wayner, let's do this!" Raj also grinned, the pair beginning to perform the most difficult game breaking decider in order to determine who the Hockey Bros would be voting off…

A strenuous game of Rock, Paper, Scissors…

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" They both cried out as they both held their fists out.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" The second time was a flat hand…

"Rock, Paper Scissors!" The third time however Wayne went back to holding his whole fist out, whilst Raj only stuck out two fingers. Wayne quickly started cheering as Raj just sighed in disappointment.

"Yes! Rock beats Scissors Rajie!" Wayne laughed, before grinning over at his fellow Hockey Bro. "I guess that means we're voting Axel?"

"Yeah… great…" Raj grinned slightly, although he wished in this instance that they could've capitalised on voting off MK after the whole 'cheating' fiasco…

—CONFESSIONAL END—

Lauren couldn't help but let out a soft but mischievous giggle in response to that, her tired mind still able to process the funny side to what would've otherwise been a serious vote.

After taking a moment to calm herself down, as well as to let out a small yawn, Lauren pressed play on the confessionals and continued to watch through them

—CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA—

Priya sat pondering in the confessional for a moment before sighing to herself, looking up to address the camera.

"Okay… so my last ditch effort to win the challenge backfired…" She thought to herself before smiling. "Well I guess I'll just have to vote for Axel, she's the bigger threat of the three and we need to make a judgement call before she gets too far into the competition…"

She grins slightly before sighing, slumping over and putting her head in her hands.

"I just hope the others don't do the same to me considering I won last season." She groaned softly. "I have Caleb as an ally and hopefully as something more… but other than him, I'm not sure I'm too close with anyone here…"

—CONFESSIONAL: ZEE—

Zee didn't look too happy with his current predicament, sipping nervously on a soda as he looked down at the ground.

"Aww man… I've gotta vote someone out but everyone here who can be voted for are my friends…" He took another sip and sighed. "I guess MK… I mean I can't vote my teammates off, Rippers my friend and it'd be a heinous move to vote off his girl ya know…"

He groaned again as he finished his drink, before looking nervously at the camera.

"Sorry brah… no hard feelings… you're just the only one left I can vote for without feeling guilty." He smiled, trying to put on a confident look.

—CONFESSIONAL: AXEL & RIPPER—

Similarly to the last elimination ceremony, Ripper and Axel were once again making out in the confessional. After a few moments she pulled away, glaring at the camera venomously.

"Same plan as last night Ripper… we vote out that cheat MK, got it!" Axel commanded, to which Ripper just nodded happily, eager to get back to their 'session'.

Axel smirked, and moved to his ear, beginning to bite down on it seductively as she shoved him out of the confessionals door, hitting the camera in the process.

—CONFESSIONAL END—

Lauren couldn't help but gag a little from the sight of Axel biting and yanking on Ripper's ear, having to take a moment to recover, even having to switch off the phone for a few moments as she processed whatever the hell she had just watched.

"I'm never gonna get used to that…" She grumbled to herself, her eyes twitching slightly as she managed to get some control over her breathing.

It took the Scary Girl around a minute to recover, but once she did she got back onto the files she was looking through and quickly went through the three she hadn't checked yet.

—CONFESSIONAL: MK—

MK was leaning casually against the wall of the outhouse, looking confident despite her low odds.

"Is it worrying that I'm once again at risk of elimination… yes." She admitted, the smirk never leaving her face as she sits up properly. "But do I think I'll be eliminated… not really."

She leans forward, propping her head onto her hands as she smirks directly into the camera.

"Julia told me that everyone else was going to be voting off Axel because of the 'power couple'..." She snarked, miming quotation marks for the words 'power couple'. "And Ripper just isn't a threat compared to her, so my votes for Axel, better her than me."

She chuckled to herself, that snarky but confident look still on her face as the camera cut out.

—CONFESSIONAL: CALEB—

Caleb looked at the camera with concern etched all over his face, his hands clutching his shirt tightly.

"That natural yeast move Priya pulled was nasty…" Caleb shuddered in disgust. "But smart…"

He clutched his hands together tightly as he gave a pleading look to the camera.

"I really hope she's not going home." He then sighed before looking into the camera once more. "She did tell me Axel was the biggest threat outside of our alliance, and while I think splitting up the MK/Julia alliance is a smarter move, Priya's not exactly wrong either…"

He looked away for a moment, as if debating whether to listen to his gut or to trust Priya, before smiling.

"Look, Priya's probably right… so I'm voting for Axel." Caleb said, finalising his vote.

—CONFESSIONAL: DAMIEN—

Unlike pretty much every other confessional before him, Damien didn't look concerned or confident about the vote…

Instead he was a mixture of anxiety and rage as he glared into the camera.

"Okay… first off, whoever managed to sneak into the cabin and steal the Immunity Idol from me is gonna regret it…" Damien stated, before placing his hand under his chin as he began to think. "I mean I don't know how I'd go about it, or even if I'd have the guts to stand up and take it back…"

He sighed and slapped his face, already coming to the conclusion that he might not be able to do anything about it because of his natural cowardice.

"Man… I've got to start stepping my game up…" He sighs again, before looking into the camera with a nervous expression. "Anyway… Priya asked me to vote for Axel, and I guess I don't really have a reason not to."

"Honestly the most important thing for me to do right now is to try and slip under the radar, at least until I can recover my Immunity Idol…" He shrugged, before putting on a fake confident grin. "For now I've just gotta act like I'm still looking for the thing. Yeah! Acting!"

—CONFESSIONAL END—

Lauren smirked evilly as she glanced over to the corner of the cave where she'd been curled up overnight, eyeing up the small golden Immunity Idol that she had stolen from Damien during the previous challenge.

"Ohh… so sorry Damien… but I'm afraid I can't let you take it~" She muttered to herself in a sing-song tone, her voice slightly erratic from the lack of sleep. "It's mine now… and I don't plan on giving it back"

She giggled again before she scrolled back to the top of the list, finally deciding to check out the strange confessional that she'd seen earlier, clicking on the file with the image of Wayne, Raj and Zee.

"Now let's see what you boys have to say hm…?" Lauren giggled once more as the file began to play.

—CONFESSIONAL: WAYNE, RAJ & ZEE—

The three boys were all sat looking confused and almost a little saddened, Zee sitting in the middle of the outhouse, with Wayne to his left and Raj to his right.

"So uh… that just happened…" Raj started, rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Yah eh… I just can't believe that he left and didn't even say goodbye…" Wayne agreed, frowning sadly as he looked at the floor.

"Ripper dude, if you end up seeing this… we're not mad, but that wasn't good to just quit like that." Zee muttered to the camera, the Hockey Bros both nodding in agreement.

"Was being with Axel really worth throwing the million dollars away though?" Raj questioned, pondering it for a moment as Wayne smiled.

"With how those two were, I'm not surprised eh" Wayne laughed, already cheering himself up, the other two looking at him for a moment before chuckling along with him.

"Well at least now there's no more couples drama… right?" Raj joked, shrugging his shoulders, both Hockey Bros too busy laughing to notice Zee's uncomfortable expression at the mention of 'couples', since he was still carrying the secret of Caleb's 'true intentions' with Priya.

"Yeah…" Zee chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "No more drama…"

—CONFESSIONAL END—

Lauren took a moment to process the confessional she'd just watched, blinking her tired eyes as the gears turned in her head.

Eventually a wide smile spread across her face, the Scary Girl looking ecstatic that both Ripper and Axel were gone, and not only that, but Ripper had taken himself out of his own volition.

"Aww… I would've loved to have gotten some revenge on both of them after last season…" Lauren muttered to herself, although her grin never faded. "But I'll take the double elimination, it just means less people to deal with in the future."

She looked back at the phone, her finger having slowly been pushing the screen up, scrolling through the clips, and she couldn't help but land her gaze on the lone confessional that looked out of place amongst the others.

The one containing none other than the guest appearance that she'd overheard about yesterday, Owen…

Despite her earlier intentions to watch this the moment she'd gotten her hands on the footage, she'd put it off in favour of trying (and failing) to sleep. Deep down Lauren knew she couldn't hide from the truth forever, and with a small growl she pressed play on the file, deciding to get this over with.

—CONFESSIONAL: OWEN—

Owen glanced around for a moment, chuckling slightly at the sight of the confessionals state.

"Wow… it's not changed a bit since my last time here." He remarked with a nostalgic smile, before looking into the camera.

"So uh… Chris said I could use this before I headed home, and I've got just a couple things to say." His smile turned into a frown. "The new guys are really good people, I don't even mind that blonde girl who reminds me a little too much of Heather when she was really mean."

Owen laughed to himself again before sighing, his expression now becoming serious.

"I even spoke to the guys who were eliminated before this challenge, well… most of them anyway." He winced, as though trying to think of a way to speak about the incident without possibly alerting Chris, although when he sighed again it was quickly becoming apparent that he was going to end up spilling the beans about Lauren's disappearance.

Something that Lauren would have to rectify before it was too late…

"I uh… also have a message for Scary Girl…" Owen looked directly into the camera. "If you're on the island, please just drop whatever it is keeping you there and come back home… even if it's just back to the resort."

Owen frowned again, pondering for a moment if he should reveal the full truth, before just going for it.

"Ezekiel's worried about you Scary Girl… when I arrived here I found him desperately trying to get to the resort to look for you. He knows something has happened to you and he's worried sick!" He explained, wringing his hands together nervously. "They all are… Emma, Millie, Nichelle… even Bowie and Chase. And I have no doubts the guys still competing are too…"

Owen then heard a knocking on the side of the confessional, his concerned expression turning to alarm.

"Hey! Owen! Your rides here! Finish up in there and head to the Dock of Shame" The gruff voice of Chef Hatchet shouted into the small outhouse.

"Oh uh… Coming Chef!" Owen gave a guilty look to the camera before dashing out of the confessional.

—CONFESSIONAL END—

For almost two minutes Lauren just stared in stunned silence at her phone, the recording even repeating itself as she just stood there processing the information.

Her suspicions were not only true… but they were also the one scenario that she was hoping to avoid. The thoughts that she had tried to suppress came crashing to the surface, the numerous calls and texts that she had ignored springing to mind immediately.

He knew… and not only that, he was at the resort…

Lauren's tired and worn heart screamed at her to head back to the Playa Des Losers, especially with the confirmation that not only Ezekiel, but the others were worried about her. Her thoughts about everyone hating her over the 'Normal Girl' incident and the confessions about stalking them now seeming like an afterthought in the face of this new development…

But then Lauren remembered her nightmares… the thoughts of being forever trapped in that cycle of abuse, about how she needed to keep going to prove her abusers wrong…

She switched her phone off, dark determination on her face, exemplified by the dark circles under her eyes as she stood up and walked out of the cave.

Her next destination…

To find Zee and spill some secrets…

It had taken all of half an hour for the boat to arrive at the shores of Boney Island, Axel and Ezekiel taking a moment to pull the boat onto the beach in place of not having a way to tether it in place.

Emma and Nichelle meanwhile got their first proper look at the mysterious and haunted island, stepping onto the beach and glancing into the vast forests, of which they hoped their lost friend was somewhere inside, and not in the mutant sanctuary at the core of the island.

"You sure you really want to do this Emma? You can stay with the boat if you're not sure…" Nichelle asked her, noticing the conflicted look on her face.

Emma glanced at her nervously, then gulped, before taking a deep breath and steeling her nerves.

"No! I'm fine…" She responded, still sounding unsure. "I'd take the wild and possibly mutant animals over Chase's stupid face anyday."

"Trust me Emma, you'll regret saying that." Ezekiel replied somewhat jokingly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Believe me, I spent three years on this island, some of them just aren't reasonable…"

"Speaking of living on the island…" Axel grumbled as she stepped in front of the others, dropping her duffle bag of weapons onto the ground. "What creatures should we be expecting Zombie Boy? And I mean both parts of the island, not just in this 'Fun Zone'..."

Ezekiel scowled at the nickname, but nodded as they all glanced down at the amount of close quarters weaponry that Axel had brought with them.

"Well for the outer circle the worst animal to come across is probably the Woolly Beavers… and then probably bears and these large, omnivorous geese." Ezekiel explained, before he frowned and cupped his chin in thought. "Huh… never did find out what the name for those things were eh…"

"Stymphalian Canadian geese…" Axel revealed, looking at him in shock, before her lips curled into a smile. "Oh this will be fun…"

Her smile dropped into a frown when she looked at the other three and saw their expressions of both confusion and disbelief.

"What? Did you think when I said I was a survival expert that it just meant the apocalypse" Axel glared at them.

Emma and Nichelle glanced at each other, then shrugged it off.

"I mean… I suppose it checks out…" Emma responded somewhat meekly. "What with the whole poetry thing and all…"

"...Whatever…" Axel grunted, before looking back at the still stunned Ezekiel. "What about the mutant area then?"

Ezekiel shook himself out of his stupor upon hearing her question, before chuckling weakly.

"Well uh… I suppose a bit of everything…" Ezekiel replied, before beginning to list off the different mutant creatures lying in the 'Fun Zone'. "Laser shooting squirrels, flying mountain goats, fire breathing fauna, giant beavers and beetles, blind giant gophers, tree inhabiting squids…"

With every new mutant creature that Ezekiel listed off, Axel's smirk got wider and wider, as Emma and Nichelle both looked a little more nervous about the prospects of heading into that area.

"The main two to watch out for are Larry and Fang." Ezekiel continued, not noticing the changes in the girl's expressions. "Larry shouldn't be a huge problem unless something's stolen his sensory flower in his mouth, in which case he'll chase after whoever has it, so don't steal it." He warned the girls.

"O-Okay… got it… no taking the flower" Emma grinned worriedly, nervous about the possibility of the large mutated venus flytrap attacking them.

"Larry does also have several children, which hopefully haven't fully grown in the six months I've been gone…" Ezekiel shudders, remembering how territorial the gigantic mutant was about his children. "S-So uh… let's hope they aren't roaming around now eh…"

Nichelle and Emma looked at each other with severe concern now in their eyes, whilst Axel just grunted, the smirk not leaving her face.

"Okay then… what about the other one… the Mutant Shark?" Axel demanded.

"You mean Fang? Well uh… we'll just have to hold him off until we can all escape…" Ezekiel muttered quietly. "Lauren and I ran into him the last time we were in the 'Fun Zone', and we just about got away…"

"Yeah… but did you have anything capable of taking the beast out?" Axel retorted, gesturing to the duffle bag full of weapons just lying in the sand between all four of them.

"Well… Lauren found a jackhammer and it only irritated him…" Ezekiel responded, his eyes glazing over slightly as he remembered the fight between the couple and the mutant shark.

"How'd you get away then?" Emma asked softly, looking nervously into the forest that the mutant sanctuary lay somewhere within.

"Honestly… we held him off until we had an opening and booked it for the exit… we only got away when Larry was woken up by Fang and attacked him." Ezekiel revealed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Even Axel was starting to look a little unnerved, if even Scary Girl and a then-mutated Ezekiel were barely able to fight the mutant shark off. But then she glanced down at the weapons in her duffle bag and began to lean down to dig through it.

"Well… in that case let's be glad there's four of us with actual weapons… not a single power tool and some cheap acid trick." Axel snarked, beginning to pass some weapons for the four of them to defend themselves with.

After a few moments she stood up, holding a sharp fire axe in her hands, glancing over at the other three and the items she'd given them. Emma looked extremely apprehensive at the sight of her own axe, whilst Nichelle and Ezekiel looked a little more neutral as they'd been passed a spiked baseball bat and a pitchfork respectively.

"Um… why exactly do you have all of these anyway?" Ezekiel asked, confused.

"You mean you don't?" Axel replied, just as confused, especially once Ezekiel, Nichelle and Emma all shook their heads. "Aren't you literally with the girl who fantasises about murder? Surely she has some weapons stashed somewhere in that funeral home?"

"Hey!" Ezekiel shouted, slightly offended on Lauren's behalf. "Just because she has some dark interests doesn't mean she'll actually commit the act you know!"

"Wait… so Scary Girl doesn't have any weapons? None at all?" Nichelle asked, in complete disbelief that the most psychotic person she knows is actually (mostly) harmless, whilst her former best friend from last season had duffle bags full of them.

"I never said she didn't." Ezekiel admitted. "I just said that she doesn't want to kill anyone…"

"Yet…" Axel muttered gruffly, only to growl as she noticed Ezekiel glaring harshly at her. "Hey! I have a truce with you, nothings stopping me from saying my opinion on that creepy bitch"

"What does she even own anyway, Zeke?" Emma asked out of curiosity.

"Just a few knives… they're more collectors items, she has them hung up and framed in her bedroom." Ezekiel explained, a small sad smile on his face as he remembered how happy his girlfriend was to purchase them, the memory a bitter reminder of her current MIA status. "She'd never actually use them though, she just thinks they're 'really pretty'..."

Emma couldn't stop the small snort of amusement from coming out, and the cute sound it made ended up making both Ezekiel and Nichelle burst into laughter, with even Axel cracking a small smile. The small moment added a moment of light-hearted reprieve before the four of them began their search for the elusive Scary Girl.

"Okay then…" Axel began. "We'll split up and cover more ground, Emma and I will take the left side of the island. Ezekiel, you and Nichelle cover the right… We'll cover as much ground as possible during the morning and meet up to investigate the 'Fun Zone' if we see no signs of Scary Girl."

The other three nod, with Nichelle speaking up next.

"Where are we gonna meet up? Back here?" She asked Axel, however Ezekiel interrupted before the survivalist had a chance to respond.

"The entrance to the 'Fun Zone'..." Ezekiel stated plainly. "You can't miss it, the whole area is domed off in the centre of the island, and there's a large rusty metal gate where the entrance is, we meet up there in around..." Ezekiel quickly pulled out his phone, checking the device to see that it was approaching 10am. "Two hours from now…"

Axel nods, and after one more glance at Nichelle and Ezekiel, turns around to run down the beach, grabbing Emma's arm in the process as she does so.

"H-Hey! W-Wait up Axel!" Emma complained as she was hastily dragged away, leaving the Action Star alone with the former inhabitant of Boney Island.

Ezekiel was about to silently turn to head off in his own direction when he felt Nichelle's hand brush his shoulder, the Prairie Boy turning around to see her grin reassuringly at him.

"We'll find her… don't worry." Nichelle promised, Ezekiel smiling softly and nodding back at her before they both sprinted off into the forests of Boney Island. All four contestants on the island determined to find their missing friend…

She had been searching for over an hour at this point, and Lauren was starting to get a little worried that she'd have to venture too close to the campgrounds in order to accomplish her goal before the challenge.

The Scary Girl's eyes were constantly darting around manically as she walked through the forest, her only priority being to find Zee and avoid any of the others currently on the island…

Especially if Ezekiel was here looking for her...

"Stop thinking about it Scary Girl…" She admonished herself quietly, her creepy smile wobbling with every word, her eyes twitching from a mixture of the lack of sleep and her growing instability. "J-Just c-carry on with the p-plan… w-we can w-worry a-about him when its a-all said and d-done…"

She slapped herself back into focus before continuing to move through the forest, eventually coming to the clearing where the confessional was.

Lauren groaned softly as she didn't want to be so close to where the others were at this moment, however as she prepared to leave she heard someone approaching, quickly diving behind one of the bushes.

She peeked through them to see MK cautiously looking around as she approached the confessional, the thief was about to open the door when she could hear the sounds of someone inside, and she quickly hid behind the side of the confessional, waiting to see who would walk out.

Moments later the door was pushed wide open, with Julia glancing around before taking a step onto the grass, the moment she did, MK peeked her head around. Their eyes both widening as they saw the other person, MK's full of relief and Julia's full of uncertainty.

"There you are!" MK cried out, stepping out from around the confessional fully. "I've been looking for you all morning!"

Julia tensed up as MK spoke, looking completely uncertain as to how to proceed with the smaller girl, before just deciding to play it off as if nothing was wrong.

"Hey…" Julia responded, her tone still uncertain, almost defensively as she put on a weak smile, giggling nervously as she spoke. "Sup Girlfriend…"

Unfortunately for the Influencer, MK immediately saw through the ruse, her eyes narrowing as she quickly started to connect the dots.

"Are you… avoiding me?" MK realised, her eyes widening slightly in hurt, her heart briefly twisting as the realisation of what Julia was doing truly kicked in.

Julia gulped nervously, still trying to play off her act like nothing was wrong, even as she saw her partner in crime's expression fall.

"A-Avoiding you? What…?" Julia stuttered out, waving her hands as if to try and brush it off, even as her own thoughts swirled around. She tried to laugh it off, only to come across as an even bigger nervous wreck. "O-Oh n-no… no…"

MK felt her heart drop at her nervous tone, and she forced her expression to go back to its neutral sarcastic self as she prepared to talk about what happened during the last challenge.

Lauren watched on from the bushes, feeling torn between wanting to just leave to continue her mission of finding Zee, or to keep eavesdropping and potentially finding out some more information that she could use further down the line.

Fortunately for the Scary Girl, she began to notice a third person approaching the confessional as MK prepared to speak, and to her delight it was none other than Zee…

"So yes…" MK started, before her expression quickly crumbled, turning back into that nervous, almost desperate expression. "Look, so I am so over that whole…"

Her voice trailed off as she also began to notice Zee's panicked expression, Julia completely oblivious to his presence as he walked around with his hands covering his ears. Lauren also looked slightly confused from her hiding spot, although this was overshadowed by the dark glee of finding her target, now she just had to wait until he was alone…

"...Owen thing…" MK continued, trying to act like she'd not seen anything and continue to talk to Julia. "It's like whatever, we make a sick team and all I want is for…"

Her eyes trailed over in Zee's direction as she spoke, both MK and Lauren watching bewildered as Zee began to take off his pants, stuffing them in his mouth.

"..." MK watched stunned for a moment before pointing past Julia and directly at the man currently stuffing his own pants in his mouth. "..What in New Jersey is he doing?"

Julia raised an eyebrow before turning around to see what MK was pointing at, gasping in disbelief at the sight of Zee's face darting to look at the pair in complete panic, his underwear exposed with his pants still stuffed in his mouth.

"What the…" Julia muttered in utter bewilderment, before glancing at MK. "We'll talk about this later… for now let's see what the hell is wrong with him…"

MK nodded in agreement, just happy that Julia was willing to not completely brush her off as the pair both walked towards Zee, passing by the bush that Lauren was hidden in, a manic grin on her face as she watched the confrontation.

"Hey there buddy?" Julia smirked as the pair walked up to Zee, the latter rubbing the side of his head sheepishly. "You doing okay? I'm asking because you're… eating your pants?"

"I know Chef's cooking is bad, but no one wants to see you doing challenges in your undies…" MK snarked, both of them trying their best to look him in the eyes and not laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

Zee tried to talk, gesturing to the pants in his mouth and shaking his head, but MK quickly yanked them out of his mouth, shaking her head in disgust.

"I… I need them in there to stop a secret from coming out…" Zee revealed the moment the pants were pulled from his mouth, his eyes bugged out in fear as he looked around nervously.

"It's a big one! It could tear the camp apart… Gah, see what I mean?" He admonished himself as he slapped himself in the face. "I said too much already!"

As he said this he snatched the pants back from MK and stuffed them back into his mouth, before attempting to walk away, not noticing the devious smiles forming on MK and Julia's faces as they looked at each other, nor did any of them notice the evil smile forming on Lauren's face in the bushes.

"You thinking what I'm thinking MK?" Julia grinned, a manipulative plot to force the secret out of Zee already forming in her mind.

"Scare it out of him?" MK snarked, her own plot forming in her mind.

"Aww… you know me so well!" Julia gushed as they followed Zee further down the path, unbeknownst to them… so did Lauren.

Zee turned around moments later to turn a corner, only to freeze as he noticed MK and Julia stood by each other side by side, holding hands with their stances frozen in the creepiest way, their mouths being the only thing that moved.

Lauren raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she watched this new development, and here she thought she was the only girl on the island capable of the 'creepy factor'...

"Hey Zee. Come talk to us." They said in a monotone voice, speaking in perfect sync, causing Zee to gulp nervously and Lauren to smirk from her hiding spot. "Let it out… Just let it out…"

Zee slapped his hands over his face as he began shaking slightly, trying not to break, before peeking through his fingers to see that no one was there.

He sighed in relief through the pants in his mouth, turning around only to see MK and Julia standing right next to him, still in the same pose and talking in the same creepy way.

"Just let it out Zee… Just let it out." They spoke again in that same monotonous voice, causing Zee to let out a muffled scream, running into the forest away from the campgrounds.

MK and Julia immediately broke character, laughing as they watched him stumble and trip as he ran further away from sight.

"Oh man… that was great!" Julia smirked, wiping away a fake tear from her eye.

"Should we go after him?" MK asked, half wanting to pry this secret from him that he was so desperate to keep, and half just wanting to keep messing with him.

"Nah… we'll get him during the challenge… he won't be able to run away then." Julia responded dismissively, before turning to face her directly. "Besides… I believe you were trying to tell me something before… well… Zee happened."

As MK gulped nervously and the two villainous girls began to delve back into the uncomfortable conversation they'd started before the small incident, Lauren's head popped out of the bushes and, upon seeing the two girls distracted, took off after Zee.

"You are NOT getting away this time…" Lauren growled to herself, the dark circles under her eyes making her look even more menacing than usual.

It didn't take long for the Scary Girl to find Zee, finding him leaning against a tree trying to catch his breath. She smirked and began creeping closer, not even once thinking about the potential consequences of revealing herself to someone else on the island…

Zee felt his nerves just starting to calm down slightly after the mini freak out from the girls earlier when he heard a twig snapping behind him, turning around to see Lauren stood there with her signature smile, her dishevelled appearance only adding to her natural creepiness.

His eyes widened and he started to mumble incoherently through his pants, only for Lauren to yank them out like MK had, causing Zee to sputter.

"S-Scary Girl? I-Is that you?" Zee stuttered out in complete disbelief.

Lauren let out a manic giggle, stepping even closer, letting him get a good look at the dark circles around her eyes, at some of the cuts and bruises that were beginning to form on her skin.

"In the flesh…" She cackled eerily, her grin spreading from ear to ear, acting like nothing was wrong with the current situation.

"W-Where've you been? W-We've been looking all o-over for you?" He asked her, noting her deteriorating appearance, she looked like she'd been missing for a month, not barely a week.

"My 'death' was… greatly exaggerated…" She giggled again, before leaning in with a devious gleam in her tired eyes. "But I'm not here to talk about me… I'm here to talk to you!"

"T-Talk to me? A-Abo-" Zee started to respond, only to trail off in horror as Lauren spoke her next words, the words full of barely concealed malice.

"I know about Caleb and Priya…"

Zee stilled, his eyes widening in shock and concern as Lauren uttered those words.

"Y-You do?" He spoke quietly, his horrified eyes searching hers for the truth.

"I saw their 'flirting' a couple days ago… and his fakeness pisses me off…" Lauren practically growled, the anger she felt from Caleb's comments the other day about his parents still rubbing her the wrong way…

"That actually sounds kinda fun…" Caleb replied smoothly as he walked out of the bushes, moving towards a rather large rock in order to check underneath it. "I didn't get to have any fun until I finished my homework." He continued as he lifted it above his head, only to find nothing.

"When you're studying to get into MIT… the homework never ends…" Caleb finished, his expression looking almost saddened.

Priya ran up to him with a lovesick expression on her face, one that Caleb didn't seem to notice, but Lauren sure as hell did. Priya giggled softly as she clutched her hands together as she looked at him dreamily. "Okay… maybe I'd take the haystack…"

Caleb laughed as he threw the rock away, turning to face Priya. "I thought so…" He grinned, before frowning, looking deep in thought. "Wow… our parents are both a little much huh…" He gestured with his hands as Priya frowned at the comparison.

"Yeah…" Priya stood up straighter as she began to realise the same thing, although it quickly turned into another smile as she looked up at Caleb again. "I guess we have that in common…"

Caleb chuckled again as they began walking further down the path, continuing to look for the idol. "Yeah… I guess we do…"

Lauren growled again, before smiling creepily as she looked back into Zee's eyes.

"But that's not the only secret I know…" Lauren almost purred as her eyes widened into that manic but tired look she'd had all day. "Would you like to hear some…?"

Zee's eyes widened, and he started to shake his head wildly, only for Lauren to pin him against the tree he'd been leaning on, restricting his arms so that he couldn't cover his ears.

"Don't be so mean Zee… I've wanted to tell someone for weeks ever since I stalked you all to try and become a 'Normal Girl'..." She giggled again, before beginning to spill all of the embarrassing secrets she knew about the entire cast to Zee, even including herself in there so she wouldn't look out of place.

With each new secret told to him, Zee's eyes became more panicked, whispering to himself in an attempt to block off the words Lauren was saying to him, but it was to no avail.

When Lauren finished telling him one embarrassing secret about each member of the cast, having also included Chris and Chef in this to make things even worse for him, she stepped away from him, shoving Zee's pants back in his mouth for him.

"Have fun not spilling everyone's secrets Zee…" Lauren giggled, before her wide smile returned to her face in a menacing way. "I can't wait to see everyone's responses…"

With that she retreated into the forest, watching as Zee looked at her with pure dread on his face, his mind now stuffed full of secrets that he didn't want to let out.

Lauren smirked as she walked away, now she just had to wait for the inevitable fireworks to go off…

As the clock struck midday and the challenge was getting underway on the main island, back on Boney Island the four contestants were still searching for Lauren, all of them unaware that she was not actually on the cursed island.

As Ezekiel had mentioned before they'd split up to start their search, they all met up at the entrance to the 'Fun Zone', stopping in front of a large fenced off area made out of huge trees, a small stone section housing a rusty metallic gate. Whilst the area looked completely sealed off from the rest of the island, there was a small gap in between two of the trees, looking hastily made from the numerous claw marks on the edges.

Ezekiel looked a little nostalgic upon seeing the hastily made entrance he'd made when he'd first escaped from the 'Fun Zone' around a year before Scary Girl had even found him. He was so distracted that he didn't notice as Axel and Emma arrived from the other side of the clearing.

"Zeke! Nichelle! Any luck?" Emma called over as the four of them met in the middle of the clearing, Ezekiel having to be brought back into reality by Axel's foot, sending the distracted Prairie Boy crashing into the ground.

As Ezekiel lay there on the surface of the grass, groaning softly to himself, Nichelle sighed and answered for them.

"Nothing… other than Ezekiel spending a little too long in this one cave…" She responded, glancing down at Ezekiel as he slowly got up.

"Ugh… Excuse me for feeling nostalgic for my old 'home' eh..." Ezekiel complained, rubbing his chin from where he'd impacted the ground. "I know it's just some rocks and an old nest… but I lived there, and it's where I got to know Lauren…"

Hey I'm not complaining Zeke, just stating the truth." Nichelle held her hands up defensively, before she glanced at Axel and Emma. "What about you two?"

"Yeah… We found nothing…" Axel grunted, glaring at the door leading to the 'Fun Zone'. "She's either in with the mutants or not here at all…"

"You sure she'd even come here Zeke? Why wouldn't she just be on the island with the others?" Emma asked, looking nervously at the rusty metal door.

"But what if she is here?" Ezekiel responded just as nervously, everyone could tell that he wanted nothing more than to be wrong, that Lauren would just pop out from the bushes or there'd be some sign that she was back at the Playa or at least on the island with the remaining competitors.

Emma sighed, bottling her fears as she noticed the older boy beginning to panic, and placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, turning him around and looking into his worried grey eyes with reassuring but worried blue ones.

"Ezekiel… calm down… I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from going in…" Emma said softly to him, gripping his shoulders tightly in an attempt to snap him back to reality.

"Move over Emma, let me handle this." Axel grumbled out as she shoved Emma to the side, ignoring her cries as she slapped Ezekiel twice in the face, once on each cheek. "Pull yourself together!"

Ezekiel winced as he felt his cheeks stinging, his eyes snapping to Axel's with annoyance clear on his tired features.

"Hey! What was that for eh!" Ezekiel growled at the survivalist, who sneered back.

"Hey, you wanna zone out over your girlfriend… do it when you're at the resort, not when we're about to enter the most dangerous part of this island!" Axel retorted, Nichelle having to quickly step in before the two broke their truce and came to blows.

"Woah woah woah… save it for the mutants you two!" She snapped at them as Emma joined in to help calm the pair down.

The Prairie Boy and the Survivalist both glared at each other for a few more moments, neither of them wanting to back down from the other. Eventually however Ezekiel sighed in annoyance, before nodding.

"Yeah… you're right…" Ezekiel huffed, glancing at Axel once more, before nodding to Nichelle and Emma. "Let's get this over with…"

He didn't even wait for a response before he stomped over towards the small hole in the wall leading into the 'Fun Zone', the same hole he'd created when he'd escaped, just about big enough for a human to squeeze through.

He glanced at the girls before beginning to shimmy into the gap, his body shifting through the hole as he tried to make his way into the 'Fun Zone'. He could hear the grunts and complaints of the girls behind him as they started to try and squeeze their way through the gap, Emma in particular having some difficulty compared to the other three.

After several moments of squeezing through the layered wall that separated the 'Fun Zone' from the rest of the world, Ezekiel finally managed to get to the other side, kicking down the board that had been blocking the mutants from escaping and stepping into his old 'home' for the first time in over six months…

The inside of the 'Fun Zone' looked a lot different to the rest of the island, instead of regular trees and plants, everything looked so… alive, everything was completely mutated by vast amounts of toxic waste, the trees were growing unnaturally, all varying different colours, and many different plants were scattered around, none of them looked like they were natural.

Many different animals could be seen in the distance, some easily recognisable but others vastly different to their non-mutated variants. There were hairless squirrels shooting lasers from their eyes, there were mountain goats with bat wings flying between the trees, there were two-headed rats scuttling across the patchy ground, and there were giant blind gophers sticking their heads out from various holes in the ground.

Ezekiel took a big long look at the still thriving mutant sanctuary as he heard Axel and Nichelle join them, the Action Star gasping in shock and awe at the mutated scenery whilst the Survivalist turned around to help Emma.

"Wow… the TV showings don't do this place enough justice…" Nichelle remarked, looking around at the mutated fauna in complete awe. "It's so beautiful in the weirdest way… like a CGI planet from a superhero movie come to life…"

They heard a thud behind them, turning around to see Axel and Emma both groaning in pain as they'd hit the ground in a heap. Ezekiel and Nichelle rushed over to help up their two companions, Emma gasping in shock as she took her own first look at the mutant sanctuary.

Axel's expression however didn't change at all, rather she was glancing around towards the various mutant animals she could see in the nearby vicinity, as though daring any of them to try and attack her.

"Okay… this time, we stick together…" Axel commanded, before glancing at Ezekiel. "Zombie Boy, you know the land well… you take charge, I'll bring up the flank so nothing sneaks up on us."

The other three all nod at Axel's words, before forming up as the Survivalist said to, Ezekiel beginning to walk down the same path that Ezekiel had gone down with Lauren the last time he'd been in the 'Fun Zone'.

The four of them headed down the small path surrounded by the gigantic spiked mushrooms, the fauna beginning to grow over the large gashes in the ground from where the tentacle trees had lashed out. Ezekiel guided the other three through the mutated land, traversing past small sinkholes, swipes from said trees and stray shots of flames from various small fire breathing plants.

Some of the animals still managed to recognise Ezekiel despite his now restored human appearance, compared to the last time he was in the 'Fun Zone' where he was still that feral being that he'd been stuck as for over four years. Those that had attempted to approach them regardless had either been scared off by either Ezekiel's growls, the Prairie Boy still able to channel his more animalistic side when needed, or by Axel's, the survivalist just itching to fight them.

When the group of four eventually reached the small clearing in the mutated forest, the trees parting to a small murky swamp-like area, Ezekiel began to notice some changes in the area that concerned him greatly, namely the worrying fact that Larry and his spawn were no longer inhabiting the forest…

"That's strange… guys…? Keep your eyes peeled for any mutant plants walking around…" Ezekiel warned the others.

The others sounded out their agreements as they stepped deeper into the clearing, Emma and Nichelle cringing slightly as they stepped into the murky swamp water, quickly passing to the other side of the clearing.

Ezekiel continued to lead them towards the next place he thought to look… the half built mansion Chris McLean had wanted to build on Boney Island before he had been arrested back during 'Revenge of the Island', before this section of the island had been quarantined off for construction of the 'Fun Zone'.

However when they made it to the mansion they quickly realised that this area had become Larry's new domain, seeing the building half collapsed with the large mutant plant sitting in the middle of the lobby area, his children in the clearing surrounding the ruins. There was just simply no way that Lauren could've gotten inside of the building without startling at least one of the mutant plants.

"This is as far as we got before Fang attacked us last time…" Ezekiel muttered to himself, it wouldn't be a problem for them traversing, but it meant Lauren could be anywhere in the 'Fun Zone'... if she was there at all.

"Okay… this way…" Ezekiel said to the others, beginning to lead them down a different path away from the abandoned mansion, unaware of the presence that was actually inside the building, the large figure jumping down from the hole in the side of the wall and beginning to stalk the four contestants.

They eventually came to another clearing in the mutated forest, this one being a grassy clearing rather than the swamp filled one that Ezekiel had initially led them down.

"I'm gonna say it… I don't think she's here…" Nichelle stated dryly, glancing around at the surrounding areas, the colours of the fauna bright and colourful compared to the darkly clad goth girl they were searching for.

Ezekiel stopped in the centre of the clearing, his shoulders drooping in acceptance as he seemed to almost slump down onto the ground.

"Yeah… I think you're right eh…" He muttered in defeat, before sighing heavily. "The animals here… they were looking at us like we were the first humans here in a while… I thought it was because you three hadn't been here before, but I'm starting to get the sinking feeling that Lauren's on the main island."

Emma groaned upon hearing his reasoning, whilst Nichelle just sighed in slight annoyance…

"Well… at least we confirmed she wasn't on the island." Nichelle said quietly, trying to look on the brighter side of the expedition onto the island housing the mutant sanctuary. "So what now? Do we head back to the resort or sneak back into the competition?"

Ezekiel and Emma both exchanged a glance before shaking their heads.

"As much as I'd like to… it's best we head back for the day and try to plan how we're going to search for her without alerting Chris." Ezekiel explained.

"Besides, aren't we assuming that Lauren's even on that island? What if she's on none of them… for all we know Lauren's just completely disappeared." Emma added, although her expression quickly turned to one of regret when Ezekiel's darkened with a mixture of anger and sorrow.

"No… she's got to be here…" Ezekiel stated. "I saw her 'Normal Girl' outfit back at the docks leading here, completely torn to pieces and burned in a fire."

He took a deep breath before continuing, however it was quickly becoming apparent that his resolve was crumbling, and with it, his emotional barriers.

"S-She's gotta b-be h-here eh…" He choked out weakly, tears springing to his eyes. "W-Why else w-would she d-disappear…"

Nichelle and Emma both watched as he started sobbing, the pair glancing at each other with concern on their faces, they both glanced at Axel only to then notice her expression.

She was completely silent, ignoring the conversation as her eyes darted around the area, a stern expression on her face as she listened in for any potential threats.

"Axel?" Emma called to her. "Is everything alright?"

The Survivalist didn't respond for a moment, her body continuing to look around almost manically, before finally speaking.

"You guys also get the feeling like we're being watched?" Axel asked them, not stopping her movements as she continued to search for the presence stalking them.

Before the others responded, Axel's eyes widened as she moved without thinking, pushing the other three away as she also dived to the ground, a large animalistic figure landing where the four were just standing moments ago.

Ezekiel rolled onto all fours as both Nichelle and Axel got back onto their feet, whilst Emma groaned softly as she stayed lying on the ground for a moment, however all four pairs of eyes all widened as they took in the sight of none other than Fang staring them down…

End Chapter

Author's Note: Yeah, this chapter ended up being extremely long, so I thought like the last couple of chapters this episode needed splitting up into two chapters. Not every episode will be like this, however there's most likely going to be a couple more episodes that will get two chapters.

On a side note, the 'Stymphalian Canadian geese' is the official term for the birds living on Boney Island, I didn't make it up for this, it's on the Total Drama wiki if you want to check it out. I thought it'd add some depth to Axel's character by exploring a little more of her 'survivalist' gimmick by having her actually know different aspects, rather than just being a more generalised Shawn with the whole zombie thing.

Chapter Text

Author's Note: So this chapter was originally going to be a part of the last one, but that one would've been stupidly long so I split it into two parts. A fair bit of this had already been written before I made the decision to split the chapter up, hence why this one hasn't taken nearly as long to write.

But with that all being said, on with the chapter!

Chapter Nine

*Six Months Ago*

The medical room was a lot brighter in comparison to the rest of the resort, white walls, white tables, white cupboards, white beds, it was such a drastic contrast to the rest of the resort. The tables were quite messy, having various medical supplies spread across them, along with a small wooden box labelled simply as 'important'.

One doctor was testing a syringe as Ezekiel was sitting on one of the beds, looking anxious about the possibility of the cure working or not. Across from him were the unconscious duo of Wayne and Raj, having already been treated for their injuries sustained in their last challenge, and were currently just sleeping off their concussions.

"Before I administer this first dosage to you…" The Doctor began saying, "I must let you know that this isn't a 100% cure that we've been able to develop."

"B-But Chef said t-that it w-worked just fine on D-Dakota?" Ezekiel stammered out.

"Sorry I should rephrase that, what I mean is that Miss Milton didn't recover one hundred percent from her mutation. This is what we told Mr Hatchet when he contacted my employer, we were able to restore her to her human form, however the super strength from her time as 'Dakotazoid' was still there, and parts of her appearance like her hair and eyes were only partially restored." The Doctor explained.

"So I c-can still look n-normal but I'll k-keep some traits that I h-have now?" Ezekiel asked them.

"Most likely, If I had to guess the acidic spit you gained from the mines will likely stay, however any deformities from your time on World Tour we should be able to fix, minus permanent damage like the wounds to your ears. However I cannot be sure of it until we start administering the cure." The Doctor mused.

"O-Okay then, I-I'm ready eh." Ezekiel said.

The Doctor nodded in response, turning to the wooden box and opening it, pulling a vial with a purple liquid inside, they stuck the syringe into the vial and extracted the liquid, motioning for Ezekiel to roll up his sleeve. When they found the correct vein, they injected the serum into Ezekiel's bloodstream.

*Present*

"You guys also get the feeling like we're being watched?" Axel asked them, not stopping her movements as she continued to search for the presence stalking them.

Before the others responded, Axel's eyes widened as she moved without thinking, pushing the other three away as she also dived to the ground, a large animalistic figure landing where the four were just standing moments ago.

Ezekiel rolled onto all fours as both Nichelle and Axel got back onto their feet, whilst Emma groaned softly as she stayed lying on the ground for a moment, however all four pairs of eyes all widened as they took in the sight of none other than Fang staring them down…

The Mutated Sharks grin grew sinister as it took in the sight of the three female humans, seeing fresh meat in his eyes, however then his eyes landed on Ezekiel as he slowly got onto his feet. Fang's eyes quickly narrowed as his sinister smile turned into a dark predatory growl, his teeth bared at the Prairie Boy.

"Oh crap…" Ezekiel muttered weakly, paling at the sight of the mutant shark. "N-Not him again…"

"That's Fang!" Emma shouted, her face frozen in shock as she pushed herself off the ground, her hands immediately going to her weapon as she shivered at the sight of the mutant.

"Okay then… what about the other one… the Mutant Shark?" Axel demanded.

"You mean Fang? Well uh… we'll just have to hold him off until we can all escape…" Ezekiel muttered quietly. "Lauren and I ran into him the last time we were in the 'Fun Zone', and we just about got away…"

"Yeah… but did you have anything capable of taking the beast out?" Axel retorted, gesturing to the duffle bag full of weapons just lying in the sand between all four of them.

"Well… Lauren found a jackhammer and it only irritated him…" Ezekiel responded, his eyes glazing over slightly as he remembered the fight between the couple and the mutant shark.

"How'd you get away then?" Emma asked softly, looking nervously into the forest that the mutant sanctuary lay somewhere within.

"Honestly… we held him off until we had an opening and booked it for the exit… we only got away when Larry was woken up by Fang and attacked him." Ezekiel revealed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Even Axel was starting to look a little unnerved, if even Scary Girl and a then-mutated Ezekiel were barely able to fight the mutant shark off. But then she glanced down at the weapons in her duffle bag and began to lean down to dig through it.

"Well… in that case let's be glad there's four of us with actual weapons… not a single power tool and some cheap acid trick." Axel snarked, beginning to pass some weapons for the four of them to defend themselves with.

After a few moments she stood up, holding a sharp fire axe in her hands, glancing over at the other three and the items she'd given them. Emma looked extremely apprehensive at the sight of her own axe, whilst Nichelle and Ezekiel looked a little more neutral as they'd been passed a spiked baseball bat and a pitchfork respectively.

All four contestants stared down the mutant shark with varying degrees of nerves as Fang snarled at them, his malicious gaze aimed particularly at Ezekiel.

Emma and Nichelle were the most frightened of the beast, and Ezekiel didn't look too much better, only faring better than the two girls because of his previous experience in dealing with Fang…

Axel on the other hand was smirking, pulling her fire axe out and smacking the hard wooden handle against her open palm. Whilst the other three were extremely worried about the impending fight to escape the 'Fun Zone', Axel almost seemed to relish the opportunity to test herself against the mutant.

"Ezekiel…" Axel began to command, her tone sharp and to the point as she kept her eyes trained on the shark. "That serum that fixed your mutation? It didn't take your agility from your time as a feral zombie did it?"

Ezekiel blinked for a moment, then quickly realised what the survivalist was on about, shaking his head as he pulled out the pitchfork Axel had given him.

"N-No eh…" He responded shakily. "I still have it… I only lost the bad looks and the acid…"

"Good…" Axel nodded. "We're gonna need it…"

"Um… I don't suppose you still have any to use on him, do you Zeke?" Emma asked meekly, gulping as the mutant shark took a step towards them, only to groan when Ezekiel shook his head. "Figures…"

"Ezekiel. Nichelle." Axel shouted over to the pair. "You two are our most agile, so I need you two to keep the beast distracted whilst Emma and I try to strike him down with our weapons."

Ezekiel and Nichelle both gulped, but nodded, having no other choice but to trust that the survivalist had a plan. It was better than fighting blindly or running away in vain, and unlike when Ezekiel was last here with Lauren there was no guarantee that they could lure Fang into a trap like they had done with Larry.

"Oh and Zombie Boy! Is there any faster way of getting back to the entrance to this hellhole!" She asked once more, daring to take a glance away from Fang to look at Ezekiel.

"There's a shortcut that way!" Ezekiel responded, pointing towards a small pathway just behind Fang. "It'll take us straight back to the swampy area without the need to pass by the mansion area where Larry is."

"Got it…" Axel nodded, before snarling as she noticed movement in the corner of her eye. "Shit! Brace yourself, he's coming!"

All four of them looked at Fang as he charged them, his teeth bared. Fang leapt at Ezekiel who caught his teeth with the pitchfork in his hands, as Emma and Nichelle both backed away from where the mutant had landed.

Ezekiel's face briefly widened in fear, before his expression darkened into a snarl as he tried to hold him back. Axel meanwhile let out a battle cry as she charged at the mutant shark, her axe raised as if to bring it down into the shark's skull.

The cold sharp steel of the axe connected, and Fang roared in pain as he stepped back, clutching his head where the axe had connected with his skull. Unfortunately for everyone else, the most damage the axe had actually done was slightly bruise the mutant's forehead, and more worryingly, all it really did was just piss the shark off…

He felt the top of his head, and as the mutant shark leant down slightly to feel his wound, the four of them did begin to notice a small cut in the middle of the quickly forming bruise where the blade had connected. Axel smirked at the sight of the mutant's injury, thinking that Ezekiel's warnings about Fang weren't warranted, and that she could quickly take down the shark before they left the 'Fun Zone'.

Fang snarled before letting out a guttural roar, going after Axel this time, and although Axel had managed to step back and avoid the beasts jaws, she wasn't able to see Fang swing his tail around as a follow up in time, sending the survivalist flying into a nearby tree, her axe falling out of her hand as she smacked against the tree.

Before any of the others could call out to Axel, Fang was already upon them, swinging both his fists and his tail in an attempt to catch one of Ezekiel or Nichelle, the two former contestants using all of their agility to try and not get caught by any of the mutants' attacks.

Emma meanwhile went to help Axel up, the survivalist groaning slightly whilst rubbing where her head had collided with the tree.

"Damn… that thing really hits hard…" Axel grunted out, before stepping towards the action once more, only to wince as she fell onto one knee clutching her head.

Fang snapped at Ezekiel once more as his tail swung at Nichelle, and whilst the Action Star had been able to dodge and even take a swing at the sharks back, the Prairie Boy wasn't so lucky. He was just about able to dodge the shark's jaws, however he didn't anticipate Fang swinging his fists as well, the pitchfork being knocked from his hands, with the mutant quickly catching the pitchfork before snapping the wooden handle into pieces with his teeth, rendering Ezekiel's weapon useless.

"Oh crap…" Ezekiel gasped out, barely dodging another swing as Fang pressed his advantage on him now that the Prairie Boy was weaponless. He was just about able to stop Fang from biting a chunk out of him, using all of his strength to keep the shark's jaws pried open.

Nichelle gasped in horror and tried to intercept before Fang could overpower him, but Fang reacted faster, his hand grabbing her braided hair and flinging the Action Star into the forest, her spiked baseball bat dropping to the ground a small distance from the pair.

Ezekiel could feel sweat running down his face as he fought against the mutant sharks sharp fangs, he tried to kick out at his stomach, however before he could get a good connection in the shark managed to grab his foot with one of his clawed hands, the claws beginning to dig into his pant leg.

He looked around for something or someone to help him, however Nichelle and Axel were currently still recovering from being launched away, and Emma looked completely petrified of the mutant shark as she shakily helped the two girls back onto their feet.

His eyes quickly zoned in on the baseball bat that Nichelle had dropped when she was flung away. He gulped, knowing that he was taking a massive risk by letting go to grab the bat, and almost dived for the spiked bat, his body barely escaping the loud crunch of Fang's jaws coming together.

Ezekiel's hand were just about able to clasp around the wooden handle before he swung the spiked bat with all of his might, the weapon soaring into the sharks waiting jaws and not only stopping the beasts teeth from chomping down on the Prairie Boy, but also breaking off that loose tooth that Fang always had a problem with at the cost of a couple nails on the bat.

The moment Fang noticed the tooth dropping to the ground, he growled viciously, batting the baseball bat out of Ezekiel's hand and over towards where Axel and Nichelle were charging back in, before picking up Ezekiel and launching him into the air.

As the Prairie Boy went soaring into the trees, Nichelle was able to catch the baseball bat as Axel swung her axe once more. Fang snarled as the blade almost caught the side of his face as he tried to dodge, before snapping back at the survivalist, catching the tip of the fire axe with his mouth before biting down hard on the metal.

"What the?" Axel's eyes briefly widened in surprise as she tried to yank her weapon away, before snarling in frustration. "Nichelle! I need assistance!"

"On it!" She replied with urgency, jumping over the next tail swipe before swinging the now blunt end of the bat towards Fang haphazardly.

Fang bit down hard on the axe just as Nichelle had swung, and he yelped in pain as the bat hit him right between the legs. He spat out the now broken pieces of the fire axe, and swung around to bat Nichelle away, knocking Axel down with his tail who winced hard as she hit the ground.

Nichelle hit the tree once more with a loud "oomph", slumping over winded from the impact as Fang picked Axel up and slammed her back into the ground in an attempt to knock her unconscious…

Once both the action star and the survivalist were down for the moment, with Ezekiel also currently out of commission somewhere in the mutated forest, Fang slowly turned towards the trembling Emma with a menacing grin.

Emma gulped nervously, gripping her own fire axe with shaking hands as the mutant shark started to stomp closer towards her, clearly recognising her as the current 'threat' with the others down or missing…

"O-Okay…" Emma muttered to herself, closing her eyes tightly as she began to try and compose herself. "Y-You can do t-this E-Emma… j-just pretend it's C-Chase… h-him and his s-stupid f-face!"

She opened her eyes as she heard the mutant shark coming closer, the breakout influencers eyes lighting up with fire as she stepped forward. Emma yelled as she swung the axe three times, however Fang was able to dodge the first two swings before a sinister grin spread across his face as he caught the third with his hand, before pulling the axe out from her grip.

Emma watched in both shock and horror as Fang took the fire axe into both hands before snapping the handle in two, dropping it harmlessly onto the ground before stepping closer towards her.

Ezekiel arrived back into the clearing just in time to see Emma get sucker punched in the stomach, the breakout influencer's body dropping to her knees as she gasped for air.

The Prairie Boy could feel the acid in his stomach as he tried to summon up his acidic spit, if for nothing else but to distract Fang before he could do serious harm towards Emma. But he was finding it near impossible to summon up, especially in the potency he needed to actually make a difference.

In that brief moment, he wished he'd never taken the cure offered to him by Dakota six months ago, remembering that whilst the cure had almost completely restored his appearance, it had dulled down his mutation to an almost useless degree…

However, just as all hope about the situation started to fade away, Ezekiel began to slowly remember exactly what the cure had done to his mutation…

*Six Months Ago*

Dakota just sighed, jotting the information on a mostly blank page, the only other information on this one being about his recovered ability to speak that she'd discovered from the video of Axel and Lauren's fight.

"Okay, that's slightly concerning, I suppose we'll find out sooner or later if most of your abilities from after your elimination stick or not, for now though it's probably best we move on to what we came out here for…" Dakota responded, looking slightly concerned about what exactly was in that cargo hold, she made a mental note to ask Sierra as soon as they got back to the resort, if anyone other than Ezekiel would know it was best to ask the superfan.

It was either that or risk Chris or Chef, although Dakota was still pretty mad at Chris in particular, since Chef at least has shown that he does care for the cast in his own way…

"The a-acid spit, right?" Ezekiel asked, already preparing himself.

Dakota nodded, scanning the area once more, this time looking for something suitable for Ezekiel to test his acid spit on to see if the cure had reversed it or not, she would have used the trees nearby, however she was good friends with Dawn after their season together on Revenge of the Island, and she didn't want to upset her, knowing that the wildlife in the area potentially getting hurt was part of the reason why she hadn't gone with them.

She also suspected that there were other reasons, but Dawn usually had a good reason for what she did, so she couldn't judge the moonchild for staying behind if it benefitted in the long run.

Eventually she noticed some rocks a bit further into the cave from where Ezekiel had sat the previous day, they were quite spaced apart from the walls and would likely not result in a possible cave-in in the event that Ezekiel completely destroyed them with his acid.

A little convenient for her liking but what wasn't convenient on these islands, between all of the new areas Chris seemed to spawn in at Camp Wawanakwa, and the various little additions on all three islands that almost didn't seem natural, but actually were like the woolly beavers back on Boney Island.

The pair walked over, Dakota quickly pointing over to the rocks when they arrived. "See those rocks there Zeke?" She asked him.

When he replied she continued, "I want you to try and dissolve them with your acid spit, we'll be able to tell that way if it's gotten weaker or not, if you even still have it…"

Ezekiel nodded slightly, turning towards the rocks, he removed his toque and wig, placing them on the ground next to Dakota, not wanting to risk damaging them, before he crouched down on his legs, growling animalistically towards the rocks, attempting to summon up any acid.

Unfortunately for him, he was unable to, what used to be natural to him since his time in the mines and throughout his stay on Boney Island had suddenly become almost impossible to do. After around a minute of trying he gave up, sighing in defeat as he rose back onto his feet, shaking his head at Dakota who'd begun taking notes of the failed attempt.

"I-I can't do it… I c-can feel something b-but I can't summon it a-anymore…" He stuttered out, breathing heavily from retching for that long.

Dakota hummed lightly in response, finishing her note taking before looking over to him once more. "I want to try something to see if it is still there, if I can have your permission?" She asked him, putting the notebook down next to Ezekiel's headgear before walking towards him.

"Sure…" Ezekiel responded, glancing up at her once more.

"Okay then, oh and… sorry about this in advance…" Dakota apologised as she stepped up next to him, pausing for a moment when she thought about what she was about to do.

"Huh? S-Sorry fo…" He began, quickly being cut off as Dakota punched him as hard as she could in the stomach, the Feral Homeschooler quickly falling to his knees once more, quickly vomiting all over the ground in front of him.

Dakota looked down at him with guilt in her eyes, not wanting to do that, but as she looked over towards where he'd vomited, she noticed it quickly dissolved after a few moments, small burn marks all that was left of the acid, with the surface otherwise completely unharmed.

Ezekiel groaned in pain, coughing after the unexpected gut punch from Dakota, glaring slightly at her even as she began to help him up, smiling apologetically.

"Sorry again Ezekiel, but it was the only thing I could think of that might have worked." She apologised once more, setting him down by the wall and letting him recover, passing him his toque and wig before she picked up her notepad, quickly beginning to write down what she'd seen.

"T-Tell m-me it d-did something a-at least…" Ezekiel spoke slowly, clutching his stomach in slight pain, his words more stuttery than usual after being punched so hard.

"Well your acid is there to an extent, it just seems to be a lot weaker and dissolves quickly, if it wasn't for the small scorch marks you'd probably not even notice it." She explained, Ezekiel looking up in slight surprise at this information.

"S-So I w-won't hurt a-anyone with i-it?" He asked Dakota, who shrugged slightly in response.

"I mean I don't want to risk anyone's safety, but I'd probably say it'd just be like a slight burn." She said, not being entirely sure, just making a guess based on what she saw from before.

"W-Well, e-either way I-I'd rather n-not be punched a-again eh…" Ezekiel replied as he started to get up, his wig and toque now on his head once more.

"I won't, just… Please don't tell Lauren, okay?" Dakota grinned nervously at her fellow ex-mutant, Ezekiel smiling and shaking his head in response.

"N-Nah it's m-my fault for a-agreeing to it, a-at least w-we know now." He grinned, still clutching his stomach slightly as they began to walk back towards the resort, having gotten all of the information that they currently needed.

*Present*

Ezekiel's eyes widened in remembrance as he recalled the finer details of that moment, and without thinking he rushed towards Emma and Fang, ready to intercept the mutant shark's attack on the breakout influencer.

Emma was pushing herself up against the tree, trying desperately to keep away from the approaching Fang as he smiled wickedly at her, his teeth shining as he thought about how delicious his next meals were going to be…

Fang noticed her trying to scramble away and he snarled, swinging his tail towards her in an attempt to knock her over and stop her retreat. However, just as he did so, Ezekiel leapt in front of Emma, taking the blow for her instead…

Emma gasped in both shock and awe as Ezekiel stood his ground in front of her, his stance protective even as he lurched over in pain. Her gaze became slightly starry eyed as he glared up weakly at the mutated shark, snarling in a mixture of both anger and pain as he felt the acid rise to his throat, just like it had done six months ago during his test.

Unlike with Dakota however, this burst of acidic spit was a lot stronger than his weakened dose, looking a lot like how it had originally been before he'd been found by Lauren and taken away from Boney Island.

Fang's eyes widened in both shock and annoyance as the acid hit him in the stomach, the strength of the spit pushing him away from the pair and out of the clearing.

After a few moments Ezekiel stopped spewing acidic spit, breathing heavily as he dropped to one knee, Emma immediately getting up to check on him.

"Ezekiel! Are you alright?" Emma asked with clear concern in her voice, half worried about Fang recovering quickly and half still flustered over the sight of Ezekiel protecting her, the Prairie Boy doing something for her that her self-centred and borderline narcissistic ex-boyfriend Chase had never done…

…and that stirred something pleasant inside her…

"I-I'll be f-fine e-eh…" Ezekiel rasped out, breathing heavily as he accepted the hand she offered to him, not noticing the bright pink blush that had started to spread across her face. "W-What about A-Axel and N-Nichelle?"

Emma paused, looking around as she quickly noticed Nichelle struggling to get up, before her eyes landed on Axel, who was currently on his hands and knees breathing heavily after being body slammed into the ground.

"T-They're not in the best shape…" She admitted softly, shaking her head to clear the blush on her face, before feeling Ezekiel push himself away from her.

"I… I don't k-know how m-much time we h-have…" Ezekiel stuttered out, beginning to run towards Nichelle. "W-We need t-to r-run and h-hope we c-can get to the e-entrance in t-time…"

"R-Right!" Emma agreed, running over and helping Axel up and slinging her arm across the survivalist's shoulder, acting as a crutch for her to keep herself up until she fully recovered.

Ezekiel looked over towards them, holding the still winded Nichelle in his arms as he started to run towards the pathway he'd mentioned before their brief fight with the mutant shark. Nichelle was clutching the one weapon they still had between them in her arms, the now half blunted spiked baseball bat…

"Quickly, before he comes back!" Ezekiel commanded to both Emma and Axel, the four of them beginning to run down the pathway leading back towards the swampy clearing.

As they ran through the mutated forest, Axel quickly began to regain her own footing, lightly pushing Emma away as she took the baseball bat off of Nichelle. They didn't know how far away Fang was, however in the distance they could hear the frustrated roars of the mutated shark, and they knew he was coming after them…

They all quickly found themselves back in the swampy area of the mutated forest, and all four of them breathed a momentarily sigh of relief, Ezekiel setting Nichelle down as they went to continue back towards the entrance to the 'Fun Zone' now that they knew where they were.

Ezekiel however took a moment to stifle a chuckle as he began to notice that in the small amount of time since they'd passed by the ruins of the mansion, some of Larry's children had begun to wander away…

…and one of them just so happened to be the weird looking Chris plant…

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Axel demanded gruffly as she turned to see what he was chuckling at, only to freeze at the sight of that particular plant. "What the?! I-Is that…?"

Both Nichelle and Emma noticed the shocked expression on Axel's face, and turned to see the Chris plant amongst the other small mutant venus fly traps.

"What the heck…" Emma muttered, paling at the sight of it.

"Please tell me Chris didn't…?" Nichelle added, looking slightly weirded out just looking at it.

"Honestly… I don't know…" Ezekiel admitted, glancing at it once more before looking back at the girls.. "And frankly I don't ever wanna know…"

They watched the three plants including the one shaped like Chris McLean's head settle into the swamp-like land in the centre of the clearing, the four ex-contestants creeping around the side of the clearing to get over towards the pathway they needed to go down in order to get out of the 'Fun Zone'.

What wasn't helping matters was the screeches in the distance getting closer to them, undoubtedly Fang getting closer to their location…

"Quickly… this way." Ezekiel told the others, pointing down the pathway as he began sprinting ahead, the others quickly following.

Barely a minute later they could see the entrance to the 'Fun Zone', and more importantly the hole in the wall they'd used to get inside of the mutant sanctuary. Unfortunately for them however, Fang was also standing at the entrance with a dark look on his face.

Ezekiel skidded to a halt, growling at the sight of the mutant shark, as he faintly heard Axel do the same whilst Emma and Nichelle just gasped.

"Can't you just leave us alone!" Ezekiel shouted at the mutant shark, who just growled angrily in response and began to advance on the four of them once more. It quickly became apparent however that Fang's movements were slightly slowed down by the large acid burn on his stomach and chest from Ezekiel's acid spit.

His attacks were still vicious and powerful, however everyone found it was easier for them to be able to dodge them, and in Axel's case she was even able to get a few hits of her own in with the baseball bat.

"I have a plan…" Ezekiel said to the others as he leapt over Fang's latest swipe of his tail, landing on the shark's head and grinding his boot down onto the injury on his forehead. "Emma! You need to get out of here, then Nichelle, Axel and I will follow!"

"B-But I-" Emma tried to protest, but she was swiftly cut off by Ezekiel, who leapt off of Fang as the shark tried to swat at him.

"Me and Axel are the most capable of holding off Fang eh, she's the only one still with a weapon and if I can bring up more acid, I can stun him long enough for all of us to get out!" Ezekiel explained, to which Emma just sighed and nodded.

"Got it… I'll uh… see you on the other side." She chuckled weakly before making a dash past where Fang was fighting the other three, heading to the hole in the wall they'd climbed through to get into the 'Fun Zone', before starting to squeeze her way into the gap.

Once they were certain that Emma had gotten far enough through the wall, Nichelle broke off from the scuffle, backflipping away from another one of Fang's swipes, before running towards the wall and beginning to follow Emma through it.

Fang growled in frustration as he noticed his meals beginning to escape from the 'Fun Zone', however every attempt at trying to break off to chase after Nichelle was met by either a swipe from Ezekiel or a block from the baseball bat held by Axel, both of them increasingly confident that they could hold him off long enough to escape.

"Axel! It's your turn!" Ezekiel shouted over to her once Nichelle had fully disappeared into the wall, ducking under another punch from Fang as she leapt over his tail. "Pass me the bat and go! I'll be right behind you!"

Axel grunted in slight annoyance, however she knew at this point that actually winning the fight against the mutant shark was close to impossible, any blows that would've felled other beasts were just being brushed off, and all of the weapons she'd brought were either destroyed or near useless…

The prideful and determined side of her screamed at her to stay and keep fighting, but the more logical and survival focused side knew that staying any longer would be a detriment to her. With a reluctant sigh, she swung the bat one last time, before tossing it over Fang and into Ezekiel's hand.

"You better make it out of this Zombie Boy…" Axel warned as she broke away from the fight, quickly heading after Emma and Nichelle.

Ezekiel just smirked in satisfaction, although that smirk quickly turned into a frown as Fang doubled his efforts to strike him now that Ezekiel was his sole target.

"S-Sorry Fang!" Ezekiel spoke up after a few moments. "You'll just have to try harder next time!"

Fang snarled in response, managing to bite through the spiked baseball bat, before lunging at Ezekiel who managed to leap over the mutant. Ezekiel tried to build up his acidic spit once more, however unlike when he took the hit for Emma he found himself unable to bring any up.

His eyes quickly widened as he realised the true implications of what the cures' side effects had done to his acid. He couldn't just use it at will anymore… he needed to be in painful situations that reflexively brought it up, like when Dakota had sucker punched him several months ago, or when he put himself in front of Emma and took the hit from Fang.

Knowing what he needed to do now to get the opening, he stopped moving, allowing Fang to hit him. Fang quickly took the advantage, punching Ezekiel directly in the stomach and sending him stumbling back.

Ezekiel gasped in pain as he dropped to one knee, coughing as he did so, but just as Fang went to close in on the downed Prairie Boy, Ezekiel looked up with a smirk, his acidic spit building in his throat.

Fang instinctively went to shield his stomach, only to howl in pain as Ezekiel launched the acid spit into his face. Ezekiel watched for a moment as Fang stumbled back, clutching his now sore eyes in pain, before Ezekiel scrambled to his feet and darted for the same exit that the other three girls had left the 'Fun Zone' through.

By the time Fang was able to recover, the cover for the hole that Ezekiel had made was already in place, with Ezekiel nowhere to be seen…

Ezekiel heard the enraged roars of the mutant shark vibrate through the walls around him as he shifted through the gap leading to the outside of the mutant sanctuary, appearing on the other side of the wall after a few moments.

Nichelle, Axel and Emma were all waiting for him to reappear, Nichelle and Emma both visibly sighing in relief when they saw him, as he took a moment to catch his breath following the encounter with Fang.

"T-That… r-really… s-sucked eh…" Ezekiel said weakly, panting heavily as he collapsed onto one knee, only standing back up when he felt Axel pick him up.

"Yeah… but at least we got out in one piece." Axel responded in her usual gruff tone, although her gaze wasn't nearly as aggressive as it usually was towards him.

"So what now?" Nichelle asked them, the four of them all beginning to walk away from the entrance to the 'Fun Zone', leaving the mutant sanctuary alone once more.

"Well you heard Zeke earlier, we checked almost everywhere on this island… it's best to head back to rest, then tomorrow we begin planning for sneaking back onto the competition to look for her." Emma explained, shrugging her shoulders as she occasionally snuck concerned looks at Ezekiel, who looked drained emotionally and physically after the trip into the 'Fun Zone'.

"Well… let's just hope that someone on that island manages to see her… otherwise we might just be on one large stupid goose chase…" Axel grumbled, unaware of just how accurate her first statement was…

*Around the same time*

Lauren was having a great time spectating this challenge…

She'd managed to hide herself fairly well in the trees surrounding the challenge area, and the Scary Girl was able to get herself front row seats for most of the 'fun' part of the challenge.

It was unfortunate that she'd not been able to follow everyone else up the mountain for the first part, especially if what she was waiting to happen ended up happening, but when she saw Zee stumbling around the pinball table trying frantically to keep his mouth shut, she gleefully kept herself glued to the events of the challenge.

Plus it helped that she got to hear everyone's screams as they were pinged around the challenge area, and more importantly, she had to get the number for whoever made the cardboard cutout of her likeness that had gotten to achieve what she had tried to do during her elimination challenge the previous season.

Too bad it had almost given her away, the sight of Damien frantically screaming "Get me away from her!" as the cutout drove the gigantic jackhammer prop into the ground as he ran under it to escape from her prop self was just too hilarious, and she was lucky that neither Chris nor Chef Hatchet had spotted her cackling to herself as she watched the sight from her hiding spot.

It at first had seemed to be an upside to Damien, as whilst it had eliminated him from the challenge, he had the highest score by a large margin at that point…

That was until Priya had managed to set off a trap near the giant Izzy head, cannons beginning to fire pink balls around the entire board, knocking Wayne out of the challenge in the process, who had only just made it onto the board after being missing for basically the whole challenge so far.

Lauren wanted to enjoy the chaos for a moment, however her tired eyes instead locked in on one particular interaction as the chaos carried on, the interaction between Julia and Zee…

Zee had been sitting on the ground observing the chaos, his shorts now completely missing as Julia had stomped over towards him, grabbing him by his yellow shirt and hoisting him off the ground to speak face-to-face with him.

"Just tell me!" Julia said to him, looking extremely fed up with how evasive Zee had been during the entire challenge, she knew this secret had to be something important and she was damned if she wasn't going to force it out of him.

Zee however just looked around nervously, before reaching his hand out to catch one of the pink balls that had sailed past them, immediately biting down onto it as a last ditch attempt at keeping his mouth shut.

"Oh come on!" Julia shouted, throwing her arms up in the air, and over in the trees Lauren couldn't help but think the same thing, she had expected Zee to crack by now…

After a few more moments the balls eventually stopped firing out of the various cannons littered around the pinball table, the scoreboard above Chris and Chef showing Priya's score at the maximum amount.

"Well it seems Priya's score has gone higher than this prehistoric cave machine can count!" Chris announced to everyone through the microphone on the table in front of him, before standing up in celebration. "So Priya is the winner of today's challenge!"

"Yes Yes Yes! We did it!" Priya shouted in celebration, pumping her fists before pulling Caleb into a tight hug, pulling away just as Caleb had begun to reciprocate the hug. "I still don't get this game, but we did it."

"You did it girl…" Caleb smiled down at her, the pair staring lovingly into each other's eyes as everyone began to watch the interaction with varying degrees of interest.

MK and Julia watched with confusion, whilst Wayne, Raj and Damien smiled with increasing happiness for what was about to happen. Zee watched on with increasing concern, knowing about what Caleb's initial plans with Priya had been without knowing about the actual interest that had developed since.

Chef Hatchet looked over with a small smile from where he was sitting, giving a single nod towards both of them as Priya and Caleb shared a soft but passionate kiss with the other. Chris McLean rubbed his hands gleefully as he watched it happen, already smelling the ratings that would come from this episode in particular.

And as for Lauren…

"Yeah…" Priya stood up straighter as she began to realise the same thing, although it quickly turned into another smile as she looked up at Caleb again. "I guess we have that in common…"

Caleb chuckled again as they began walking further down the path, continuing to look for the idol. "Yeah… I guess we do…" He smiled again, although he looked deep in thought like he was beginning to realise something important.

Her hands began to clench tightly as she watched this, her already tired and reddened eyes beginning to sting even more as she stared with increasing anger towards Caleb in particular.

"Caleb is just a big flirt machine…" Zee spoke nervously, groaning softly as he slouched over. "Aww man… Priya won't be happy when she figures it out…"

Lauren's teeth began to clench tightly, grinding against each other as she tried desperately to keep herself from voicing her anger and disapproval of the relationship, not out of revenge or jealousy, but because she found herself hating the man more and more as she slid further into madness…

The only thing that kept Lauren going completely from the deep end was the sound of Zee spitting the ball out of his mouth, screaming "STOP!" at the top of his lungs.

Lauren looked back up at the scene in front of her, watching as everyone including Priya and Caleb turned to look at Zee in confusion.

"I can't keep this in my head anymore!" Zee shouted, clutching his helmet in panic as his eyes darted around, not noticing the smirk on Julia's face as she realised that Zee was about to spill his secret in front of everyone.

Lauren tried to calm herself down enough to listen intently, a small twisted smile appearing on her face as she watched everything begin to turn into chaos.

"Priya… Caleb doesn't like you… He's just pretending so you'll help him win…" Zee revealed solemnly, looking genuinely regretful that he had to unintentionally break her heart.

Gasps were heard all around them as everyone processed the news, Julia's in happiness at the drama that had been exposed whilst everyone else looked genuinely shocked at the news.

"He told me it himself…" Zee continued, his expression twisting into one of regret as he saw Priya's heart sink, her eyes looking to Caleb's for answers.

"D-Did you r-really say that?" Priya asked him meekly, her expression twisting into one of heartbreak, her eyes beginning to water as Caleb frantically tried to find an explanation for his actions.

"I-I… w-well… I uh… I did… b-but…" Caleb stumbled over his words, his heart sinking as Priya began to cry softly. "I can explain!" He tried to reason, only for Priya to run away from the challenge area, crying her eyes out as she did so.

Lauren watched Priya run away from her position in the trees, with Caleb following her trying desperately to explain himself to no avail, and her expression was a mixture of both guilt and rage. On one hand she hated that she was at least somewhat responsible for the events leading up to Zee spilling the beans, even if the stuff she told him hadn't quite come out yet…

On the other hand, the Scary Girl felt nothing but pure rage towards Caleb, he had the chance to do damage limitation but he fumbled it, breaking her 'closest friends' heart in the process. She knew that she couldn't do anything else now, but she also knew that if Caleb managed to survive the elimination ceremony, she would BREAK HIM!

She was barely able to snap back to attention when she noticed Damien walk up to Zee, looking notably upset with how heartbroken Priya was.

"That is messed up! Zee? You knew about this all along and didn't say anything?" Damien asked him, extremely confused as to why his friend didn't say anything sooner, only to watch as Julia placed a hand on Zee's shoulder.

"But don't you feel better now?" Julia smirked, looking extremely satisfied by the chaos that Zee had unintentionally caused. "I know I do…"

"Yeah…" Zee smiled, laughing to himself for a moment, before remembering what other secrets he'd been told by Lauren that morning. "Maybe I'd feel even better if I got the other secrets out…"

He didn't notice as the other contestants still in the challenge area gasped once more, this time in horror, not knowing what the secrets were, but if they were anything like the one he'd just spilled about Caleb and Priya, they'd rather not find out.

"Yeah… like how you once stole feather earrings from your grandma." Zee began, smiling as he pointed at Julia, not noticing her smug expression turn into one of annoyance.

"Or how Raj likes to smell other players' Hockey Bags!" He continued, not noticing how terrified Raj looked as both Wayne and Damien looked at him with a small amount of confusion and disgust, only for Damien to blanche as Zee called him out next.

"Damien hasn't changed his underwear all season!" Zee announced, the disgusted expressions now on Wayne and Raj's face as Damien looked away sheepishly, even going as far as to take a step away from him.

"MK sleeps with a stuffed unicorn named Theodore…" Zee kept going, not noticing the blush spreading across the thief's face as she grabbed her beanie from under the helmet she was wearing, pulling it down over her face in embarrassment.

Chris and Chef both walked over towards the contestants, Chris looking almost ecstatic at all of the juicy information being revealed whilst Chef was about to stop Zee from going any further, only to look nervously away when he noticed Zee even turn towards them.

"Chef got calf implants!" Zee announced happily, not noticing his nervous look as Zee was just too happy to get all of the secrets out of his system.

Everyone looked severely embarrassed at this point except for Chris and Zee, only for Chris's smug expression to turn into a horrified and almost angry frown when he heard Zee begin to spill something about him.

"And Chris! One time he fu-" Zee began, only to be cut off as Chris shoved himself in front of both Zee and Julia, grabbing a hold of one of the cameras and beginning to shut them off before Zee could spill anything else.

"Okay! I think we've heard just about enough!" Chris announced just as he managed to switch off the cameras in the area, before turning to him, looking really annoyed. "I don't know where you heard that Zee, but no one needs to hear that."

"Oh… about that!" Zee continued, now frowning as he remembered who told him all of the secrets. "Um… Scary Girl might have told me most of those…"

Most of the others including Chef gasped in shock, the contestants in particular remembering the revelation from the first night about how Lauren had exposed herself as having stalked the entire cast, it seemed reasonable that she'd find out all of their darkest secrets.

"Oh? And how exactly could she tell you if she was eliminated on the first night?" Chris asked Zee, not believing him in the slightest. "Because right now it just sounds like you're trying to deflect."

"W-What? No I'm not! It's true!" Zee tried to explain, only to see Chris and Chef walk away uninterested, clearly not trusting him. "Guys? You trust me right?"

He turned to look at the other contestants, only to see them also walking away from the challenge area.

"Oh man… I messed up…" Zee muttered to himself, sighing softly as his shoulders slumped in defeat. "But man… it does feel a little good to get those secrets out…"

*Later that night*

Things had soon managed to calm down once more at the Playa Des Losers by the time the four ex-contestants had returned from Boney Island…

When Ezekiel, Nichelle, Emma and Axel had finally managed to stumble their way into the resort during the late afternoon, they had all taken the chance whilst the others were distracted with their daily routines to go back to their separate rooms to shower and change, mostly to get rid of the murky feeling of the swamp water that they'd waded through in the 'Fun Zone' earlier that day, but it had also given each of them a chance to check for any lasting injuries from their earlier encounter with Fang.

Ezekiel in particular had spent a good amount of time in his room addressing the bruises that were forming on his stomach, having almost voluntarily taken two good hits from Fang in order to bring up his acidic spit.

But that hadn't been the only thing he'd done, also spending a few minutes trying to force more acid out of his throat, only to come to the conclusion of what the cure's side effect was in regards to his mutation…

He couldn't bring it up at will anymore, but the acidic spit was still there, just weaker compared to what it used to be prior to his restoration from his feral self…

Ezekiel sighed as he wiped his mouth clean, having downed a large glass of water in order to rehydrate his throat after it had become more hoarse from the repeated use of his acid. He wasn't exactly going to complain about having to use it in this case, and it was at least good to know that in a worst case scenario he would have it for future situations…

He just hoped he wouldn't have to use his acid spit again anytime soon…

Eventually night time had hit the resort, and everyone had gathered in the main lobby to wait for whoever was going to be eliminated next. The four who'd gone to Boney Island sat on one side of the common area, telling the four sitting on the other side who hadn't gone to the cursed island about their experience both on the outside area of the island, as well as the mutant sanctuary hidden within the dense forests.

"So then we got to this old half built mansion within the mutated forest where this huge venus flytrap was, and at that point we were starting to get the impression that Scary G-, I mean… Lauren wasn't actually on the island." Emma was explaining to the others, looking almost hyperactive in a way as she retold the trip into the 'Fun Zone'.

"So uh… does this mean what I think it means?" Ripper asked, looking at Axel in confusion, who just rolled her eyes.

"How the hell should we know… it's likely… but for all we know she could be anywhere by now!" She huffed impatiently, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"We don't have time to debate about this…" Bowie scoffed at the pair, before looking at Emma. "So then what? Something else must've happened for the four of you to be all beaten up?"

Emma rubbed her arm sheepishly, Bowie had been right after all, the evidence was right there with all four of the ex-contestants who'd taken the trip to Boney Island currently wrapped up with bandages covering the areas where they'd been directly struck by Fang. Axel in particular looked somewhat comical with the bandages wrapped around the back of her head from when she'd slammed into the trees.

But otherwise all four of them had bandages wrapped around their stomachs, with Ezekiel also having some wrapped around his hands from when he'd held Fang's sharp jaws open.

"Yeah…" Emma began nervously. "So we may have run into a mutant shark on the way back…"

"And you didn't record it!" Chase gasped as he stood up dramatically. "Ems, think of the views you could've gotten in there!"

"And this is exactly why I didn't want YOU coming with us…" Axel growled over at the YouTuber, making him gulp in fear as he scooted as far away from Axel as he possibly could. "If we'd taken your egotistical ass with us, we'd all probably be Shark Food right now…"

"It can't have been that bad… can it?" Millie chuckled nervously, already dreading what the answer would be, especially given their current injuries.

"Oh it was Millie… trust me, we were getting our asses kicked…" Nichelle grumbled, gingerly touching her bruised cheek from when Fang had swatted her away. "That thing was making Scary Girl feel like a light breeze in comparison, all of us had weapons and we still could barely harm it…"

"So… how'd you get away?" Millie asked them curiously, the other three also looking at the four who went to Boney Island with interest.

"I uh… used my acid on him…" Ezekiel chuckled nervously. "I-It stunned him long enough for us to get back to the entrance… then we just about were able to escape the sanctuary before he caught us…"

"Yeah, and unlike a certain SOMEONE!" Emma glared daggers at Chase, who seemed completely oblivious to her anger towards him. "He was actually selfless in doing so… he saved my life unlike a certain jerk who cuts the brakes on people's cars!"

Most of the others just shrugged this comment off, knowing all too well how much animosity Emma held for Chase, especially this season after she found out that he'd only 'helped her' in the pole challenge because of the allure of pizza, rather than actually wanting to help her.

Bowie on the other hand couldn't help but notice the subtle changes in her gaze whenever she looked at Ezekiel, a gaze that hadn't been there before they'd left for Boney Island, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it…

"Ahem…" Bowie fake coughed, trying to get the attention of the others briefly, before smiling at Emma. "Emma… could we talk alone for a second?"

She looked back confused at him as he stood up from the couch and gestured for her to follow him out of the room. Eventually shrugging and nodding as she got up to follow him, everyone else pausing for a moment as they watched them leave down one of the hallways connected to the lobby.

"Huh…? I didn't know they were friends again…" Chase commented, only for Axel to smack him in the back of the head. "Ow…! What was that for?"

"Knock it off… idiot…" Axel grumbled. "You're being extremely clueless right now…"

"I have to agree with her Chase…" Millie added, unable to hide a smile. "They have been getting on a lot better since Bowie arrived here a couple days ago…"

"Yeah… it's almost as if Chase was the problem there eh, and now that they're broken up for good, Bowie and Emma have no reason to fight…" Ezekiel agreed, rolling his eyes at him.

"Hey! We're not… we're just…" Chase tried to defend himself, only to pause as it began to register in his mind. "We're um… on break?"

"If that's how you wanna phrase it… then sure… you and Emma are 'on break'..." Nichelle sighed.

"Well uh… at least my girlfriend isn't avoiding me!" Chase tried to deflect, Ezekiel's eyes widening for a moment before they narrowed in disgust.

"Excuse me!" Ezekiel snarled, standing up and getting into the YouTubers face. "Say that again… I dare you…"

"You heard me!" Chase responded, seemingly not registering how angry Ezekiel was. "Scary Girl just happens to disappear the moment she gets kicked off, maybe she was just looking for an excuse to get away from you."

Everyone else in the room gasped, and in the shock everyone missed the sound of the entrance to the resort opening. The room was almost deadly silent for a moment, before Ezekiel tried to lunge at the YouTuber, needing both Nichelle and Axel to hold him back before he could maul the narcissist.

"Let me at him!" Ezekiel snarled, the glint in his eyes almost feral as he frantically tried to claw at Chase, the latter now looking worried about his own safety. "You arrogant asshole! Just because Emma doesn't love you anymore doesn't mean you can start talking shit about Lauren!"

"Woah! Woah… dude calm down…" A voice called out, everyone turning to see Zee approaching the couches that they'd been sitting at. "We're all a little bummed out right now… so let's just relax over a nice soda…"

He placed his briefcase full of sodas down on the table, opening them up for everyone to take. Ezekiel took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, however he still shot Chase a warning glare, knowing that next time he wouldn't be able to stop himself from throttling him.

"I can't believe they voted you off?" Nichelle spoke, sounding completely flabbergasted. "What happened Zee?"

"Well uh… it's a long story…" Zee rubbed his head sheepishly, not wanting to reveal the full reason for his elimination. "But basically I couldn't keep my mouth shut, and I kinda revealed to everyone that Caleb was using Priya for a vote after they kissed…"

That statement quickly caught everyone's attention, everyone gasping in shock as everything they'd heard about them seemed so positive.

"Are you serious!" Millie responded, the most shocked of them all, she'd known even in the couple of days she'd been in the competition this season about how attracted Priya was to Caleb, and she knew that this would absolutely crush her if true.

"What did he say?" Ripper asked his friend, wanting to know more details about what happened.

"I… uh…" Zee frowned, looking in thought for a moment. "I know he admitted to it, but come to think of it… he looked too hurt for it to have stayed that way…"

He then gasped, clutching his head in panic as he looked around with guilt in his eyes.

"Oh no… did he actually have feelings for her?" Zee muttered in his panic. "Did I mess up again like with the secrets Scary Girl told me today…"

Ezekiel's ears immediately perked up upon hearing his girlfriend's nickname, turning to face Zee with both confusion and concern on his face.

"Zee… What do you mean, Lauren told you today?" Ezekiel asked him.

"Dude… I mean Scary Girl's on the island…" Zee revealed to everyone in the room, with Ezekiel's eyes widening in particular…

Lauren was not in a good place right now…

Ever since the secrets were revealed at the end of the challenge, she could feel herself unravelling more and more as the wait to see who got eliminated went on. She'd even perched herself on the same cliff that she'd watched Nichelle's elimination on, hoping to get a nice view of Caleb being escorted off the island and out of the competition.

Unfortunately for her, it only ended up being Zee's fate instead, even with the satisfaction that everyone else currently hated him almost as much as she did. It wasn't enough, and if it wasn't for the growing instability she was feeling from the events of the last few days, she probably would've pondered if telling all of those secrets to Zee was such a good idea…

Instead she was now doubling down on her plans, the moment she realised Zee was going home instead of Caleb, she left her position at the top of the cliff overlooking the elimination ceremony, slowly making her way down towards the area where the confessional was, intending on grabbing all of the footage from the last twenty four hours.

But that wasn't her only intention for the night…

"I even spoke to the guys who were eliminated before this challenge, well… most of them anyway." He winced, as though trying to think of a way to speak about the incident without possibly alerting Chris, although when he sighed again it was quickly becoming apparent that he was going to end up spilling the beans about Lauren's disappearance.

Something that Lauren would have to rectify before it was too late…

"I uh… also have a message for Scary Girl…" Owen looked directly into the camera. "If you're on the island, please just drop whatever it is keeping you there and come back home… even if it's just back to the resort."

Owen frowned again, pondering for a moment if he should reveal the full truth, before just going for it.

"Ezekiel's worried about you Scary Girl… when I arrived here I found him desperately trying to get to the resort to look for you. He knows something has happened to you and he's worried sick!" He explained, wringing his hands together nervously. "They all are… Emma, Millie, Nichelle… even Bowie and Chase. And I have no doubts the guys still competing are too…"

She growled to herself at the memory of Owen's confessional, making her way into the confessional and beginning to once again hack into the camera in order to extract all of the confessionals made in the last twenty four hours, as well as achieve her other objective…

Making sure that no one saw the confessional talking about her…

At this point she felt like an expert at splicing footage in order to make it look like no one was there, and even in her exhausted state she was able to successfully edit over the Owen confessional, removing any mention of her from the new edit.

When she'd finished splicing it in a way that made it look convincing, she then fixed up the timeline of what she'd cut out with footage of an empty confessional, just so nothing looked out of place.

Lauren giggled menacingly as she then finished up extracting all of the confessionals from that day, not even noticing as one of her hair ties snapped, her right pigtail falling from its usual position into a messy unkempt purple mess trailing down her back.

She looked like even more of a mess, but the unhinged girl didn't even notice at this point, her smile unnaturally wide even for her standards as she fixed the camera up into its normal state, before standing up and leaving the confessional.

The Scary Girl was hoping now that everything was done that she would finally be able to get some sleep after the nightmares that had haunted her all night, the thoughts of trying to suppress her traumatic induced feelings completely overshadowing the thought that she'd forgotten to do something involving the camera footage.

And as Lauren walked back into the forest, heading back towards the cave where she hoped to rest before continuing with her 'revenge' the next morning…

Not once did it cross her mind that she had completely forgotten to erase the footage of her tampering with the confessional that night…

End Chapter

Author's Note: So… Lauren's officially lost it, and Ezekiel's feral/mutant ability is still around. The cure from 'Not So Scary After All' had never truly taken away his abilities, just like how Dakotazoid was never fully cured and retained some of her abilities despite her restored appearance, so the idea here was that Ezekiel could still conjure up the acidic spit, just not in regular situations.

Oh and about Fang being able to tank a direct hit from an axe without his head being split open, there is a reason for that. In chapter five of 'Not So Scary After All', Fang was able to tank several direct hits from an activated jackhammer without serious injury so one hit from an axe should be fine.

Chapter Text

Author's Note: For those of you who read this on AO3, you may have noticed the tags change from 'Canon Compliant' to 'Canon Divergent'. When planning this chapter I began to realise that as the season was, I was gonna have trouble getting to the end.

So I'm taking creative liberties for the final five episodes, the biggest switch being that I will be swapping episodes 10 and 11 around in order to make the story beats flow better, especially with people beginning to realise that Lauren is still on the island.

Chapter Ten

*?*

The sound of a bell ringing was heard across the entirety of the small elementary school, the sounds of children playing quickly began to come to a halt as they quickly became resigned to more lessons for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to head home for the day…

All except for one…

A small brown haired girl stayed hidden behind several large bushes towards the corner of the playground. Unlike the rest of the kids who seemed to be wearing various different clothing adhering to the current trends, she seemed to be wearing what was almost rags in comparison.

She was still wearing the same worn purple long sleeved shirt, just heavily stitched up in order to join up to her skirt as a makeshift dress, her black leggings stylised by age, the small tears almost purposeful in an attempt to make herself look 'cool' in an attempt to gain some friends in order to improve her shitty situation just the smallest amount.

Of course, it never actually worked…

People both young and old just found her too creepy, and those who didn't immediately distance themselves were soon convinced by the people around them to stay away from her. Usually by people who had her parents in their ears…

The seven year old Lauren sighed miserably to herself as she quietly applied makeup from her bag to more bruises on her arms, at this point she couldn't tell who had caused them, but the makeup had begun to run, and she couldn't risk them being exposed so openly.

It's not like it ever garnered sympathy anyway…

She slowly began to look around the small area she was hidden in, her pale blue eyes eventually landing on the pitiful sight of a dead bird lying in the grass, hidden from view of anyone not trying to hide away in the bushes. Lauren took a closer look as she finished reapplying the last of her makeup, noting with an almost melancholic feeling the broken wing that likely led to its fate…

She gently picked up the bird in her pale shaking hands, her eyes roaming the small creature with morbid curiosity. A dark part of her mind wanted to use this chance to get her sick thrills in, she'd always been fascinated with creepy things, and an actual dead animal was right up her alley…

But little Lauren knew that would only result in even more punishments coming her way, her parents were already getting stricter and stricter, every small blemish being used as an excuse for physical punishment…

She never did get a chance to play outside again, confined to her room whenever she wasn't at school or her 'appointments'...

She scoffed to herself as she thought of her 'therapy', to her it was just another excuse for people to yell at her for being 'too scary', all it felt like was an additional prison sentence to her already miserable existence and she HATED it!

Lauren sighed, preparing to start digging a small grave for the dead animal in her hands, pushing the thoughts of scaring others with it to the side for once. She'd quickly do this, then hopefully get to her classroom before she'd get in too much trouble…

But of course, fate never seemed to be kind to Lauren anymore…

She felt a hand grab her shoulder as a shrill voice began to lecture her for 'skipping classes', she felt her body being yanked up and out of the bushes she was hiding in, causing her to panic and throw the dead bird at whoever it was…

It had just been her luck that there was supposed to be a 'gym' session for one of the other grades… and of course in her panic she'd thrown the dead animal right over the teacher and towards the kids, causing them to all scream in horror and disgust.

The next thing she remembered was being sat in the principal's office, being scorned for her 'violent behaviour' and 'scaring the other students', but that wasn't the most horrific part of it…

It was having to sit there, right next to her mother, said mother looking more and more angry with her with every word the principal was saying.

"Look, I'm sorry Mrs Strašivić, but we've given Lauren several chances to improve on her behaviour, and yet she finds herself in here at least once every week without fail…" The principal stated, their professional tone only vaguely masking the clear annoyance they felt towards Lauren.

"Principal MacAllister, surely there's another way you can deal with this? I can't take time off work for this…" Lauren's mother pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but Lauren's had more than enough chances and she won't improve… I have no choice other than to suspend her for a week, with expulsion if she continues her bad behaviour"

Lauren's mother could barely hold back her anger as she sighs, before nodding reluctantly, standing up and gripping Lauren's arm tightly.

"I… I understand…" She muttered before taking her leave, the now terrified Lauren in tow.

The ride back home was unusually silent, and Lauren could feel her nerves get worse and worse as they got closer to the house. When they pulled up to their driveway, Lauren shakily got out of the car, half tempted to try and make a run for it, but then she noticed the other car on the driveway and all of the remaining colour on her pale face left her…

Her father was home…

Before she could do anything else, her mother grabbed her wrist painfully, dragging her into the house and into the living room, where her father was waiting with an angry look on his face.

"What has the brat done this time?" He grumbled in annoyance, disgust clear on his face as he looked down at the terrified girl.

"The psycho decided it would be a good idea to traumatise the grade below her by throwing dead animals at them…" Her mother explained, her nails now digging into Lauren's wrists.

"N-No! I d-didn't mean to! I… I just found it… I s-swear I was going to bury it!" Lauren pleaded, tears springing to her eyes, already anticipating the incoming beating she was going to get.

"SHUT UP!" Her mother screamed back at her, slapping her across the face hard before turning back to her husband. "The Demon Child's also only gone and got herself suspended!"

Lauren tensed up, tears now freely streaming down her face as she looked up shakily at her father, silently hoping that for once he'd be lenient with her…

That hope died quickly when he growled and smacked her himself, her cheek throbbing in pain from the force of the strike.

"Stupid bitch… Well I'm not taking time off work to babysit this horrible child!" He shouted over to her mother, glaring at Lauren the whole time.

"My thoughts exactly… I think she needs to have her freedom restricted even more…" Her mother sneered, before slapping Lauren even harder, scratching her face slightly with her nails.

"You deal with the brat's beating… I'll take her things out of the room… make it more… suitable" He said ominously, before leaving for Lauren's bedroom, ignoring the screams and cries of his daughter as she began to be beaten for her 'punishment'.

When Lauren eventually came to the next morning, she found herself in a completely empty room, not even a blanket or a pillow, only hard wooden surfaces. The windows were sealed off, and when she tried to open the door she realised with increasing dread that they'd locked her in from the outside.

Tears sprung to her eyes once more as she realised what they'd done, they cared so little about her that they chose to lock her in with no food or water, only being fed when they got home from work…

Her entire body ached from the beating she'd been given the previous day, and as her fists banged weakly against the locked door she noticed the purple bruising on her damaged arms.

"N-No… p-please… Let me out!" Lauren begged desperately, knowing deep down that no one was going to answer. "PLEASE! LET ME OUT!"

Lauren kept screaming and pleading, until eventually succumbing to exhaustion, slumping to the floor. She gathered up all the energy she could muster, and let out a loud scream of horror.

Lauren's eyes snapped open as a loud and shrill scream echoed out of the small cave and into the dark, empty forest surrounding her. Her body shooting up from the rocky surface as tears began streaming down her pale face.

Her eyes started to dart around wildly as she gripped her hair tightly, her remaining pigtail clutched in her right hand, whilst her left grabbed at whatever strands of her messy hair she could find. Her breathing was erratic, wheezing as she tried and failed to calm herself down…

"G-Good g-girls don't p-play with d-dead a-animals…" Lauren muttered deliriously to herself, her poor mental state still clearly back in the nightmare she was having, even as her body woke up. "G-Good g-girls d-don't s-scare the o-other children…"

She took a few small shaky steps out of the cave she'd been sleeping in ever since she'd stepped foot back on the island, before collapsing to her knees, her body shivering as she kept rambling manically to herself.

"G-Good g-girls don't g-get p-punished… S-Scary g-girls g-get w-what they d-deserved…" She choked out weakly, her rambling mixing in with the raw tears she allowed herself to shed in this weakened state, her body slowly beginning to rock back and forth in her insanity.

"G-Good g-girls…" She began once more, only to physically recoil and slap herself, seemingly beginning to somewhat come back to her senses, albeit the damaged and broken look of the usually terrifying girl didn't dissipate in the slightest.

"S-Stop it Lauren! Y-You're supposed to b-be s-stronger than this!" She grumbled manically to herself, forcing her creepiest smile back in place, as though trying to convince herself that everything was fine. "F-Focus… I need t-to focus… o-on revenge… o-on p-proving everyone wrong…"

She slowly got up, her body still shaking even as her mind began to slowly come back from her brief spiral. Lauren took a moment to reach for her phone, seeing the device beginning to run low on battery, only checking briefly for the time and frowning when she saw 3am staring back at her in large numbers.

Knowing that she no longer had any intention of falling back asleep, especially with this being the second night in a row where she was having trouble sleeping because of nightmares, she instead set off into the forest…

At the very least she was going to use the time to her advantage, whether it was to hunt for food, or even advance her plans of revenge…

*Around the same time*

Back over at the Playa Des Losers resort, it was mostly silent throughout the entirety of the island resort. Most of the lights were switched off, and everyone was fast asleep in their beds, some quiet like Millie and Bowie…

And others were snoring loudly like Chase and Ripper, disturbing the otherwise quiet atmosphere of the resort…

However, one single light was on in the entire resort, illuminating a small portion of the lounge. Ezekiel found himself sitting on one of the couches, his tired eyes staring into the small lamp sat on the table in front of him.

Unlike the others at the resort, he was unable to sleep, shaken by the news that Zee had brought with him after his elimination earlier in the evening. It was now 3am, and he'd long since given up on trying to calm his racing mind, so instead of being in his hotel room, surrounded by items belonging to the very person who was indirectly poisoning his mind, he took a short walk through the quiet and empty halls of the Playa, eventually finding himself where he was now.

His eyes flickered in time with the light as he stared quietly at the lamp, his mind replaying the events of that last conversation over and over and over again…

"Oh no… did he actually have feelings for her?" Zee muttered in his panic. "Did I mess up again like with the secrets Scary Girl told me today…"

Ezekiel's ears immediately perked up upon hearing his girlfriend's nickname, turning to face Zee with both confusion and concern on his face.

"Zee… What do you mean, Lauren told you today?" Ezekiel asked him.

"Dude… I mean Scary Girl's on the island…" Zee revealed to everyone in the room, with Ezekiel's eyes widening in particular…

"What!" Ezekiel snapped, instantly on his feet, almost tackling Zee to the ground as he grabbed a firm hold of his shoulders. "What do you mean, she's on the island!"

"D-Dude… I-I mean what I s-said, s-she's t-there…" Zee replied nervously, seeing Ezekiel's eyes flicker between a mixture of anger and pure panic.

"Woah! Calm down Zombie Boy…" Axel stepped in, prying Ezekiel off of Zee before the Prairie Boy could potentially do any damage. However she then whipped around to glare at said 'stoner'. "Zee. Explain. Now."

Zee rubbed his arm sheepishly, stepping back for a moment and sitting down on one of the open spots on the couch next to Chase, taking advantage of the fact that Bowie and Emma had disappeared shortly before he had arrived.

"Well… to sum it up… I'm really bad with secrets…" Zee admitted, looking down at the floor with shame quickly flooding his expression. "I'd been having trouble for a few days keeping Priya's crush a secret, and Caleb telling me that he was using her for an alliance made it even harder…"

Millie's expression soured quickly, still not happy that her best friend had apparently been played by the person she'd been crushing on all season. The others seemed mostly indifferent, with Nichelle being the only other person who reacted, nodding slightly.

"You did seem a little off during that ice challenge…" The actress responded, looking a little bitter at the reminder of the challenge she had quit on because of the fake contract. "Was that why you were drinking all of that soda?"

"That's not the point, you can talk about this Caleb and Priya drama later…" Axel grumbled out, glaring at Zee.

"She's right…" Ezekiel agreed with Axel, before looking at Zee pleadingly. "Please Zee, I need to know what's happening with Lauren."

"Right… Scary Girl…" Zee gulped, rubbing his head sheepishly before beginning to explain once more. "Well… after Julia and MK tried to get me to tell them the secret, I was trying to keep my mouth shut when I ran into her…"

"A-and… W-what d-did she say?" Ezekiel asked worriedly, his hands clenched so tightly that the tips of his fingers were beginning to turn white.

"T-That she knew about Caleb and Priya… t-that she really, and I mean REALLY didn't like Caleb…" Zee shuddered, remembering the cold look on the Scary Girl's face as she spoke about him with barely concealed malice. "A-And then… s-she told me secrets about everyone w-which I blurted out at the end of the challenge…"

Zee then clapped his hands over his mouth, groaning slightly in disappointment, recognising that once again he'd said too much.

The others all looked at each other with a mixture of fear for their own privacy, knowing that at the very least both Scary Girl and Zee knew potentially embarrassing stuff about them, and annoyance towards said Scary Girl who was revealing said information…

All except for one…

"Z-Zee… b-be h-honest here…" Ezekiel muttered out weakly, his body beginning to shake slightly as his fear of her becoming feral like he'd been for years came back into the forefront of his mind. "I-Is s-she o-okay?"

Ripper and Chase both scoffed slightly in response, and despite Axel's glare at the former to 'stop talking', he began to speak up.

"Come on dude… It's Scary Girl we're talking about here, she's probably the same as alw-"

"Sorry man…" Zee cut the 'Alfalfa Male' off, looking slightly uneasy but knowing he couldn't keep the secret of Lauren's current condition even if he wanted to. "But Scary Girl is NOT okay right now…"

Everyone else became silent within an instant, and Ezekiel felt the blood beginning to drain from his face, hoping that Zee was just over exaggerating and that his girlfriend was actually okay.

"Well… I… uh…" Zee responded, looking slightly flustered as he tried to think of the right words to say that wouldn't result in Ezekiel having a mental breakdown in front of everyone, barring Emma and Bowie who still hadn't returned yet.

"Zee, he's gonna worry whether you tell him or not…" Axel sighed, before glaring at him in the hopes of intimidating him enough to spill the secret. "It's best you tell us so we can start planning on how the hell we're gonna get her off the island."

"Okay okay…" Zee sighed, then looked directly into the terrified Prairie Boys eyes. "She's… not good at all man… she looked rough, her appearance was falling apart… and she sounded even crazier than normal…"

Chase scoffed and was about to open his mouth, before a quick elbow from Nichelle quietened him down. Millie and Axel also shot glares at him, whilst Ripper wisely chose to not involve himself further…

Ezekiel meanwhile didn't move a muscle, his eyes frozen wide in horror as his mind began to absorb the information. For a brief moment, he almost wanted to call him out as a liar, that Lauren was still missing but potentially fine, rather than knowing where she was and knowing that she was falling apart as they spoke.

But as Ezekiel looked into Zee's eyes, he could see nothing but honesty and concern in them, and he quickly realised that this was the truth, and he only knew one thing at that point…

He needed to go back to Camp Wawanakwa, and fast…

"Ezekiel?" A voice called out to him, snapping the Prairie Boy out of his thoughts, he slowly turned to look behind him with a haunted gaze, his mind still racing with the worry of what was happening to Lauren.

He wasn't expecting to see everyone staring back with worry, even Chase at this point seemed to recognise that the situation was more serious than he first thought…

"Look, we know you're thinking of heading over now…" Nichelle continued, having been the initial voice who spoke out to him, her expression full of worry for her friend.

"But you're only going to get yourself AND Scary Girl into more trouble if you go in recklessly…" Axel grumbled out, glaring slightly at him, albeit with a hint of concern. "You think Chris is gonna accept this as an excuse for you blindly rushing onto the island? He hates you enough that he'll probably exploit it…"

"Woah Axel! You're just gonna make him feel worse!" Millie stepped in, the entire room already seeing Ezekiel's mood beginning to drop further. Axel glared at her for a moment, sighed, then stepped back, knowing that his mental health would be a problem if she pressed the issue too much.

Millie nodded at her, before turning back towards Ezekiel with a softer expression.

"Look… I get you wanna go to her right away, but Axel's right…" Millie continued, before sighing. "We can't just rush in without a plan, it may have worked out on Boney Island but there's gonna be cameras everywhere."

"Well… wouldn't the finale be the best time to look since we'd all be on the island?" Chase suggested weakly.

"Yeah… that's not gonna work…" A voice called from the hallway, everyone glancing over to see Bowie and Emma walking back to the couches, Bowie giving Ezekiel a once-over before continuing to speak. "There's still four more challenges before the finals, that's a little too long to just leave up to chance don't ya think?"

"Wait, how long have you been standing there?" Ripper questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Not long…" Bowie responded, Emma silently following behind him still looking a little flustered. "But judging by Homeschool's expression alone, I think even the Hockey Bros could figure out what happened…"

Upon seeing some of the questioning glances Bowie just shrugged. "What? I may love Raj, but I can also admit that he and Wayne aren't exactly the brightest people in the world."

"Maybe we can talk about this in the morning?" Emma suggested quietly, her tone a little meeker compared to her usual happy tone, her eyes lingering on Ezekiel for a moment before darting away.

No one else seemed to notice this apart from Bowie, who glanced at Emma for a moment before nodding in agreement along with the others…

That was apart from Ezekiel, who'd remained completely silent throughout the exchange, his expression still stuck in place, when everyone else headed upstairs towards their respective rooms, Ezekiel just followed along silently…

Ezekiel's mind managed to refocus for a moment, just long enough to remember where he was now, his thoughts about what he was going to do regarding Lauren's current predicament still racing.

Tears filled his eyes as flashes of the worst case scenario for Scary Girl entered his mind, the fake images of her manic, almost feral-like behaviour in his eyes only worsened by the small description of her appearance that Zee had given him.

He barely even seemed to notice when his eyes began to slowly close from emotional exhaustion, until eventually he passed out in the lounge. The only sounds remaining in the room was the flicker of the small lamp illuminating the room, and Ezekiel ended up laying there for the rest of the night…

*The next morning*

"Priya, it's no big deal! Zee told secrets about everyone!" Damien yelled towards the confessional, trying to coax her into opening the door, only to pause as the door slammed open, knocking both Hockey Bros over as they stood next to the outhouse door.

"That is not why I'm upset!" Priya exclaimed, bags under her reddened eyes, her hair looking completely dishevelled. She slammed the door back shut for a moment, only to reopen and knock over the Hockey Bros as they were getting up, Priya storming up to Damien angrily.

"I'm mad that Caleb played me!" She almost growled out before storming away from the confessional, heading to the beach to try and get away from the others.

Both Hockey Bros groaned as they got up, looking a little banged up but otherwise quickly able to shake it off, all whilst Damien watched Priya storm off with considerable concern.

"Should we help her?" Damien asked Wayne and Raj as they dusted themselves off, wanting nothing more than to try and comfort his one-time crush, even if Damien had no idea what he could say in order to comfort her.

"I mean… she didn't look too happy to see us eh" Wayne observed, rubbing his slightly bruised forehead as he followed Damien's gaze to where Priya had gone.

"That's just her anger at Caleb talking Wayner." Raj pointed out, putting a hand on his best bud's shoulder. "Besides… I think it'd help her to be able to vent to people eh."

"True… alright then… let's try and catch up with her." Damien agreed with Raj, with Wayne nodding along enthusiastically before all three guys began to run after Priya, running through the forest towards the beach area where she'd gone.

The moment the coast was clear, the dishevelled and exhausted looking Lauren stuck her body out of the bushes she'd been hiding in, her creepy smile stuck in place. She slowly began to follow the direction the three boys had gone in, having to take her time due to all of the cameras around the area, not wanting to risk exposing herself anymore than she already had after the whole 'Zee Incident'...

The Scary Girl eventually found herself approaching the beach after around ten minutes of manoeuvring her way past all of the cameras, and as she snuck through the bushes in order to avoid being spotted, she began to hear the conversation the others were having.

"Ugh… I can't believe I fell for Caleb's whole…" Priya began, before beginning to do a half-assed impression of the bodybuilder, fully intent on mocking the person who'd shattered her heart. "Wow… you're funny… was I working out too loud for you? We have so much in common…"

She screamed in annoyance to herself as Wayne and Raj shared an awkward chuckle between them, Damien giving them a small glare before giving Priya a sympathetic glance as she continued, curling up into a ball on top of the rock she was sitting on.

"UGH! Don't you guys get it? The thing that hurts the most though was that Caleb told Zee that he never liked me…" Priya continued to explain, her expression twisting into a mixture of anger and sadness as she spoke. "He just wanted us to be in an alliance, and I only found that out after he KISSED ME!"

In her hiding spot Lauren's eyes narrowed at the reminder, quickly remembering the promise she gave herself to target the bodybuilder next. She crept as close as she could get to the beach without being noticed, peeking around the corner of a tree just in time to see Damien sighing.

"That is not cool…" He admitted, before looking away somewhat guiltily. "You know, I kinda feel bad that I voted Zee off for the whole 'spilling our secrets' thing now… I mean I'm still a little annoyed at him, but at least he didn't mean to hurt anyone with it"

Priya only groaned in response, putting her face in her hands as she continued to sob quietly, she hadn't known about Zee's whole spilling everyone's secrets thing until Chef brought it up at the elimination ceremony. She'd been hiding in the female side of the Rat Faces cabin after the challenge, the room being completely empty aside from her following Axel's elimination in the cooking challenge.

Lauren could see the concerned but confused looks from the three guys as they watched Priya continue to cry softly, none of them knowing how to comfort her in a situation like this. Not that she knew how to either, before the whole 'Boney Island' thing six months ago she'd thought herself completely devoid of empathy for others, only getting a kick out of people's screams of both fear and pain…

The last six months had changed things enough to the point where she knew she should feel a little bad for Priya's situation, but between the lifetime of trauma, conditioning herself to be a 'Normal Girl' for most of those months, and her decaying mental state meant that any progress Ezekiel had made on helping her overcome her problems was quickly vanishing… even regressing past where she was in season one…

Another girl would've revealed themselves and genuinely tried to help comfort Priya, but a 'monster' like Lauren 'Scary Girl' Strašivić Mecidi was just incapable of it, the Scary Girl instead staying in hiding and plotting to help in the only way she could remember how to do…

By brutally maiming the person responsible for Priya's pain… Caleb.

She barely even noticed as Julia and MK peered out from a nearby tree, the two villainous girls not even noticing the other girl as they plotted on how to use Priya's relationship drama in order to try and buy themselves some time away from elimination. It was only when the girls walked almost right past her that Lauren snapped out of it, her bloodshot eyes following them as they walked up behind Damien.

"Priya… oh you poor thing…" Julia greeted with false concern, clutching her hands to her chest as though she were actually sad for her. "How are you? You look… terrible…"

MK facepalmed as Julia smirked over at Priya, her 'concern' barely seeming to last five seconds, and it made the thief wonder just how on earth she'd been able to trick everyone with her fake personality for so long when her acting was so poor…

"Thanks…" Priya muttered dryly, looking up at Julia with a deadpan expression.

"Dude! Seriously?" MK looked at Julia in bewilderment, the latter looking confused as to what the problem was.

"What? She does?" Julia responded, the confusion not leaving her face as she shrugged off the glares she was getting from not just MK, but the guys as well. MK sighed in annoyance, shaking her head before looking at the others.

"What Julia means is that things look terrible for Caleb at the next elimination… haha… a-am I right?" MK chuckled nervously, pumping a fist up as she tried to salvage the fake concern that herself and Julia were trying to convey, the keyword being 'trying'... "Girl power! Woo!"

"We're not talking about the game right now…" Damien butted in, standing up and facing the two girls with a glare on his face. "Some things are more important!"

"What's more important than a million dollars?" Julia questioned, both girls dropping the 'concerned act' as MK smirked in her direction.

"Let me put this in terms you can understand…" Damien responded, before beginning to mimic different emojis in an almost mocking way towards Julia. "Broken heart emoji, crying emoji, thumbs down emoji."

Julia scoffed in annoyance and turned her nose up at him, whilst MK just rolled her eyes, but all three of them turned around in slight confusion as Wayne and Raj began to mime out different emojis of their own.

"Oh yeah… spiderweb emoji, peach emoji that looks like a butt, then… wind cloud emoji that makes it look like the peach is farting." Raj added, before both Hockey Bros started laughing at their own joke.

"Seriously?" Damien questioned as Priya, MK and Julia all stared at the Hockey Bros in bewilderment.

"That sounded like something I expected from that gross pig Ripper… not the two Hockey buttknuckles…" Julia muttered to MK, who just nodded in agreement.

"Sorry Priya… where were we?" Damien asked her gently as he walked up to her, Priya staring back at him for a moment before bursting into tears once more. "Right… Caleb… got it…"

Everyone else seemed to stop talking and watch awkwardly as Priya broke down once more, with even Julia and MK stopping their snarky comments and just watching the raw emotion on her face.

Lauren watched from her hiding spot, torn between using this to her advantage for her 'revenge', and feeling the smallest amount of guilt for her contribution to Priya's current poor state. For a second her mind drifted off towards Ezekiel, wondering how he was coping now that she knew that he was aware of her disappearance, before forcing her mind away from those dark thoughts.

However one set of dark thoughts only ended up being replaced by another when she saw the unmistakable figure of Caleb approaching the beach from behind Priya, and by the way everyone else stopped too, Lauren knew that they'd seen or at least heard him coming too. Lauren's face twisted immediately into a look of psychotic hatred for the taller boy, wanting nothing more than to hurt him for everything that he'd said and/or done.

Priya went still the moment she heard sand crunching behind her, knowing exactly who it was, she didn't need to look up and see the glares that the other contestants were sending Caleb's way in order to know that it was him.

Caleb stepped forward nervously, rubbing his head sheepishly as he prepared to talk, not seeing the look of growing hatred on Priya's face, only seeing the disapproval on everyone else's faces. He knew it was probably a bad idea, but in his mind he needed to 'test the waters' in order to see if she was now willing to hear him out…

"Um… Priya? D-Do you have a moment to talk?" Caleb asked meekly, only to freeze up when Priya darted around to face him, a pissed off look on her face.

"GO AWAY!" She screeched at him, her nostrils flared and her teeth clenched, her bloodshot eyes almost popping out. She began shaking in anger as Caleb quickly tried to save his own skin, the bodybuilder slowly beginning to back away nervously.

"N-Not ready to t-talk yet? T-Totally cool… H-Here I go… respecting your personal space…" Caleb smiled weakly, walking away as the others shot disapproving looks at him.

"Yah that's right! Keep walking, bud!" Wayne shouted after him, stepping in front of Priya protectively, much to her shock. But before she or anyone else could voice it, all seven (eight) of the teenagers' heads whipped around to the intercom as it crackled to life.

"Oh Campers, get your butts over to the woods for your next challenge!" Chris stated gleefully over the intercom. "It starts in ten minutes!"

The seven contestants still competing all sighed as they began making the slow trek towards the challenge area, Caleb being the only person rushing ahead as he knew that he wasn't welcome around them at the moment.

Lauren hid from view until they were all past her, before slowly beginning to follow them, her mind only focusing on one thing… revenge…

*Around the same time*

Far away from the campgrounds, at the clearing where production stayed during the filming of the new season, light was faintly spotted coming from outside of one of the trailers…

Chef Hatchet sat back in his chair, keeping a close eye on the cameras as he sped through the recordings of the previous morning, a nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

He used to not care about the teenagers, that much he knew, and back during the original run of Total Drama that ran true, but even he knew that his day care job during the break between Pahkitew Island and the two recent seasons had softened his formerly cold heart…

Which was the main reason why he was now sitting here instead of helping the interns set up for the next challenge. Something just simply didn't add up, and he knew it had something to do with those secrets that Zee had spilled out at the end of the previous challenge.

"Okay! I think we've heard just about enough!" Chris announced just as he managed to switch off the cameras in the area, before turning to him, looking really annoyed. "I don't know where you heard that Zee, but no one needs to hear that."

"Oh… about that!" Zee continued, now frowning as he remembered who told him all of the secrets. "Um… Scary Girl might have told me most of those…"

Most of the others including Chef gasped in shock, the contestants in particular remembering the revelation from the first night about how Lauren had exposed herself as having stalked the entire cast, it seemed reasonable that she'd find out all of their darkest secrets.

"Oh? And how exactly could she tell you if she was eliminated on the first night?" Chris asked Zee, not believing him in the slightest. "Because right now it just sounds like you're trying to deflect."

"W-What? No I'm not! It's true!" Zee tried to explain, only to see Chris and Chef walk away uninterested, clearly not trusting him. "Guys? You trust me right?"

Chef's eyes narrowed further… 'Scary Girl had told him'... it sounded impossible for him to believe at first, but the more the Cook turned Co-Host thought about it, it wasn't exactly like it was the first time that someone had snuck back onto the game.

Hell it wouldn't have even been the first time that Scary Girl had gone AWOL if Zee was telling the truth, the whole 'Ezekiel Drama' from last season being the result of Scary Girl's brief two day excursion into Boney Island after her first elimination.

His eyes briefly landed on the camera overlooking the confessional, the outhouse itself was just out of view of the camera, and he quickly began to overhear the voices of a few of the contestants, including Zee's.

Chef Hatchet watched in silence as the recording of what had happened the previous morning began to play out, and at first he was about to skip through it, if not for one thing…

He paused, before rewinding back to the start and watching through it slowly…

"Hey there buddy?" Julia smirked as the pair walked up to Zee, the latter rubbing the side of his head sheepishly. "You doing okay? I'm asking because you're… eating your pants?"

"I know Chef's cooking is bad, but no one wants to see you doing challenges in your undies…" MK snarked, both of them trying their best to look him in the eyes and not laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

Zee tried to talk, gesturing to the pants in his mouth and shaking his head, but MK quickly yanked them out of his mouth, shaking her head in disgust.

"I… I need them in there to stop a secret from coming out…" Zee revealed the moment the pants were pulled from his mouth, his eyes bugged out in fear as he looked around nervously.

"It's a big one! It could tear the camp apart… Gah, see what I mean?" He admonished himself as he slapped himself in the face. "I said too much already!"

As he said this he snatched the pants back from MK and stuffed them back into his mouth, before attempting to walk away, not noticing the devious smiles forming on MK and Julia's faces as they looked at each other, nor did any of them notice the evil smile forming on Lauren's face in the bushes.

"You thinking what I'm thinking MK?" Julia grinned, a manipulative plot to force the secret out of Zee already forming in her mind.

"Scare it out of him?" MK snarked, her own plot forming in her mind.

"Aww… you know me so well!" Julia gushed as they followed Zee further down the path, unbeknownst to them… so did Lauren.

Chef Hatchet frowned angrily as he noticed the eyes peeking out of the bushes as Julia and MK had their talk with Zee, but that alone hadn't been what concerned him the most…

It was as the girls followed Zee off camera, seeing the flash of dishevelled purple hair peek out from behind the bush as Scary Girl tried to stand up out of view of the camera, and the split second of pale skin in the corner in between the gap of two trees…

"There's no way that was actually Scary Girl… right?" Chef muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing as he tried to find any more traces of the Scary Girl on any of the recordings from before the challenge, but to no avail…

It was almost as if the girl had vanished into thin air, like a ghost haunting the island…

Chef grumbled in discontent, switching to the files containing all of the confessionals up to the previous night, beginning to quickly cycle through the individual files, just in case he could find anything from Zee talking about the incident.

He cycled through the ones from the previous day, eventually finding one recorded just after the challenge had ended, quickly beginning to play it.

—CONFESSIONAL: ZEE—

Zee sat down on the seat, having redressed himself after the end of the challenge in a new pair of shorts. The Soda Addict looked really nervous after everything that had happened.

"Aw man… I really screwed up back there yo…" Zee began, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he addressed the camera. "But man… It felt so good getting all of those secrets out of my head."

His expression hardened the slightest amount as he thought back to his earlier conversations, and he couldn't help but vocalise his disapproval.

"MK, Julia… that wasn't cool of you to goad me into spilling, and Lauren… if you end up seeing this… those were horrible to put into my head" Zee frowned as he let the small amount of anger he held out, not wanting to hold a grudge towards any of the people who'd wronged him during the day, despite the predicament spilling those secrets had put him in.

"It sucks too because Priya really liked Caleb, and now because of me she's heartbroken…" Zee sighed, looking downtrodden at the turn of events. "Hopefully I can make it up to everyone tomorrow…"

—CONFESSIONAL END—

Chef Hatchet's frown got deeper, there it was again? Zee speaking about Scary Girl as though she were actually there…

He continued to search through the confessionals, not finding anything out of the ordinary, even as he started to scroll into the confessions surrounding Zee's elimination…

That was, until he noticed a clip that looked different from the rest, one that didn't have anyone immediately in view on the thumbnail. The way the confessional worked now meant that the cameras only fully turned on when someone (or something) was in the outhouse, as a way of separating the confessionals from the 24/7 live feed in order to make future editing easier.

It was far from perfect, hence the camera always recording in case any clips ended up corrupted, some of the clips had been prone to bug out, especially in the last couple of days…

Chef went to open the file, wanting to check with this clip like with all of the other glitched out ones, because there were usually only two reasons for this. Either it was just another bug, or someone was hiding under the camera, trying to tamper with it like MK had done during the previous season…

However, just as he was about to open it up, he heard the door to the trailer slam open, and the unmistakable presence of Chris McLean enter the room.

"There you are, Chef!" He grinned, strutting up to the monitors, grabbing a hold of the microphone on the side, preparing to activate the intercoms around the campgrounds. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Yeah yeah… whatever Chris…" Chef responded, rolling his eyes. "Look, some of us had stuff to do whilst you were lying in your plated hot tub…"

"Really? Because don't you usually help the interns set up the challenges?" Chris asked him, a smug grin on his face.

"I mean… do they really need the help for this one? It's just shoving things through a small hole…" Chef stated plainly, turning back to the monitors. "Besides, I was doing some digging."

"Huh? Into what?" Chris asked, confused for a moment as he turned away from the microphone to face his co-host.

"Into what Zee had said at the end of the last challenge, something just seemed off about the way he threw Scary Girl into it." Chef explained.

"Yeah well, maybe she just told him during the first day or something…" Chris said dismissively, before switching on the intercom.

"Oh Campers, get your butts over to the woods for your next challenge!" Chris stated gleefully into the mic, ignoring Chef as he rolled his eyes next to him. "It starts in ten minutes!"

"Can the challenge wait for a minute?" Chef grumbled, turning back around to the monitor, only for Chris to stop him.

"Woah there Chef, I need you over at the challenge area now! You can find out if Zee's claims were true later." Chris stated dismissively, trying to lead him out of the trailer.

"Damn it Chris!" Chef cursed as he stood up. "At least let me download the stupid clip onto my phone so I can watch it during the challenge!"

"Ugh… fine… but hurry it up already." Chris complained, crossing his arms impatiently as he waited by the door.

Chef rolled his eyes, quickly plugging in his phone and uploading that file onto his device, before unplugging and bringing the device with him out of the trailer.

*Later, at the start of the challenge*

When everyone had arrived at the challenge area by the ten minute mark, things were beginning to get more tense on all sides. On the hosts side, Chris was side-eyeing Chef, who was busy preparing something on his phone to act as a timer for the challenge.

On the contestants' side, Wayne and Damien were busy trying to restrain Priya, who was still giving Caleb a death glare from across the clearing after he had attempted to talk to her back on the beach. Raj was looking uneasy from the clear tension between the now broken-up couple, whilst MK and Julia just smirked and secretly fist bumped at all of the drama going on.

Lauren was hidden in the nearby bushes, her eyes quietly surveying the challenge area behind everyone, scanning to see what she could do to sabotage, however the wooden boards and the red toolbox were the only indications of what the challenge was going to be.

Her momentary distraction was quickly halted when she heard Chris call for everyone's attention. The tension died down only slightly as Priya tore her glare away from Caleb, both Damien and Wayne sighing in relief as they finally released Priya from their grip.

"Welcome campers…" Chris greeted smugly, his hands behind his back as he looked over to Chef. "Chef, tell them about the next challenge."

"Today, you've got to find the biggest item you can and bring it right back here." Chef explained, continuing to search for a video on his phone as he explained the challenge. "Everything on the island is up for grabs, you have exactly twelve minutes and fourteen seconds."

"Oddly specific amount of time?" Chris questioned for a moment, shrugging slightly before Chef shoved his phone in the hosts face.

"It's the exact length of this video of a kitten and a tortoise becoming best friends!" Chef smiled warmly as he glanced down at the video, carefully hiding the length of the video from Chris as he looked at the screen. "Ooh you've gotta see it!"

"Huh… what are you waiting for then, campers… GO!" Chris responded, before blowing the air horn in his hand as Chef started to play the video.

Most of the contestants began to run back into the forest and towards the campgrounds for their item, and both Priya and the still hidden Lauren watched with sadistic satisfaction as Caleb ran straight into a tree in his attempt to try to talk things out with Priya.

Julia on the other hand took a brief diversion from everyone else, whilst MK stood and watched with confusion for a moment as she opened up one of the drawers in the toolbox and pulled out an axe.

"Hey Chris!" Julia called over to the host. "Are we allowed to use tools in order to get a bigger object?"

Chris looked over at Julia, surprised that someone had noticed the toolbox before he could pull off the surprise twist for the challenge, but quickly smirked back at her.

"So long as you bring something big back, use whatever you want!" Chris responded as Julia ran past him and towards MK.

"What do you say MK? Wanna go sabotage some losers and win this challenge?" Julia smirked.

"Oh you read my mind perfectly." MK responded, an equally smug smirk on her face as they ran after the others, leaving Chris and Chef alone in the clearing.

Lauren looked back over at the toolbox in the middle of the clearing, her eyes briefly glancing over towards Chris and Chef, who started talking in hushed voices as they watched the video. Once she was certain that they were distracted, Lauren sprinted out into the clearing, darting straight for the large red toolbox situated near the wooden boards that upon closer look, she noticed had mail slots in the centre of.

She had no idea what they were going to be used for, but something told the Scary Girl that they were going to involve those 'large objects' that Chris and Chef had wanted the others to grab.

She ducked behind the red toolbox, her dishevelled and unkempt figure just about staying hidden as she began to root through the drawers, trying to find something that could be used to help her in her goal to sabotage the challenge. The second axe that Julia had left behind was tempting, but it was what was in the bottom drawer that had really caught her attention…

Lauren had known that explosives were sometimes used during the challenges, especially during the older seasons, but she was momentarily surprised to find a single block of explosives sitting in the toolbox. Was it left over from one of the challenges? She didn't know…

Her surprise quickly turned into a sadistic smile as she picked it up, feeling the weight of it in her hands as she quietly examined it for a moment, the only sounds in the area being the hushed sounds of Chris and Chef nearby, completely unaware of her presence.

"Oh… this'll do nicely…" Lauren whispered quietly, giggling to herself as she tried to stay hidden.

She kept examining it, not finding a remote detonator for it, but rather a timer. Her smile only dimmed slightly, realising that it wasn't going to be as simple as sticking it on the object that Caleb was going to obtain, diving into the bushes and blowing it up…

But since when did a little patience ever stop Scary Girl…

If she could spend over four months learning everything about the others in an attempt to make herself 'normal', she could handle waiting for a countdown to humiliate and hopefully eliminate Caleb from the game.

She kept a firm hold on the explosive as she closed the drawers of the toolbox, and quickly checked once more to see if she had a chance to run back into the forest.

When she saw that Chris and Chef were still distracted by the video, she sprinted back across to the other side of the clearing, disappearing into the forest just as Chris looked up at the area where she'd just been.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Chris asked Chef, who glared up at him.

"Come on man, pay attention!" Chef scolded, before looking back down at the video.

Lauren sprinted through the forest, only slowing down briefly when needing to duck and weave past any cameras that she saw. It took a couple of minutes before she found any sort of clear pathway, and she stopped momentarily to catch her breath.

Only momentarily, as moments later her eyes widened as she heard the rapidly approaching and unmistakable engine of a car heading in her direction, Lauren quickly scrambled into the bushes just as a green car zoomed past her, the Scary Girl faintly hearing the sound of MK cheering as she sped towards the clearing where Chris and Chef would be.

"Since when was there a car here…" Lauren grumbled to herself, her eye twitching slightly at the realisation that she could have easily been on the receiving end of a Hit and Run.

She shook her head grumpily before running in the direction that MK had just come from, quickly finding herself by the coast of the island, at first it seemed like another dead end for her, however the sound of a catapult being launched quickly brought her out of her thoughts.

Lauren's eyes widened once more as she saw a large boulder sail through the sky, landing somewhat close to her location…

But that wasn't what excited her, it was the screams of Caleb as the boulder landed just in front of him, both of them realising that a little closer and Caleb would have been turned into a bloody smear on the beach.

"W-Where d-did that come from!" Caleb screamed out in surprise, looking around in horror as Lauren smirked from her hiding place.

She scanned around, noticing a catapult across the beach from their location, and her grin widened as she saw Priya standing right next to the lever that would've activated the cannon. As the realisation dawned on Lauren that Priya had just attempted murder, she couldn't help the wide grin that spread across her face at seeing her one time allies darker side.

Her attention however quickly refocused on her target…

Then on the yacht that said target had been trying to tow before Priya had attempted to crush him…

As Caleb turned to complain to whoever it was that had attempted to kill him, not realising that it was the same girl who he wanted to apologise to about the whole 'alliance' thing, Lauren snuck up towards the yacht, quickly finding the ladder that allowed her to climb up onto the boat before disappearing inside to plant her explosive.

None of the contestants who were nearby even noticed her, and Caleb barely even noticed the added weight due to the adrenaline pumping through his veins as he kept lugging the boat towards the challenge area.

If only he knew what would end up happening by the end of the challenge…

End Chapter

Author's Note: So… yeah… Lauren is not in a good place at all, and this is just more proof of her growing instability. At this point she is driven more so by rage towards everything rather than her initial 'wanting to prove her abusers wrong', and unfortunately Caleb is the main target of that anger.

As for Lauren's last name, Strašivić is close to one of the Slovenian translations for 'Scary', which fits her whole theme quite well I'd say. I like to headcanon Lauren as having Eastern European descent on one side of her family, with the other half being Canadian.

Chapter Text

Author's Note: I've not really got much to say before the start of this chapter, I guess I should say that this is the chapter where the 'Canon Divergence' officially kicks in. I won't say anything else else I spoil what that is…

But with that being said, on with the chapter!

Chapter Eleven

"Welcome campers…" Chris greeted smugly, his hands behind his back as he looked over to Chef. "Chef, tell them about the next challenge."

"Today, you've got to find the biggest item you can and bring it right back here." Chef explained, continuing to search for a video on his phone as he explained the challenge. "Everything on the island is up for grabs, you have exactly twelve minutes and fourteen seconds."

"Oddly specific amount of time?" Chris questioned for a moment, shrugging slightly before Chef shoved his phone in the hosts face.

"It's the exact length of this video of a kitten and a tortoise becoming best friends!" Chef smiled warmly as he glanced down at the video, carefully hiding the length of the video from Chris as he looked at the screen. "Ooh you've gotta see it!"

"Huh… what are waiting for then, campers… GO!" Chris responded, before blowing the air horn in his hand as Chef started to play the video.

Most of the contestants began to run back into the forest and towards the campgrounds for their item, and both Priya and the still hidden Lauren watched with sadistic satisfaction as Caleb ran straight into a tree in his attempt to try to talk things out with Priya.

Julia on the other hand took a brief diversion from everyone else, whilst MK stood and watched with confusion for a moment as she opened up one of the drawers in the toolbox and pulled out an axe.

"Hey Chris!" Julia called over to the host. "Are we allowed to use tools in order to get a bigger object?"

Chris looked over at Julia, surprised that someone had noticed the toolbox before he could pull off the surprise twist for the challenge, but quickly smirked back at her.

"So long as you bring something big back, use whatever you want!" Chris responded as Julia ran past him and towards MK.

"What do you say MK? Wanna go sabotage some losers and win this challenge?" Julia smirked.

"Oh you read my mind perfectly." MK responded, an equally smug smirk on her face as they ran after the others, leaving Chris and Chef seemingly alone in the clearing, neither host aware of the Scary Girl watching them, waiting for an opportunity to make a dash for the toolbox that Julia had just taken the axe from.

Chris looked down at the video that Chef was showing him, quickly noticing that Chef's finger had slipped off the timer, showing that instead of the twelve minutes he was expecting to see…

"Chef… care to explain why you lied about the length of the video when it's actually only nine minutes?" Chris asked him, looking extremely unimpressed.

"Alright alright…" Chef grumbled before sighing, speaking in a hushed tone in case any of the contestants happened to still be close by. "I wanted to watch that clip that I downloaded back in the trailers."

"Chef… dude…" Chris grumbled in slight annoyance. "When I said you could do that, I meant after the challenge."

Chef scowled and looked down at the phone as he paused the video, tabbing out to go to the confessional he'd downloaded. If he had looked up at all to address Chris, he would've noticed the manic purple haired girl sprinting across the clearing, ducking behind the toolbox.

"Aren't you a little bit curious to find out what Zee was on about?" Chef asked him, his voice leaking irritation despite the hushed tone.

"Not really…" Chris shrugged. "It's like I said back at the trailers, isn't it possible that she told him those secrets during the first day?"

"Are you even hearing yourself Chris?" Chef side eyed him, a look of disbelief on his face. "Dude had to start shoving his clothes in his mouth just to keep quiet, and you think he managed that for over a week?"

Chris glared at him, ready to retort, but then he stopped for a moment and began to actually think about it. Zee had only really started having issues in the last couple of episodes, and on top of that, when would Scary Girl have had the chance to talk to him?

Everyone had seemed extremely confused by her 'Normal' look on the plane, and even Chris himself would have been had Chef not told him as they were boarding. Plus they'd started the first challenge barely an hour into their return to the island, and even then he had made them spend a large portion of that time picking the teams.

"Now that you mention it… it does seem a little far-fetched to say that Scary Girl had told Zee that day…" Chris mused, before sighing. "Alright Chef… fine… let's see it…"

Chef nodded and began to bring up the video that he had downloaded earlier that day, but as he prepared to play it, Chris's head snapped up in the direction of the clearing, having heard the sound of a twig snapping.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Chris asked Chef, who glared up at him.

"Come on man, pay attention!" Chef scolded, before looking back down at the video.

In their haste to see if Zee's claims about Scary Girl during the previous challenge were true, neither of them had bothered to look closely at the clearing, if they had they might have just seen Scary Girl sprinting into the forest, an explosive in hand.

Chef rolled his eyes once more as he pressed his finger onto the icon of the clip, the video starting with a bunch of static before clearing up to show the confessional…

—CONFESSIONAL: SCARY GIRL—

The confessional was empty, the only thing shown on the footage being the flies flying around the top of the outhouse, however soon the sounds of the camera being tampered with could be heard…

As well as the growl coming from the person tampering with said camera, the eerie tone only belonging to one girl…

"Wow… it's not changed a bit since my last time here." Owen's voice was briefly picked up before a satisfied but unhinged hum was heard coming from Scary Girl, the sounds of the camera being messed with continuing.

After around a minute of this tampering the sounds of Scary Girl's menacing giggling could be heard as she finished up extracting all of the confessionals from that day. One of her hair ties could be seen snapping off as her right pigtail came undone, falling from its usual position into a messy unkempt purple mess trailing down her back.

She stood up once she was done putting the camera back together, standing up to reveal her current appearance to the camera, her completely insane smile on full display as her mind slipped further into madness, before the footage ended as she turned to leave the confessional.

—CONFESSIONAL END—

For a moment both host and co-host stared at the phone in silence, the sight of Scary Girl's damaged appearance causing a flicker of differing emotions to hit both adults.

Chef Hatchet felt an increasing amount of concern, realising that his initial thoughts on Lauren's actions following her early elimination were probably premature, his mind screaming at him that there was something more going on…

He remembered how she had been the only contestant that the network hadn't been able to keep any tabs on, she'd left her circus home behind shortly after returning from the show, her 'boss' not giving any hints as to where she'd gone.

The only reason they'd even known that she was alive prior to the start of this season was because of the post season interview that everyone had been forced to do around the time they'd started airing the first season. Those same interviews that had doubled up as filming for the 'Would You Rather' challenge.

Chris McLean however was not feeling any of the concern that was growing in Chef's heart, instead all the host could feel was bitterness and annoyance that she was somewhere on this island, interfering with the game.

"Chef…" Chris muttered, beginning to pull his radio out.

"Yeah Chris?" He responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Start up that other video with the Tortoise, I just need to make a call quickly before the other campers get back…" Chris grumbled, walking off into the clearing as he tuned the dial until it was on the interns coms.

"Interns, we have a situation with one of the eliminated losers, we believe that they're likely hiding on the island…" Chris spoke into the coms, only waiting for any indication of a response from them before continuing. "All work on prep for the next challenge is suspended, I need you to search through the camera footage from the last eight days and find any traces of Scary Girl from after her elimination."

Once he heard confirmation from the other side of the radio, he switched it to the coms connected to the loudspeakers across the island.

"Five minutes left, I repeat, five minutes!" He spoke into the radio once more, before placing it back on his waist, returning to Chef Hatchet.

"So you told the interns to go looking for her then?" Chef asked inquisitively, not looking up from the video, needing it as a distraction from the reveal that was that confessional.

"Yeah…" Chris shrugged in response. "Let them do the grunt work whilst we finish off this challenge, pretend like nothing is wrong for an hour…"

He chuckled to himself before glancing at the video of the kitten and the tortoise.

"Besides we can't let these campers know that one of their own is actually somewhere around here, so we just need to play it cool…" Chris continued, his usual smug grin forming on his face.

"What about the other campers, you know, the ones at the resort?" Chef asked him, an eyebrow raised.

"You can go after the challenge, see if they have any involvement in this or if it's entirely on her…" Chris shrugged, before looking at the video once more, sighing to himself as he saw the contents. "Okay… out with it, how sickeningly cute is it?"

"I'll show you!" Chef exclaimed happily, needing the distraction from the current Scary Girl situation, fast forwarding five minutes into the video. "This is my favourite part, where the kitten is riding the tortoise!"

Chris looked at it and for a moment, his icy heart melted at the sight of the video's sickening cuteness…

"Aww… it's wearing a little cowboy hat" Chris praised, starting to become invested in the video alongside Chef, temporarily forgetting about the situation himself now that the interns had been tasked with dealing with it.

*Around five minutes later*

Lauren was quickly beginning to regret having jumped onto the yacht so quickly…

The moment she had disappeared into the yacht in order to plant the explosive in her hands, she had been jostled almost violently to the floor when Caleb had taken a step forward, each step causing the floor below her to jerk forwards in the direction that the bodybuilder was going.

It had been only a few minutes since she had stepped onto the boat, and she was already feeling more banged up from the yacht than anything she had endured during both of her stints in the competition.

It was taking everything that the Scary Girl had in order to not cry out whenever she smacked against some of the furniture inside the yacht's interior, especially when she was having to cradle the explosive against her chest in order to keep the device from setting off prematurely due to Caleb's carelessness. Lauren may have a lot of obsessions when it came to darker topics, but wanting to become 'Scary Girl Jam' as a result of the explosive going off accidentally was not one of them.

However, just as she was about to crack and drop the device, the yacht let out one final loud bang as it hit the floor, before coming to a halt…

Lauren stayed prone on the floor for what felt like several minutes, her breathing unsteady as she groaned softly in agony from her injuries. Eventually, she slowly rose to her feet, her hands quivering slightly as she held the explosive close to her.

She heard the tired groans of the contestants outside as they walked past the yacht, and she could hear Chris laugh before the host began to announce the next part of the challenge.

"Congratulations campers! You all managed to find excellent objects!" She heard Chris announce as she briefly took a glance out of one of the yacht's windows, seeing not only was Chris and Chef still in the clearing, but all seven tired contestants, as well as a sheep that Damien was holding via a leash.

On top of this were the other items that they had brought, the car MK had almost run her over with, a boulder, a fridge, a tree, the confessional…

"Nah man I won…" She overheard Caleb tiredly panting, ducking behind the window before he or anyone else could spot her peeking out. "I brought back Chris's yacht…"

"Yes Caleb, my smallest, least favourite yacht…" Chris responded, a sarcastic look on his face, before smirking. "And now, we can start the challenge!"

Everyone outside gasped in shock and began to complain, none of them having been aware that bringing an object back was only 'half' of the challenge. Lauren overheard this and smirked, having seen the mail slots when she had taken the explosive.

She hummed a small, quiet and eerie tune to herself as she began to look around the small yacht's interior, trying to find a perfect spot for her explosive device, where it could do the most damage to Caleb.

"I guess you'll have to take your objects apart, piece by piece, using these tools!" Chris shouted across the clearing, and much to Lauren's satisfaction she could hear the sounds of both Damien and the sheep screaming as they realised the potential bloody consequence if he were to try and win the challenge.

However the Scary Girl quickly began to realise one crucial problem…

She was on a time limit thanks to the challenge…

Caleb was going to need to dismantle the yacht in order to win the challenge, which Lauren knew meant that either he'd very likely end up finding the explosive before it detonated…

Or he'd find her in the process of trying to arm it…

She cursed under her breath, her eyes darting around wildly as she tried to find a suitable spot to arm it, somewhere where Caleb wouldn't immediately be able to see it in the event that he climbed inside of the boat in the midst of dismantling it for the challenge.

"Let the dismantling begin!" She heard Chris yell, followed by the sound of an airhorn being pressed. Almost immediately Lauren also began to hear the sounds of Julia beginning to hack down the fallen tree with the axe she'd picked up earlier in the challenge, with everyone else presumably running for the red toolbox to gather up their own supplies.

She didn't have long left until Caleb showed up to start his own challenge, and she knew it…

Soon the sounds of screaming, tools being activated, and axes attempting to cut through wood could be heard outside of the yacht, and just as Lauren began to lean under the steering wheel, hoping to find any sort of engine that she could attach the bomb to, she risked another glance outside of the windows.

Thankfully for her, Caleb seemed to be struggling to obtain any sort of tools, with Priya yanking the pickaxe they'd both tried to grab at the same time away from him, before stepping on him as she walked away after he'd fallen over.

Lauren smirked cruelly at the bodybuilder's misfortune, her eyes darkening with anger as she ducked behind the window once more, beginning to climb under the boat's steering, having to contort past some pipes in order to try and find a suitable spot to place her bomb.

She was around halfway under the panel when she began to hear the sounds of someone climbing onto the boat, and in her panic she forced herself through the gap, wincing slightly as she smacked her knee hard against one of the pipes, leaving another large cut on her skin, and a knee sized dent on the pipe she smacked it against.

The Scary Girl was just about able to hide herself from view, just in time as she heard someone climb into the interior of the boat, said person pacing about almost frantically.

"Okay… no tools… a massive yacht… and Priya's still mad at me… think Caleb, think!" She heard Caleb mutter to himself as he paced around mere feet away from where she was hiding. "What would Priya do?"

Lauren's eyes flared with anger, clutching the explosive tightly as her slowly degrading mind snapped at the sound of him bringing up the girl who's heart he'd broken.

"Hmm?" Caleb thought to himself before looking at some of the furniture, nodding to himself before beginning to pick up various tables, chairs and drawers within the interior, tossing them out of the boat and onto the ground outside, just waiting to be broken apart and tossed through the mail slot for the challenge.

Lauren shifted her body around as best as she could, poking her eye through the pipes she'd squeezed through in time to see Caleb finish throwing out just about everything else in the interior of the boat.

"Okay… that's the easy part done… now for the yacht itself?" Caleb grumbled, looking around for any weak spots that he could break off first, before sighing. "Damn it, this is so unfair, Julia has a tree, Priya has a boulder… yet I have to dismantle a freaking yacht?!"

Lauren rolled her eyes, her anger flaring up as she continued to overhear his complaining. She was tempted to slam the bomb down where she was now, but doing so was only going to put herself at risk…

"Hmm… maybe I should start with the railings?" Caleb mused as she overheard him climbing back out onto the deck of the yacht, peeking out to see him disappear from the room she was in.

She sighed in relief, looking around the cramped space she was in, noting all of the pipes and wires circulating around the edges, quickly realising where she had managed to squeeze herself into…

"Perfect…" She whispered to herself, a deranged smile creeping onto her face. "This'll get him good…"

She found a spot between two of the pipes to place the explosive, adjusting the timer on the front of the device as she stuck it to the wall, almost grimacing as she noticed for the first time the smug grin of Chris McLean plastered on the front of the device.

Lauren quickly set the timer for five minutes, beginning to climb out the moment she activated the bomb's countdown, noting the ticking sounds and just hoping that her victim wouldn't overhear it before the device went off…

As she climbed out, she heard Caleb's cheers as the sound of an antenna being snapped off somewhere above her sounded throughout the yacht, before the sounds of screaming as he fell through the weakened ceiling, the Scary Girl briefly catching a glimpse of him before he slammed straight through the floor, dropping even further into the yacht's interior.

She heard Caleb groan from the hole he had fallen into, his pained mutter of "and a lot more to go…" sounding slightly muffled under the metal he was buried under…

Lauren suppressed a manic giggle, knowing that the last thing she could do now was get caught before her explosive surprise found its way to Caleb, so instead she crept around the Caleb sized hole in the centre of the room, before dashing up the steps leading to the outside, diving over the edge of the yacht and into the bushes below.

The Scary Girl laid there for a moment in slight panic, an unusual amount of fear creeping into her heart as she tried to calm herself down, whether it was because of the fear of being caught, or the realisation of what she was doing, she didn't know.

All she did know was that no one had seemingly noticed her jumping out of the yacht, otherwise somebody in the clearing would be on their way over by now. And as for her second lingering thought… well…

It wasn't like she'd be able to stop the carnage at this point…

*Around the same time*

Caleb groaned as he climbed out from the hole he'd accidentally made in the yacht, looking relatively unharmed but winded by the impact. In his dazed state he just missed the sight of a certain purple haired girl diving off of the yacht into the nearby bushes.

"Oh crud…" He groaned again as he got up. "I'm gonna be so far behind Priya and the others at this point…"

He quickly ran out onto the exterior, dropping down in front of the bushes that Lauren was currently hiding in, quickly beginning to survey the status of his fellow competitors with a growing concern for his own safety in the game.

Julia was quickly beginning to dominate the challenge with her already beginning to process the wood she'd hacked down through her mail slot. MK didn't seem too far behind when it came to dismantling Chef's car, much to the co-host's dismay…

Thankfully for the bodybuilder, it didn't seem like the others were marching too far ahead. Wayne seemed to be struggling to break through the surprisingly sturdy walls of the confessional, with even an attempt at breaking it with a wrecking ball only ending up with it landing on the vehicle that the Hockey Bro was using…

The other Hockey Bro wasn't having much better luck with the fridge, having chosen to eat the mystery meat left inside instead of simply depositing it, leaving the poor guy limp and lethargic from the 'food'. Damien had managed to shave Chester the sheep down in an attempt to simply shove him through the hole, and was now attempting to slim the animal down through basic exercises…

Finally his eyes landed on his crush… seeing Priya still attempting to calculate where the weak point of her boulder was so she could break it apart in one single swing. Caleb's eyes lingered on her for a few moments, before his eyes began widening in realisation.

"I've got it…" He muttered to himself, a wide grin forming on his face. "I've just remembered Priya's number one rule… play to your strengths!"

Caleb turned around, flexing his muscles as he approached the back of the yacht with a smirk on his face, not noticing the icy blue eyes watching him from the nearby bushes.

"And my strength… IS STRENGTH!" He smirked, punching as hard as he could through the side of the yacht, putting a hole straight through the metal.

Everyone's eyes turned towards the yacht when they heard the sound of Caleb punching straight through it, most of them simply shocked, whilst Priya gulped slightly, with both Julia and the hiding Lauren looking a little angry at the sudden boost of confidence that Caleb was now showing.

"Now we're talking!" Caleb boasted to himself, grabbing at his shirt with both hands and yanking the pink fabric off, exposing his ripped torso to the world, not noticing the shocked gasp from Priya as she tried to suppress the swoon that was building up for the guy she was supposed to be mad at.

She shook her head frantically, trying to refocus on finding the weak spot to the boulder in order to catch up before one of Julia or Caleb could win the challenge, but unfortunately for her Caleb was just too distracting for her…

"Why's he gotta work with his shirt off…" Priya grumbled to herself as she felt around the large stone sphere. "That is so not necessary…"

Everyone was temporarily distracted when a sudden small explosion went off, turning around to see MK nervously backing away as Chef's car caught fire, the engine having gone during her attempts of taking it apart.

"Put it out! PUT IT OUT!" Chef cried, getting up from talking to his mechanic and attempting to run towards the car in a last ditch effort to save it from being completely destroyed by its beanie wearing tormentor, only for Chris to push him back with one hand, the host's other hand roasting a marshmallow above the fire.

"Chef… you know the rules… you can't interfere with the challenge…" Chris admonished, looking at him with a small grin as his co-host watched the car fall to pieces with a terrified expression.

Priya smirked as she finally found the weak spot of the boulder, letting out a happy cry of "I FOUND IT!" as she picked up the pickaxe laying next to her, smashing it into the spot she'd just found and turning the large sphere into a pile of stone rubble.

"Woo! Yeah!" Priya cheered at her success, only to be distracted by the sounds of the yacht nearby being punched apart, metallic debris being scattered across the clearing as Caleb continued his work of dismantling the vehicle.

Damien ran up to Priya with Chester in tow, both jogging in place as he noticed Priya beginning to stare at her 'former crush'...

"Priya! Get in the game and stop watching Caleb!" Damien warned her, not wanting his friend to feel anymore crushed by what had happened the previous night.

"I am NOT watching Caleb!" Priya rebutted, picking up a large piece of the rock she'd dismantled as she was about to head to her mail slot, only to glance down and notice how similar the rock she picked up looked to the man she'd been caught staring at only moments ago. "Oh crud…"

Caleb paused his punches for a moment as he watched the interaction with anticipation, not noticing the ticking sound from the explosive that Lauren had implanted within the yacht as the timer ticked past two minutes…

Lauren smirked from her hiding spot in the bushes, silently praying that Priya would continue to distract him from attempting to complete the challenge, leaving him completely exposed to her plan of revenge.

Caleb's smile dropped from his face as he noticed Priya put the rock shaped like his face down on the soil, only to grab a large hammer from the red toolbox still lying in the clearing and smashing the rock to small pieces.

Priya dusted her hands off, noticing Caleb watching her with slight disappointment, and scowled.

"What are you looking at!" Priya growled, glaring harshly at the person she felt betrayed by.

"I… I…" Caleb hesitated, before smiling nervously towards the clearly angry woman. "I… just wanted to say, I think you're doing a really good job with the challenge…" He chuckled weakly, withering under her fiery glare.

"No! Shut it! I don't want to hear a word from you after what you did!" Priya screamed back at him, dropping the hammer and beginning to storm up to the yacht, not noticing Lauren's eyes widening slightly in shock from the bushes she was hiding in.

"What… Priya… W-What are you doing? G-Get away from there…" Lauren whispered to herself, her earlier confidence about her revenge suddenly vanishing by the unexpected variable making itself known.

"Priya, wait! Please just let me explain!" Caleb tried to reason with her, noting the extremely pissed off look in her eyes.

Priya glared at him for a few seconds, as if weighing up the options of hearing him out or just kicking him while he's down…

"You have thirty seconds…" She eventually growled out, her fists clenched as she let her consciousness win out for the moment over her emotions.

"Look…" Caleb began, sighing to himself as he rubbed his arm sheepishly. "I admit that at first, I did intend to just form an alliance with you… but after that day we spent hunting the idol together, I realised that I was genuinely beginning to like you."

He looked at the other contestants as he spoke, most of them having been eliminated from the challenge at this point, with Julia being the only other person apart from himself and Priya who was still competing in the challenge.

"When I told Zee about the alliance… that was before I realised my feelings for you Priya…" Caleb said softly, grabbing Priya's hands gently. "If I knew that Zee was going to struggle with the 'secret' I told him, I'd have pulled him aside and explained things myself so this didn't get out of hand like the last 24 hours have been…"

Priya's expression had slowly softened as Caleb explained everything, her eyes regaining their trust for him as she began to realise that his words were genuine and not a lie to get back together…

"I… y-you…" Priya stuttered out, her words failing to come out at first, before she sighed and smiled weakly at Caleb. "J-Just… d-don't do that again… okay?"

"I promise Priya…" Caleb nodded to her. "No more secrets."

Priya and Caleb smiled as they slowly began leaning closer to one another, fully intent on kissing the other after sorting through their differences…

The sound of the explosive ticking down however put a dent into that, Priya's expression morphing into a mixture of confusion and concern as she heard it.

"Uhh… Caleb? What is that?" Priya asked, to which Caleb could only quirk an eyebrow and shrug, looking as confused as her.

Lauren's eyes were as wide as saucers as she watched from the bushes, knowing that the timer was about to run out, the Scary Girl almost willing to expose herself and ruin her revenge just to be able to get Priya away from the blast.

However she found that her legs were unable to move, her blood pumping loudly through her veins as she realised what was about to happen…

"No…" Lauren whispered, only being able to watch as Priya turned towards the hole in the yacht that Caleb had made.

The moment Priya saw the explosive device through the cracks in the yacht, she spurred into action, using all of her strength in order to shove Caleb away from the boat…

However as Priya was about to make a dive to relative safety herself…

The bomb went off…

The yacht's engine exploded with the bomb, sending shards of shrapnel everywhere as Priya was flung backwards, being hit by the brunt of the explosion. She only had enough time to scream out before smacking hard against one of the nearby trees, a resounding crack being heard throughout the clearing as Priya's back slammed against the tree.

Chris, Chef, and the other contestants could only gasp at the unexpected turn of events as Priya collapsed to the ground unconscious, her body completely limp.

Caleb had just about managed to shield himself from the explosion with one of the pieces of shrapnel that he'd punched off of the yacht before the explosion, tossing it away before running over towards Priya's unconscious body, quickly checking her for any signs of life…

"Chris… this is bad…" Chef muttered grimly, looking towards the host with a look of apprehension. "You need to do something…"

"Yeah… you're right…" Chris agreed, an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face considering he usually was excited to see the contestants getting hurt on his shows. "Ahem… campers! The challenge is officially cancelled! For now I need everyone to head back to the cabins and await further instructions."

"That's it? Just wait! Priya could be seriously hurt!" Damien responded angrily.

"Which is why we're going to assess her condition before deciding on what we do about today's challenge…" Chris retorted, glaring back at Damien for a moment before looking back at Priya's limp body, noting that her chest was weakly rising and falling, indicating at the very least that she was still breathing.

"I would expect that we won't be having an elimination tonight though… Priya could potentially be fit to compete, however it's likely that she'll be like Wayne and Raj last season and be too injured to continue…" Chef added, knowing that whilst eliminations via injury were rare for Total Drama, they did happen.

The conscious contestants glanced at each other nervously as Caleb tried in vain to wake the unconscious and injured girl, the happy moment having been replaced by despair and uncertainty, with even the most stone cold hearts in the remaining cast feeling some form of concern for Priya's condition…

No one noticed Lauren stood up in the nearby bushes clear as day, her expression twisting between shock, horror, fear and rage as she watched on. The Scary Girl's emotions going haywire as the sight of her badly injured friend caused her already poor mental health to suffer even further.

Before anyone could have the chance to glance towards the bushes that Lauren had been hiding in, she ran back into the forest, tears already falling from her eyes…

*Later that Day*

There was a lot of tension within the Playa Des Losers in the wake of Zee's reveal regarding Lauren the previous night. Almost everyone had slept through the night, knowing that they needed to discuss how exactly they were all going to deal with the whole Lauren situation…

"Maybe we can talk about this in the morning?" Emma suggested quietly, her tone a little meeker compared to her usual happy tone, her eyes lingering on Ezekiel for a moment before darting away.

No one else seemed to notice this apart from Bowie, who glanced at Emma for a moment before nodding in agreement along with the others…

That was apart from Ezekiel, who'd remained completely silent throughout the exchange, his expression still stuck in place, when everyone else headed upstairs towards their respective rooms, Ezekiel just followed along silently…

Emma sighed to herself as she wandered the halls of the Playa Des Losers, her mind silently replaying that one snippet over and over again. Someone should've made sure to check in on Ezekiel the previous night when they had all collectively gone to bed when the conversation had been paused for the night.

Instead they had to put the planning on hold, Nichelle and Millie had discovered the Prairie Boy passed out in one of the lounges around the resort on the way to the dining hall for breakfast, and considering he was the one wanting to find her the most, everyone had agreed on waiting for him to wake up before deciding on how to proceed with things.

That was several hours ago, and soon enough the other contestants had begun to go about their own business, or at least most of them had…

Emma had been stuck thinking about everything she had been told about the previous night, not only about what had happened to Zee involving Scary Girl, but also another topic that she could only hope Bowie would keep quiet about…

"Yeah, and unlike a certain SOMEONE!" Emma glared daggers at Chase, who seemed completely oblivious to her anger towards him. "He was actually selfless in doing so… he saved my life unlike a certain jerk who cuts the brakes on people's cars!"

Most of the others just shrugged this comment off, knowing all too well how much animosity Emma held for Chase, especially this season after she found out that he'd only 'helped her' in the pole challenge because of the allure of pizza, rather than actually wanting to help her.

Bowie on the other hand couldn't help but notice the subtle changes in her gaze whenever she looked at Ezekiel, a gaze that hadn't been there before they'd left for Boney Island, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it…

"Ahem…" Bowie fake coughed, trying to get the attention of the others briefly, before smiling at Emma. "Emma… could we talk alone for a second?"

She looked back confused at him as he stood up from the couch and gestured for her to follow him out of the room. Eventually shrugging and nodding as she got up to follow him, everyone else pausing for a moment as they watched them leave down one of the hallways connected to the lobby.

Emma walked behind Bowie as they rounded a corner into one of the smaller rooms of the resort, with Bowie closing the door behind him before turning around to face her.

"So… uh…" Emma started, giggling nervously as she fidgeted. "W-What did you want to talk about?"

Bowie scrutinised her for a moment, before he smirked, getting straight to the point.

"What the heck was that back there?" His eyebrow raised in amusement, watching as Emma's eyes widened in shock.

"W-What! W-What do you m-mean?" Emma exclaimed in shock, before narrowing her eyes at him angrily. "Wait… you're not still mad about the whole Chase thing are you? Because I told you we're done forever this time!"

Bowie's eyes momentarily narrowed at her accusation before promptly remembering their past conversation, chuckling softly as he held his hands up in surrender.

"Woah Emma… calm down… remember the post season party we had six months ago here? How I came to comfort you when you broke up with him? How we both apologised for our fight?" Bowie said slowly, trying to calm the angry girl down.

Emma's eyes narrowed to slits as she remembered the incident at the Playa Des Losers at the end of the previous season. She remembered how angry she was at that aura whisperer who'd been part of the group of old contestants who'd been at the Playa Des Losers to see the then half-feral Ezekiel last season.

She remembered trying so hard to push her anger about him cutting the brakes of her car aside in order to make the relationship work once more, only for Dawn to make her reconsider the events of that fateful challenge that made her give him another chance. How Chase had arrogantly admitted that he hadn't thrown the challenge for her, but for pizza…

She'd broken up with him on the spot, immediately storming away from the party, only for Bowie and Raj to comfort her…

"Yeah… I remember…" Emma sighed, nodding slowly as she looked back up at him. "But… if it's not about Chase? Then what do you-"

"I noticed you've been staring at a certain prairie boy" Bowie smirked, cutting the influencer off as he put his hands on his hips.

"WHAT!?" Emma protested almost immediately, her face turning a dark shade of red as she frantically tried to shield her face from view with flailing arms. "N-No! No y-you've g-got it a-all w-wrong…"

"Really? So you weren't giving our resident stowaway the lovestruck eyes?" Bowie retorted, his smirk only growing wider as he relished in seeing his friends embarrassment.

"N-No! N-No… i-it's n-not like t-that…" Emma tried to deny, now hiding her face in her hands. "I… I just… I g-guess I uh… a-admire him a little?"

Bowie just stared back at her as he processed her poor attempts at deflection, before sighing and rolling his eyes.

"Yeah… sure… 'admiration'... let's go with that…" Bowie muttered, before speaking up once more, his smirk returning to his face. "And what exactly has he done to earn this 'admiration'?"

Emma froze at his question, her cheeks burning a dark red as she thought deeply about the question. She thought back to everything that had happened over the last few hours, the trip to Boney Island, the mutant sanctuary, the 'fight' against Fang and how he saved her life…

"I guess I like him because he's been pretty selfless…" Emma began, a shy smile on her face as she slowly moved her hands away from her face. "The whole time we've known him… Ezekiel's just been this great guy… much better than the teen we got used to seeing before he went crazy…"

Bowie cocked an eyebrow at her statement, he had noticed that one major detail about him in the short time he knew Ezekiel, only really having interacted with him in the last couple of days… he was more Raj's friend than his after all…

That overconfident, arrogant, sexist teenager from the first three seasons of the show was gone… in his place seemed to be a much different person, a better person, changed by the trauma that he likely endured as a result of his time on the plane in World Tour, and the mutant landscape of the Fun Zone for years…

"He's kind, funny, and unlike Chase he actually is capable of not being a jerk 24/7!" Emma continued, a wistful smile on her face. "He saved me from that mutant shark thing back on Boney Island… Chase would have just left me to die or even film it thinking it was a 'prank'..."

Her smile briefly turned bitter at the mention of her ex, before brightening up once more.

"How could I not admire the guy when he's changed into a better person, unlike a certain someone…" Emma finished, her blush not fading as she gushed quietly to herself, firmly in denial of what she was really feeling…

Bowie however took one look at the influencers expression and could tell that she was hiding something, even if she wasn't aware of it herself…

"Emma… look… I know that last time I tried to give you relationship advice, we briefly fell out…" Bowie started off slowly, trying to be careful in case she ended up taking it the wrong way like with Chase last season. "But I'm hoping you realise that crush or just 'admiration', Ezekiel's in a relationship… and not just with anyone, but with Scary Girl of all people!"

"I don't like him!" Emma denied once more, her cheeks reddening once again. "And even if I did, I don't have a death wish, I know he's with Lauren and she'd use my intestines as skipping ropes if she thought I was gonna steal her man away."

Bowie thought about her words for a moment before shrugging. He didn't fully believe her words about not liking him in some capacity, but ultimately that was harmless…

"Fair enough… I was just curious about it…" Bowie accepted, turning back towards the hallway that they'd come from, preparing to head back to the others. "I'll try and keep this between us… I know a crush isn't inherently wrong, but you know how some people are, they'll be on you like vultures if this gets out."

"Y-You will?" Emma's eyes widened, not even denying the crush comment this time, a small smile spreading across her face. "I… I guess that's for the best…"

"Hey, if it makes you feel better, your 'people person' skills are improving slightly." Bowie smirked once more, remembering the 'quality' Emma had claimed she had during the challenge she'd gotten herself eliminated on.

"Wow, such a low blow…" Emma mock gasped, her brief scowl turning playful as they began to head back towards the main lobby where the others were.

"Hey can you blame me? Having me as a 'best friend' and Ezekiel to an extent is your only successes." Bowie responded jokingly. "Although crushing on a guy who dates creepy girls probably disqualifies him."

"Oh my god will you stop with the crush thing…" Emma groaned, her face going red once more. "I told you I don't like him like that…"

"Heh… sure you don't…" Bowie smirked once more, only for it to vanish as they begin to approach the main entrance to the resort, beginning to hear voices in the main lobby.

"But you're only going to get yourself AND Scary Girl into more trouble if you go in recklessly…" They heard Axel grumble as they walked towards the main lobby, both Bowie and Emma stopping their banter in order to hear what was going on. "You think Chris is gonna accept this as an excuse for you blindly rushing onto the island? He hates you enough that he'll probably exploit it…"

"Woah Axel! You're just gonna make him feel worse!" They then heard Millie step in, before Axel sighed. Both Bowie and Emma stepped back into the main lobby just in time to hear Millie's next words.

"Look… I get you wanna go to her right away, but Axel's right…" Millie continued, before sighing. "We can't just rush in without a plan, it may have worked out on Boney Island but there's gonna be cameras everywhere."

"Well… wouldn't the finale be the best time to look since we'd all be on the island?" Chase suggested weakly, and whilst Bowie didn't have much of a clue as to how the conversation got here, he realised quickly what must have happened on the main island…

He nodded at Emma quietly, gesturing for her to follow him, before beginning to walk towards the couches where the other ex-contestants were sitting.

"Yeah… that's not gonna work…" Bowie spoke confidently, giving Ezekiel a quick glance before continuing. "There's still four more challenges before the finals, that's a little too long to just leave up to chance don't ya think?"

"Wait, how long have you been standing there?" Ripper questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Not long…" Bowie responded, Emma silently following behind him still looking a little flustered from their earlier conversation. "But judging by Homeschool's expression alone, I think even the Hockey Bros could figure out what happened…"

Upon seeing some of the questioning glances Bowie just shrugged. "What? I may love Raj, but I can also admit that he and Wayne aren't exactly the brightest people in the world."

"Maybe we can talk about this in the morning?" Emma suggested quietly, her tone a little meeker compared to her usual happy tone, her eyes lingering on Ezekiel for a moment before darting away.

No one else seemed to notice this apart from Bowie, who glanced at Emma for a moment before nodding in agreement along with the others…

Emma sighed to herself, finding herself at the top of the stairs leading towards the residential wing. She took one look over towards the room where she knew Ezekiel was using, that being Lauren's old room before she disappeared, and tensed up slightly.

Despite what she said about the topic, deep down she knew that Bowie was right about her, and the revelation that she may or may not like Ezekiel scared her…

Not only because the damage that Chase had done to her confidence was still lingering, but because of Lauren…

She had no idea how the Scary Girl would respond if she ever found out, and frankly Emma didn't ever want to know. Would she not be bothered? Or would Emma wake up one morning to find herself on a torture rack?

Emma shook her head, trying to dispel the negative thoughts forming in her mind as she approached Ezekiel's room, pushing her feelings to the side as she began knocking on the door to his room gently.

"Ezekiel? Are you awake?" Emma called out, only to get no response from the prairie boy.

She was about to try again when she felt the door push open, but no one came to answer her…

Emma's expression morphed into one of confusion, slowly opening the door fully, expecting to find Ezekiel still sleeping on the bed.

She wasn't expecting to find a completely empty room…

Her eyes widened in shock, ordinarily it wouldn't be an issue but with recent events everyone had agreed to watch for Ezekiel when he woke up so they could all discuss what to do regarding Lauren's current situation.

Emma's eyes narrowed, a determined look on her face as she knew what she needed to do next…

"GUYS!" The rest of the eliminated contestants had distantly heard from across the resort, each of them quickly making their way towards the main entrance to the Playa Des Losers.

Emma rushed down the stairs moments later, looking at everyone with a mixture of determination and fear.

"Ezekiel's gone…" She summed up quickly, to a chorus of loud 'WHAT'S' from the other ex-contestants.

"That idiot!" Axel growled, slamming her fist into the wall next to her, startling Ripper and leaving a dent in said wall. "We told him we were gonna talk this out first!"

"Woah there… chill out Axel…" Zee attempted to pacify, one of his hands held up in surrender as he popped up next to the angry survivalist, his other hand holding a soda can. "Maybe he's just somewhere else in the resort?"

"Or maybe he's halfway to that damn island by now!" Axel growled in response, grabbing Zee's soda and tossing it through one of the windows, much to Zee's horror.

"As much as it surprises me to say, Zee does have a point…" Bowie spoke up next. "Who was the last person to check on Ezekiel before Emma?"

Axel huffed in response, shrugging her shoulders alongside Ripper, Chase just looked completely confused, as though the idea hadn't even been considered in his mind.

"I mean… I checked on him around half an hour ago… and he was still asleep then…" Millie eventually spoke up, smiling somewhat sheepishly.

"Okay… so he can't have gotten too far…" Bowie mused, before Axel groaned in response.

"Yeah, I'd agree with that statement… if it wasn't for the fact that we both rebuilt a boat here!" Axel responded, her voice growing in annoyance as she spoke. "Sure it might break down but it still means he could be out there!"

"So what? We just look around and hope he's here?" Ripper asked, only to pause as the sound of a boat's engine could be heard from the docks just outside of the main entrance…

"Is that him?" Nichelle's eyes widened, her eyes darting in the direction of the dock.

Emma's heart practically stopped as she overheard the sound of the engine, her feet moving on their own as she began sprinting towards the doors leading out of the hotel.

"Hurry! We need to stop him!" Emma shouted, almost slamming into the doors as she frantically opened them.

The rest of the hotel's occupants looked at each other before beginning to run after her, some more worried (or annoyed in Axel's case) than others.

Emma sprinted down the steps towards the docks, hoping that the sound was Ezekiel preparing to leave so that they would at least have a small chance of stopping him from doing something so reckless as going after Lauren on his own…

She however skidded to a halt around halfway down when she noticed that the small boat that they had used to travel to Boney Island had already left the resort…

Ezekiel was already gone…

Instead of that boat, another boat had docked up in its place, one eerily familiar to her and any of the others who had watched the original seasons of the show, but it wasn't just the vehicle that worried her, but rather the occupant of said boat…

Chef Hatchet stepped off of the boat of losers and onto the docks, sighing heavily as he prepared to deliver the bad news to the others, his eyes looking down at the evidence he had so far in regards to Lauren's MIA status.

He looked up at the resort, only to pause when he saw Emma staring back at him in shock only a short distance away, the rest of the contestants at the top of the steps leading up to the resort's entrance.

"Well then…" Chef grunted, muttering under his breath as he put the evidence under his arm, beginning to walk towards where Emma was standing. "That'll save me the time of gathering everyone…"

Emma backed up the steps slightly as Chef approached her, the others slowly walking down the steps as Axel sighed in annoyance upon seeing the lack of the other boat on the dock.

"I knew it…" Axel grumbled to herself. "That homeschooled idiot…"

"Is this everyone…" Chef called out, stopping just in front of Emma just as the others caught up to her. "Good… then it'll make the news easier to explain…"

"Explain what?" Millie asked, looking a little concerned by the grave expression on the usually serious man's face.

"Did Ezekiel get caught already?" Zee asked absentmindedly, not realising that he was exposing the secret of Ezekiel having snuck back onto the show.

"Zee!" Most of the contestants shouted, as Chef's eyes widened in surprise. It took a moment, but Zee's eyes slowly widened as he slapped himself in the face.

"Aww man! I told you guys I was awful at secrets…" He admonished himself, knowing that just like with the secrets he'd revealed during the previous day, it was too late to take it back…

"I'm sorry… Did you just say that homeschool was here?" Chef muttered out, in complete shock that this whole Scary Girl situation was only getting more complicated, especially when he remembered telling the Prairie Boy to stay away when he'd come to see the then 'Normal Girl' off for the new season.

Chef glanced at Ezekiel quickly before following Lauren onto the , leaving Ezekiel with one last message. "I'd suggest hiding somewhere if you're seeing her off, you don't want Chris to find you now do you?"

"Right…" Ezekiel sweat dropped before dashing over into a dark corner, hidden safely away from view. However he briefly peeked out as Lauren was about to board, shouting a good luck message to her, the 'Normal Girl' smiling and waving him off before finally boarding the aircraft, Chef following suit.

"Damn… this is bad… Chris is already pissed off enough about Scary Girl being on the island… then what happened during the last challenge… Now this!" Chef thought aloud to himself, temporarily forgetting that the ex-contestants were right there, listening in on every word.

"Uh… Chef?" Bowie called out, recatching his attention. "What exactly happened during the last challenge?"

"This isn't to do with what I said is it?" Zee added, wrangling his hands nervously.

"No… it isn't Zee…" Chef slowly replied, sighing to himself. "There was a uh… accident during the last challenge…"

He took one look at the others' reactions, noting the growing worry on their faces before continuing…

"The challenge was to break down large objects to fit through a mail slot. Caleb brought one of Chris's yachts and uh… the boat exploded on Priya…" Chef continued, sighing again. "She's been medically evacuated… and… we're currently checking for foul play and potential involvement from Scary Girl…"

"What!" Millie shouted, her eyes watering as she dropped to her knees, her worry for her best friend clear on her face, and it wasn't much better with the other contestants.

Zee dropped his soda in shock as both Emma and Nichelle openly gasped, Ripper and Chase both looked surprised with Bowie's eyes simply widening. Even Axel's tough exterior cracked for a moment as her expression morphed into one of slight concern.

"Is she okay?" Emma asked, looking concerned for Priya despite their last conversation being an argument during the 'Would You Rather' challenge, her own eyes beginning to water slightly.

"She'll live, but she's definitely out of the competition…" Chef responded glumly. "We'll see about getting her back here when her wounds are treated, but she likely might not be back until the finale…"

"O-Oh my god… w-what did she do…?" Millie whimpered, crying softly into her hands.

"Wait… you said Scary Girl might have done this?" Nichelle asked, her eyes widening in alarm as she began connecting the dots.

Bowie and Axel's eyes both widened too, both teens also making the connection, with Axel in particular beginning to get angry with the Scary Girl's involvement in Priya's accident.

Chef grumbled to himself as the eliminated contestants began to panic and fret over all of the news hitting them at once, and for once Chef couldn't blame them for being a little unnerved. Between Priya's accident, Lauren's spiral into further insanity, and Ezekiel now being here too, seemingly having gone off to find her on his own, things just seemed to be getting worse and worse behind the scenes of the competition.

He stepped away from where the others were, taking a moment to breathe as he moved back towards the docks of the resort, pulling his radio out from his back pocket and tuning the device until he was on the right frequency before beginning to speak into the device.

"Chris come in, it's Chef…"

*Around the same time*

Not knowing of the chaos that was ensuing on both the rebuilt Camp Wawanakwa and the Playa Des Losers, a small, barely running boat was slowly approaching the island, its lone occupants tired eyes observing the campgrounds as he paddled across the lake.

Ezekiel had taken the same boat that he had previously used to sneak back onto Boney Island with Axel, Nichelle and Emma in order to look for Lauren there, said boat had barely been able to survive the trip to Boney Island and back, and the engine had blown up on him shortly after the Playa Des Losers.

"Wow… you two look like a hot mess…" Bowie smirked as he noticed Ezekiel and Axel both slump onto the couches in the main lobby, with Ezekiel carefully hiding next to Owen at the end of the couch so he'd have time to hide when the interns came for the big guy.

Axel just grunted, rolling her eyes as though she hadn't just done another all nighter, whilst Ezekiel yawned and slumped against the armrest, mild cuts on his hands and his clothes covered in soot.

"Well we did have to repair a boat well enough to at least get us to that Boney Island place…" Axel huffed, glaring at Bowie.

"Wait? You know how to repair boats?" Millie asked incredulously.

"Well… Yeah…" Axel rolled her eyes. "What if I get stranded or my boat breaks down mid excursion… I need to know how to either repair it… or break it down into something usable…" She punched her hand at that last part.

"Wait… you actually fixed a boat? You two…?" Bowie responded, looking as bewildered as Millie did.

"Well it's not gonna get too far eh… but it should get to Boney Island and back" Ezekiel smiled weakly, still slumped on the couch.

He was at least thankful to Axel that her patchwork repairs had managed to fix up the boat enough that it was even still afloat after the engine had given out on him.

It would've almost been amusing to see just how dedicated Axel was to her survival skills, especially the ones that would've come in handy in the event of a zombie apocalypse…

It would've been… had his mind not been zeroed in on everything that Zee had told him the previous night…

"Well… I… uh…" Zee responded, looking slightly flustered as he tried to think of the right words to say that wouldn't result in Ezekiel having a mental breakdown in front of everyone, barring Emma and Bowie who still hadn't returned yet.

"Zee, he's gonna worry whether you tell him or not…" Axel sighed, before glaring at him in the hopes of intimidating him enough to spill the secret. "It's best you tell us so we can start planning on how the hell we're gonna get her off the island."

"Okay okay…" Zee sighed, then looked directly into the terrified Prairie Boys eyes. "She's… not good at all man… she looked rough, her appearance was falling apart… and she sounded even crazier than normal…"

Ezekiel sighed softly as the island got closer into view, he made sure to stay clear of the campgrounds as he guided his way around the island, trying to find a safe spot to park up the boat.

It wasn't a good idea to go alone, and deep down the Prairie Boy knew this. The plan for everyone to help find Lauren was supposed to be discussed by everyone, and instead all he could do was run from them…

But he couldn't stop the negative thoughts swirling around in his mind, the thought of Lauren potentially experiencing what he had on the plane all those years ago was his number one concern, and he'd be damned if he let her suffer another second on the island.

Ezekiel couldn't care less at this point about the consequences of being found by Chris, at this point, all he cared about was finding his girlfriend and making sure that she was okay…

He eventually was able to find a spot to park up the boat, but there was one thing out of place about the rocky area that he had managed to find, and that was the sight of a second, more fixed up boat sitting tied up against one of the other rocks.

It didn't take long for him to realise what he had just found…

It was the boat Lauren had used to infiltrate the island. No one else would've left it stranded in a hidden corner of the island, not unless they weren't meant to be here in the first place like she was.

Ezekiel began to try and slow down his boat in order to park up the crumbling vehicle in time, however he quickly found it slowly beginning to sink into the water as the repairs that he and Axel had spent time on had finally begun to break apart.

He quickly let go of the paddle he was using, standing up and using the now broken engine as a springboard to jump off of the boat as it started to sink and onto the rocky surface that the other boat was tied to.

Ezekiel took a moment to catch his breath, before looking up into the forest ahead of him, his only goal in mind as he began to trudge into the forest in search of the missing Scary Girl.

"Hold on Lauren…" Ezekiel whispered to himself as he walked into the woods, disappearing from view of the coastline. "I'll be there soon… Just hold on a little longer…"

*Meanwhile*

Across the island from where Ezekiel was stepping foot, Chris McLean's frown was only getting deeper and deeper as he took in the sight of the camera footage playing out in front of him on repeat.

The moment that Chef had first shown him the undeniable footage of Scary Girl sabotaging the confessional, he had called for the interns to head to the trailer where the security room was in order to find more traces of where she was and what the heck she was doing.

That had all changed by the end of the challenge when Priya's accident had happened…

The moment Priya had been evacuated from the island, he'd immediately called for the interns to spend hours doubling down on the search for the elusive Scary Girl, the search for her on the cameras turning into a physical search through the forest, a search that… unlike the camera work, wasn't turning up any results, like Scary Girl was a ghost haunting the island…

Scary Girl… oh how he was quickly beginning to be sick of the psychopath that he thought would draw in the ratings for him, but with every single choice that she made ever since her first elimination six months ago, she'd been giving him nothing but trouble.

Bringing the feral freakshow back into civilization…

The lawsuit still hanging over his head about said Prairie Boy that he KNEW she had to be a part of…

Now this…

He'd arrived only minutes ago back at the staff's site, walking into the trailer housing security equipment connected to the cameras all across the island, having recently sent Chef Hatchet off to the Playa Des Losers to see what the eliminated contestants knew about Scary Girl's disappearance.

The interns had found something, or rather… several things…

Scary Girl thought she had been so sneaky, and maybe that was the case during the first couple of days, but the screens showing the four times she'd been caught on camera said otherwise.

Chris almost immediately recognised the confessional that Chef had been watching during the challenge, and he faintly recalled seeing him watching the clip of Scary Girl following MK, Julia and Zee…

But the other two only confirmed her involvement in Priya's accident, an incident that he may have okayed in the past, but between his ongoing lawsuit that was only currently stalled due to his higher ups, and said higher ups making him dial down the worst of the dangerous stunts that were partially responsible for Total Drama being put on hiatus following the disastrous ratings of both 'All Stars' and 'Pahkitew Island'...

Both clips were during the challenge that had just transpired, one showing a clear view of Scary Girl as she sprinted across the clearing that they had used for the challenge, ducking by the toolbox that was used for the challenge and grabbing the explosive she presumably used on the yacht later in the challenge. The other was during the aftermath of Priya's accident, where Scary Girl was standing in the nearby bushes clear as day, her expression twisting between shock, horror, fear and rage as she watched on.

There was just no mistaking it, Scary Girl had caused the accident, and was directly sabotaging the game, now being the direct cause of two eliminations via outside interference.

Chris opened his mouth to mutter curses under his breath towards the Scary Girl, but then got a real close look at her withering appearance, the girl's sanity immediately coming into question…

"Chris come in, it's Chef…" The radio attached to his back pocket went off, causing the host to sigh and pull it up to his ear.

"What is it Chef?" He muttered dryly.

"The situation is worse than we thought." Chef responded. "I just spoke with the other contestants here, apparently Scary Girl went AWOL almost immediately after she got here."

"Wow… tell me something actually shocking Chef…" Chris shot back, sarcasm clear in his voice.

"Alright then…" Chef muttered darkly, his tone becoming even more serious. "How about the fact that they've not only infiltrated that mutant sanctuary you built up for 'All Stars' looking for her, but that Ezekiel was here too!"

Chris froze in surprise for a moment, Ezekiel? Here? His shock quickly turned into annoyance, and he gripped the radio tightly as he spoke his next words through gritted teeth.

"And where is our least favourite freakshow now Chef?" Chris slowly spoke out, the tension in the trailer getting so thick it could be cut with a knife.

He heard sighing through the radio, as if Chef didn't want to say the next words.

"I don't know… but if what I was told is true… he's probably snuck back on the show to find Scary Girl…" Chef muttered, sounding almost regretful.

Chris's eyes narrowed with a mixture of anger and disgust, barely able to keep his tone composed as he said his next words.

"Thank you Chef… now just…" He sighed in annoyance. "Try and get back here before morning, okay? I'll need you to prepare for the next challenge."

He didn't even bother to listen for Chef's response, throwing the radio aside as he reached for his phone, calling a number before putting the device to his ear.

One ring… two rings… then it finally picked up.

"Hey MacArthur… it's Chris McLean… we've kinda run into a problem, so we're moving your episode forward… yeah… we're gonna need you to come in tomorrow morning…" He waited for her response, then nodded. "Yeah yeah, we'll pay you extra for the last minute change…"

After a few moments he smirked deviously, holding his phone against his ear so he could rub his hands together maniacally.

"Perfect, we'll see you here tomorrow… oh… and bring seven dogs for the challenge, I need one of them for a uh… different challenge."

End Chapter

Author's Note: So yeah, the official divergence from canon is here, and because of Lauren's declining mental health, she's only gone and taken out Priya through injury like how Wayne and Raj had been last season. It was a toss up between her and Caleb for who went home, but I eventually chose Priya since in terms of the competition she already won and Caleb gets to compete without her (meaning the Prileb plot didn't drag out in this AU), and outside the competition it… well… Lauren isn't exactly happy with herself and has to deal with the consequences of her insanity.

As I had said in the last chapters notes, the other big change is that the Memory and K9 challenges have been swapped around. With that challenge being more interesting as everyone's actively roaming the island, plus it means that anyone on the island could find both Ezekiel or Lauren.

And speaking of Ezekiel, he's now officially on the island, with his own mental health not exactly being the greatest either, meaning the incoming Scarekiel reunion is going to be filled with so many emotions.

Lastly, the Emma situation… I wanna clarify in case I messed up the wording in the actual chapter, both Bowie and Emma are right about what she's currently feeling towards Ezekiel. Emma does think it's simple admiration towards him for saving her life from Fang during the Boney Island trip, however Bowie can also see that there is a genuine attraction forming and he's simply trying to look out for her like he tried to in season one with the whole Chemma conflict. He knows that even if nothing ended up happening, that doesn't mean that Scary Girl would see it that way, hence him wanting to try to nip it in the bud before an issue arose in the future.

As we saw though, the keyword was 'try', since with Emma in the denial phase, she isn't seeing what he sees, and this will be important in the future, whether in a future chapter of 'Not So Normal' or in the compfic is TBD…

Chapter Text

Author's Note: I don't even know where to start with why this chapter took so long to come out, I mean it's been literal months if not years since the last chapter, it should NOT have taken so long for me but it did, and I have to admit a lot of that came down to procrastination for actually writing this fic, although work has also kicked my ass when it comes to motivation too.

I will try my best to ensure that the next chapter doesn't take half a year to complete, I had wanted this fic to be finished in 2024 but thanks to real life, I still have around seven chapters of this to go… who knows, maybe 'Not So Normal' will be finished before 2026 XD.

It was not… not even close haha, my motivation for this fic has been completely gone this last year, 2025 has just been a rollercoaster for me and I've struggled to even think of this fic at times. Hopefully 2026 is a better year!

To all of those returning to this fic after so long, welcome back and I hope you enjoy the newest chapter! To those of you who may have discovered my series for the first time, I appreciate that you're willing to give it a chance, but please read 'Not So Scary After All' first if you haven't already so you know what's going on.

Now then… with all that said, who's ready to send Scary Girl off the deep end…

Chapter Twelve

"No! Shut it! I don't want to hear a word from you after what you did!" Priya screamed back at him, dropping the hammer and beginning to storm up to the yacht, not noticing Lauren's eyes widening slightly in shock from the bushes she was hiding in.

"What… Priya… W-What are you doing? G-Get away from there…" Lauren whispered to herself, her earlier confidence about her revenge suddenly vanishing by the unexpected variable making itself known.

But what could she do about it with all of the others watching the interaction with varying levels of interest. She watched with increasing dread as Priya and Caleb spoke, hoping that Priya would brush him off and walk away before the bomb in the yacht could go off.

Priya's expression had slowly softened as Caleb explained everything, her eyes regaining their trust for him as she began to realise that his words were genuine and not a lie to get back together…

"I… y-you…" Priya stuttered out, her words failing to come out at first, before she sighed and smiled weakly at Caleb. "J-Just… d-don't do that again… okay?"

"I promise Priya…" Caleb nodded to her. "No more secrets."

Priya and Caleb smiled as they slowly began leaning closer to one another, fully intent on kissing the other after sorting through their differences…

The sound of the explosive ticking down however put a dent into that, Priya's expression morphing into a mixture of confusion and concern as she heard it.

"Uhh… Caleb? What is that?" Priya asked, to which Caleb could only quirk an eyebrow and shrug, looking as confused as her.

Lauren's eyes were as wide as saucers as she watched from the bushes, knowing that the timer was about to run out, the Scary Girl almost willing to expose herself and ruin her revenge just to be able to get Priya away from the blast.

However she found that her legs were unable to move, her blood pumping loudly through her veins as she realised what was about to happen…

"No…" Lauren whispered, only being able to watch as Priya turned towards the hole in the yacht that Caleb had made. "Priya…"

The moment Priya saw the explosive device through the cracks in the yacht, she spurred into action, using all of her strength in order to shove Caleb away from the boat…

However as Priya was about to make a dive to relative safety herself…

The bomb went off…

The yacht's engine exploded with the bomb, sending shards of shrapnel everywhere as Priya was flung backwards, being hit by the brunt of the explosion. She only had enough time to scream out before smacking hard against one of the nearby trees, a resounding crack being heard throughout the clearing as Priya's back slammed against the tree.

Chris, Chef, and the other contestants could only gasp at the unexpected turn of events as Priya collapsed to the ground unconscious, her body completely limp.

Caleb had just about managed to shield himself from the explosion with one of the pieces of shrapnel that he'd punched off of the yacht before the explosion, tossing it away before running over towards Priya's unconscious body, quickly checking her for any signs of life…

Lauren's heart sank as she stared at the scene before her, Priya's body lying lifelessly on the floor as Caleb frantically began shaking her, trying to wake her up with no success. She could hear the sounds of conversation from the others in the clearing, however every word went over her head.

She slowly stood up from her hiding spot in the nearby bushes, her expression twisting between shock, horror, fear and rage as she watched on. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest, the sight of her badly injured friend causing unimaginable damage to her already poor mental health.

She hadn't wanted this…

She only wanted to get revenge for her poor treatment…

For not being able to be normal…

Tears began forming in the Scary Girl's eyes as she turned to run away into the forest before anyone could see her, but as she began to run away, she heard a hauntingly familiar voice call out to her.

"Lauren…"

Lauren went still, her eyes as wide as saucers and her heart skipping a beat. She slowly turned back around towards the scene of her crime, only to pause in horror…

Everyone else was unnaturally still, frozen in their expressions of shock at the sight of what was supposed to be Priya's unconscious form.

Only Priya was awake, her eyes glassy and wide, blood dripping from her mouth with every word she spoke. Her legs were dangling as she began to move, floating closer to Lauren as the Scary Girl slowly stepped back in horror.

"Why…" Priya spoke softly, her lips quivering as she got closer and closer. To Lauren's increasing concern, she noted the way Priya's spine seemed to almost bend unnaturally from where she'd collided with the tree following the explosion…

"I… I…" Lauren hesitated, taking another step back. How could she possibly begin to explain all of the thoughts going through her head? The motivations of her 'revenge' that had become so twisted over time?

"How could you…?" Priya whispered once more, her arms slowly lifting up as if to grab Lauren's waist.

Lauren gulped and took another step back, feeling more tears falling down her pale cheeks. The guilt of what she had done beginning to overtake her fracturing mind..

"I'm sorry!" Lauren screamed out, her fists clenching tightly as she tried to look away from the damage that she had caused. "I-I d-didn't m-me-"

Priya cut her off, her gaze intense as she moved to get into the other girl's face.

"Didn't mean to? Don't give me that bullshit Lauren!" Priya's voice was full of rage, blood now pouring from those glassy, lifeless eyes. "You chose to take revenge on everyone else! You chose to sabotage the game when everyone had the right to vote you off! And you chose to attempt murder on Caleb out of jealousy!"

Lauren stayed silent, her eyes wide in shock and horror, doubts over her goal beginning to form in her heart. Was Priya right? Was this all her fault?

"I… I'm sorry Priya…" She stuttered weakly, reaching out to grab Priya's arm only for it to be batted away.

"Are you?" Priya glared back. "Or are you just lying to yourself again? Trying to pretend that you're anything but abnormal…"

Lauren's eyes lit up with rage as her head snapped back to look at Priya, the memories of all of her trauma rushing through her mind as she glared fiercely. However the other girl remained unfazed, her bloodstained face showing no remorse.

"Face it Scary Girl, you've done nothing but cause harm to everyone since you met them!" Priya said harshly, the still faces of the others in the background slowly unfreezing as they turned to glare at Lauren. "Scaring everyone, hurting them when you can't get your own way! How Ezekiel puts up with you is a miracle!"

She stepped forward, her injured frame doing nothing but make Priya seem more intimidating as she shoved Lauren against a tree, her glossy eyes making a normally tame sight much more threatening to Lauren.

"You are nothing but a sadist who belongs in an insane asylum, Scary Girl!" Priya growled as the sight of the challenge area behind them began to change into something much worse for Lauren, the sight of Chris, Chef, Priya and the other contestants fading away to be replaced by the glares of none other than her biological parents, the grassy fields of the challenge area turning into the much more traumatic setting of her childhood home…

"I always knew you'd grow up to be a psychopath, Scary Girl…" Her father sneered as he picked her up by her tattered dress.

"So the Demon Child has only gone and 'murdered' one of her so-called 'friends'..." Her mother grumbled, opening the door to Lauren's old room as her father threw her against the wall.

Lauren gasped in pain as she slammed against the surface, slumping to the cold floor as she looked up with traumatised eyes.

"I… I d-didn't…" she protested weakly, only to be smacked across the face hard.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, brat!" Her mother shouted, glaring at Lauren with such ferocity it could've set her on fire.

"You were raised better than this brat!" Her father yelled, picking her up and slamming her against the wall. "But you were never a good listener were you…"

"P-Please… n-no m-more…" Lauren whimpered, her eyes downcast and an out of place frown on her purple lips, looking on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"You were nothing but a mistake Lauren Strašivić!" He yelled, slamming her against the wall once again, cracks beginning to form around her.

"Why can't you just be normal you little shit!" Her mother added, smacking her hard. "You're rotten to the core!"

"All you're capable of is hurting others, and soon that feral brat will see that too…" Her father sneered as he slammed Lauren against the wall one more time, shattering it and sending the Scary Girl through the debris and into an endless void.

Lauren fell through the void with glossy eyes, only able to see darkness as the voices of everyone she knew, both loved and hated, shouted various insults towards her. She couldn't make them all out, but she could hear the other contestants among them, her adopted father Jack Mecidi, and even Ezekiel and his family amongst them…

Tears filled in her eyes as she became more and more overwhelmed by the continuous barrage, gripping her head tightly as she tried fruitlessly to block the voices in her head from tormenting her further.

"S-Stop it! Stop it! I… I'm sorry!" Lauren screamed into the void as she fell for what seemed like an eternity to her, her already shattered self worth fracturing further with every word she heard.

The void began to blur once more as she hit the ground, the air knocked out of her as she felt sand on her fingertips. Lauren slowly got up, looking around dazed, confused and terrified, her hands shaking with trauma as she began to register where she was now…

The skull she had taken from the island the day of her first elimination sat nearby, and Lauren could faintly hear the sound of the Drone of Despair above her as it flew by. She remembered this day clearly…

She was on the shores of Boney Island, the night she met Ezekiel…

"Lauren…" She heard behind her, the Scary Girl slowly turning around to see him standing by the treeline, looking exactly as he had the last time she'd seen him, that morning she'd boarded the aircraft to head to the island for her second season. The morning that this had all started…

"E-Ezzy…? Is that you?" Lauren stuttered out, weakly stumbling towards him even as she felt her body begin to give out on her. She reached out, her expression a mixture of despair and tentative hope that he'd forgive her for her screw up like he always did…

But Ezekiel only looked on with disappointment, shaking his head softly as he stepped out towards her.

"Why did you do it Lauren?" He spoke out, his voice normal at first, but then he began to slowly change, his voice becoming more broken as his clothes began to tear in several places. "Why did you stalk t-them? T-Torment them? W-Why d-didn't you j-just s-stay a-away…"

Lauren's mouth felt dry, her heart sinking as she slowly watched as Ezekiel devolved back towards a state which she never thought she'd see again. His hair started to fall out, his eyes became more bloodshot as his teeth became more jagged and sharp. His fingernails became claws as his skin began to turn a pale shade of green.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the words failed to come out, she could only watch as Ezekiel devolved back into the feral state she'd seen on tv many times before she had been accepted onto the show, the state that she'd met him in, that she'd managed to help cure him from…

"W-Why… d-didn't… y-you…" Ezekiel growled out, before his speech became completely incoherent, animalistic snarls escaping his throat as he pounced, ready to strike…

Lauren's eyes snapped open as a loud and shrill scream echoed out of the small cave and into the dark, empty forest surrounding her. Her body shooting up from the rocky surface as tears began streaming down her pale face.

Her eyes started to dart around wildly as she gripped her hair tightly, her hands grabbed at whatever strands of her messy hair she could find. Her breathing was erratic, wheezing as she tried and failed to calm herself down…

But unlike with her previous nightmares, this one didn't seem to end when she woke up…

Flashes of the incident hours prior kept running through her mind as she began to slowly rock back and forth in her insanity, strands of hair slipping onto her tattered dress as she gripped her hair tighter and tighter.

"G-Good g-girls d-don't scare p-people… S-Scary g-girls g-get w-what they d-deserved…" She choked out weakly, her rambling mixing in with the raw tears she allowed herself to shed in this weakened state, her bodies slow rocking back and forth beginning to speed up.

"G-Good g-girls… d-don't h-hurt their f-friends…" Lauren whimpered softly, burying her face into her arms as her bloodshot eyes stared intensely into the ground. "S-Scary g-girls… d-don't d-deserve them…"

She laughed weakly, shaking her head as if to try and rid her mind of the voices in her head, of the images of the yacht exploding and badly injuring Priya. But she couldn't do it…

Her laughter slowly got louder and louder as she gripped her body tightly, scratches being formed from where her nails met flesh as she lost herself in her own mind. Her knee high socks tearing apart as her legs thrashed about on the rocky surface of the cave.

Lauren didn't know when she had stopped laughing, nor did she notice when she had left the cave. All she knew was that she had taken off into the night with a manic look on her face, her goal of revenge twisting in on itself by her insanity and guilt…

All she could hear at that moment was the sound of her own screams, and she wanted to drown them out…

By Any. Means. Necessary.

*The next morning*

In the hours following Priya's medical evacuation from the island, the six remaining contestants had fallen into a state of near silence, completely shocked by the events that had transpired at the climax of the previous challenge.

Where Wayne and Raj would have normally been shovelling bowls of Chef's breakfast gruel into their mouths as part of a competition against themselves, instead both Hockey Bros were just silently picking at their food.

The last couple of days had been pretty rough for both Hockey Bros, first it was everything to do with Zee and the secrets he had been blurting out, then it was Priya and Caleb's accident. Not to mention that over the last couple of days the phone signal on the island had been compromised, so they couldn't even talk to the others outside of the island anymore like they had been able to at the start of the season with Ezekiel.

It was just becoming too much for the pair, the mood was getting more sombre the longer that the season went on, and both guys were hoping that something would happen soon that would lift the tension that had descended upon the island over the last week…

"Hey… Rajie…" Wayne began slowly, still picking at his food as Raj looked up curiously at him. "Do you think Priya's gonna be okay?"

"I hope so, Wayner…" Raj sighed, deflating slightly on his chair as he looked back down at his food. "I mean, Priya's a fighter eh… but honestly, I feel a little bad for Caleb…"

"Yeah, he's not taken the last couple days well huh?" Wayne looked up, looking out of the window of the Mess Hall in the direction of the former Rat Faces cabin.

"I don't blame him for being upset, if that was Bowie I'd have been upset too" Raj sighed again, taking a tentative bite out of his slop.

Over in the former Skunk Butts cabin, Julia and MK weren't exactly doing much better, both girls had been stuck with very mixed feelings towards the whole yacht incident and Priya's medevac. On one hand, they were both indirectly saved from elimination since the challenge had been cancelled with Priya heading to the hospital.

On the other hand, it left them feeling a lot of dread heading towards the final stint of the season, not because of the upcoming challenges or who was left, in fact Julia in particular was fairly confident of her chances of winning now that Priya was gone since in her eyes, Caleb and MK were the only 'threats' left aside from herself.

But MK couldn't help but focus on what was happening outside of the game, she couldn't help but think about everything that the contestants had been informed about from the outside during the early stages of this season. Lauren's disappearance, the truth about her stalking the cast to become 'normal', now this act of sabotage that for once had nothing to do with MK or Julia…

MK wasn't stupid either, she had seen the looks that Chris and Chef had been sharing following the challenge, years of practicing her trade in pickpocketing giving her enough of a quick reflex to catch what the others had been too distracted to see.

But another thing that was bothering MK above all else… wasn't even anything to do with either Priya or Lauren…

All she could think of at that moment was 'what if Julia had been hit instead?' It made no sense to the thief, lately she'd been having these strange feelings about the influencer, the way they fit so seamlessly together when causing mischief in the competition, the way Julia's mean comments both towards her and the other contestants made her heart race.

And those quick reflexes of hers? They'd also caught Julia's subtle changes of expression throughout their time on the island. How her eyes would widen the slightest amount whenever MK playfully laid a hand on her leg. How her smirk would soften just slightly whenever the two spoke.

"Hey MK? You still in there buttknuckle?" Julia spoke up, snapping MK out of her thoughts as her eyes darted back towards the influencer, however despite the insult Julia had an almost playful smile on her face. "You were staring at me like Zee stares at a can of soda…"

Julia then gasped dramatically, grasping at her face and pretending to check for marks. "Is there something on my face? Ohh how my followers would complain if their goddess had a blemish like the rest of these losers have…"

MK felt her face go warm despite the comments, but she scoffed and turned away with a sarcastic smirk on her face.

"Who, me? Pfft…" MK snarked, trying to play it off naturally even as her thoughts were swimming, waving her hand away like she was waving away the stench of Chef's cooking. "I was just thinking about how easy it's gonna be for us to reach the finals now that Priya's gone."

Julia immediately froze for a moment as she processed MK's comment, before putting her hands down and smirking back at her. Unlike the rest of the island's remaining inhabitants, Julia wasn't feeling much concern towards Priya's accident in the last challenge, rather she was putting most of her thoughts into trying to figure out her next move in the competition.

In Julia's eyes, Lauren potentially being somewhere on the island wasn't a concern in her eyes, all she cared about was winning the prize money…

"Yeah, so sad that the biggest threat on the island is gone…" Julia responded almost softly, albeit with sarcasm lacing her every word. "All this means is that Caleb will be more vulnerable, and if that creepy girl is still stalking us out in the woods, then that chemistry nerd Damien will be too paranoid to even consider standing against us."

Despite Julia's confidence, MK just couldn't quite let go of her own fears about if Julia had been the target of Scary Girl's revenge, and despite her agreements about the competition being made a lot easier without Priya being around, at that moment MK's response was anything to do with the competition…

"Hey Julia… about what happened to Priya…" She spoke slowly, her usual snark completely gone as she struggled to look into Julia's radiant purple eyes, not out of disgust or anger, but because she found herself scared to see what her response to her question would be. "If that happened to me… would you… would you care at all?"

Julia froze once more, looking completely taken aback at the sudden question, but one look at MK's hesitant expression told her everything she needed to know. It wasn't anything to do with showing concern for Priya, but rather…

"If MK's brain drove a cool car, I'd date it!"

Her face heated up as her own thoughts began swimming, ever since she'd made that ridiculous comment several days ago, she'd been struggling to keep herself together regarding her 'partner in crime'...

Julia was leaning back in the confessional for a few moments filing her nails, before eventually putting the file away and leaning forward to address the camera.

"Okay… Axel… or Ripper…" She pondered for a moment, before grimacing. "Ugh… Those two are both equally gross… and I need the votes to protect my partner…" She tapped her chin, deep in thought, before she smirked evilly at the camera. "Got it! I'll convince everyone to vote off 'the bigger threat' in Axel!"

She giggled to herself before freezing, realising what she'd just said and blushing a bright red.

"I-I meant my p-partner in c-crime! As my a-alliance m-member!" Julia stuttered out, hiding her reddening face in her hands. "Oh god… I've gotta keep some distance now before she thinks I've got a crush on her or something…"

Julia's palms began to feel sweaty as she tried to think of a response to MK's question, so maybe she did have a crush on the other girl, so what? She was Julia O'Halloran, famous influencer with millions of followers and future Total Drama winner, she wasn't going to let herself be held back anymore by her own fears.

Her gaze steeled in determination, and her hands shot out to grasp both sides of MK's head, causing the thief to gasp as she was forced to look Julia in the eyes, their faces now only a few inches apart.

"You know what MK… you might not think I would… but I would care…" She spoke slowly but with conviction, one MK recognised as the same conviction Julia usually had when she went through with a plan to eliminate or humiliate someone. "I'd sooner deactivate my MySelfieGram account then let anything like that happen to you…"

MK's eyes widened to the size of saucers as she let out a loud gasp, her face flushing crimson as she processed Julia's words. Whilst she didn't admit it aloud, MK knew that this was the closest Julia would get to admitting it aloud.

Once the shock wore off however, MK's lips curled into a devious smirk as she let out a victorious laugh.

"I knew it!" She boasted, watching as Julia's cheeks burned a similar shade of red to her own. "I knew you liked me deep down!"

"Don't get used to it… I'm still gonna backstab you in the competition if it comes down to it" Julia scoffed, but she didn't move away from the other girl, in fact the banter only made her want to lean in closer…

"I wouldn't want it any other way…" MK snarked back, noticing Julia subconsciously begin to close the gap between them, her own body beginning to mimic Julia's actions.

Their lips met in the middle, both Julia's purple eyes and MK's black eyes closing as they melted into the kiss, their swirling thoughts all coming to a halt as they could only focus on the heat of the moment, on how right it all felt…

However, just as quickly as it had began… It ended when they heard the loudspeaker go off.

"Attention Campers!" Chris's voice echoed across the campgrounds. "Get your butts down to the field, it's challenge time!"

MK and Julia both groaned as they separated, saliva coating their lips as Julia let go of MK's head. MK watched in disappointment as Julia stood up in anger, stomping her foot down on the wooden planks of the cabin floor as she glared out of the window at the loudspeaker.

"Ugh! I hate that damn host!" Julia complained, only to freeze as MK's hand slipped into hers.

"Don't worry about it Jules, it just means we have something to look forward to after we win this challenge." MK smirked, looking up at Julia's shocked face with a sly expression. "And if it comes down to it, at least we both know to expect the other's betrayal, it's not like it'll hurt us outside of the game."

"Spoken like someone who actually gets me." Julia smiled, before leaning in and pecking MK on the cheek. "Now come on, let's go show those buttknuckles who the real queens of this competition are!"

As the newly formed couple headed out of their cabin towards where Chris said to gather for the challenge, over in the former Rat Faces cabin, Damien sat on the bunk bed next to a crestfallen Caleb, the bodybuilder's head in his hands as he lamented over the events of the last 24 hours…

"Dude come on… you heard Chris, the challenge is about to start." Damien said, firmly but not unkindly as he tried to lift Caleb up to no avail.

"What's the point…" Caleb grumbled, not budging an inch or even bothering to look at Damien. "How can we even think of the competition right now with what just happened…"

Damien hesitated for a few moments, deep down he agreed with Caleb about the whole situation, he cared about Priya just as much as Caleb did, but he also knew Priya much better than him from the time they spent together between seasons, this would not be what she'd want him to do…

"Caleb, Priya would want you to carry on with the competition…" Damien began, noticing the bodybuilder finally lift his face out of his hands to look at him with confusion. "You know we can't do anything for her right now, and she's in good hands, the best thing we can do right now is to win this competition for her."

Caleb stared at Damien for what felt like several minutes, a maelstrom of thoughts swirling through his head as he struggled to articulate a response. Eventually he sighed, but straightened himself up to look Damien in the eyes.

"Even if I do… What about Scary Girl?" He spoke gruffly, his anger leaking through his words at the mere mention of Lauren's nickname. "If she was behind this, I'm gonna make sure she gets what she deserves!"

"I can't argue with that…" Damien sighed, nodding along in agreement. If he was honest with himself though, he found himself with very mixed feelings towards his former tormentor regarding what had happened the other day.

On one hand, he found his fear of the creepy goth girl spiking to an even worse degree than even back during the first season when she had chased him around with a jackhammer, it was the one time he had actively feared for his own life, even though several worse things had happened to him since like nearly being eaten by Raptors or being pushed into the four point slide by Millie.

But on the other hand… he got to know Lauren after his elimination during the first season, he saw what she was like particularly around Ezekiel, heck after Ezekiel he knew the most about Lauren out of the whole Total Drama ensemble. He couldn't explain it without sounding like stockholm syndrome or disregarding Priya's current situation, but in the back of his mind something kept telling him that there had to be more to this…

The Scary Girl that Damien knew wouldn't do something like this without a reason…

But instead of voicing his concerns aloud he knew he had to keep it to himself for now, it was a question he would ask Lauren himself once she was found. For the moment he looked back at Caleb and helped him up, ready to head out to the challenge area that Chris had mentioned over the loudspeaker mere minutes ago.

"But I also can't let you focus on Scary while she's not around…" Damien continued, looking at Caleb with determination in his eyes. "Right now we're still in the game, fighting for Priya, and right now we're the only two people left with no allies…"

Caleb's eyes quickly narrowed into a similar look to Damien's as he realised where he was going with this, a knowing smile forming on his handsome features as he nodded.

"Meaning one of us could easily go home next if we're not careful, especially with Julia and MK still pulling the strings…" Caleb agreed, before sticking his hand out towards Damien. "Well, I suppose there is a spot in my alliance now…"

Damien smiled, grabbing Caleb's hand and shaking it firmly, sealing their new alliance.

"I'm in, let's take them down and win this, for Priya…"

"For Priya…" Caleb nodded, before both turned to head out of the cabin and towards the challenge area.

*Minutes later*

Once all six contestants had made it to the area that Chris had instructed them to head to, they began to look around in slight confusion when they noticed that neither Chris nor Chef were anywhere to be seen.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me…" Julia groaned, facepalming with her free hand, her other hand still intertwined with MK's. "Okay… where the hell are they?"

"Asking the wrong people here?" Caleb rolled his eyes, crossing his arms with slight impatience as he scanned the nearby trees for any sign of the two hosts.

"Here's a better question though…" Damien smirked, as he turned to look at the two girls, with Wayne and Raj donning similar looks as their gazes found the sight of MK and Julia holding hands. "When did this happen?~"

"When did what happen…" Julia began, looking confused for a moment before following their gazes to her hand, with MK doing the same before both flushed a bright red and quickly released their grip on the other. "I… I don't know what you're talking about…"

The sound of footsteps approaching quickly halted any discussion from developing further, and soon enough, Chris and Chef were both standing in front of them. For a few moments Chef had a serious look on his face as he glanced at Chris, as if silently discussing something important that the contestants weren't allowed to know about, but a side eye from the host kept him quiet as Chris cleared his throat before beginning to talk.

"Good morning campers!" Chris grinned, his usual charisma sliding into place as he addressed the teens in front of him. "Before we get started, by a show of hands, who here likes puppies?"

Almost immediately the tension in the area seemed to lift as six hands quickly shot up, some much more enthusiastic than others, namely those coming from the Hockey Bros.

"OH! OH!" Both of them cried out, their arms flying up briefly before Raj's expression became almost starstruck as he began to gush about his affection for the small dogs. "I love puppies!"

"It's like a dog… and a dog… had a baby!" Wayne added, gesturing with his hands as though he were counting them, before squeezing his hands closed with excitement, much to the lack of amusement from Chef Hatchet, who just looked at the blonde with a deadpan expression.

"It is exactly like that…" He grumbled at the Hockey Bro, but didn't comment further as Chris continued his announcement of the challenge.

"Then you're all going to love today's challenge!" Chris proclaimed, spreading his arms out in anticipation of what was going to come next, before placing them behind his back. "Man's best frenemy!"

He then took a glance backwards into the forest, giving whatever was hiding within the signal to reveal themselves, before turning to gesture for the contestants to take a look in that same direction.

"I'd like to introduce you to a very special guest!" Chris began to announce as the contestants saw a chubby woman dressed in protective police gear walking towards them. "Marine Canine leader, Master Sergeant Valentina MacArthur!"

The contestants, namely Damien, Wayne and Raj looked nervously at each other for a moment as MacArthur approached them with a stride in her step, a serious look on her face as she marched into the clearing, stopping just next to the two hosts. For a moment MK could have sworn that the cop glared at her, but when she blinked MacArthur was glancing at one of the other contestants.

Once she assessed each of the remaining contestants, she relaxed her posture slightly, a more cool smile replacing the serious frown on her face as she began to address them.

"You kids wanna meet some doggies." She smirked at them, gesturing casually as Wayne and Raj began to get excited once more at the mention of the 'puppies'.

"Yes! Yes for sure!" Wayne proclaimed as he began stamping his feet in excitement as he glanced over at Raj, who had begun clutching his face in excitement much to Julia's confusion and MK's slight amusement.

"We're gonna get licked so much!" Raj gushed, earning an eye roll from the influencer and a small chuckle from Damien and MK, Caleb meanwhile just stayed stoic, wanting to hear how the challenge was going to go.

"Well, let me introduce you to my babies!" MacArthur smirked as she made a gesture of her arm towards the forest, with the sounds of trees falling down being heard as a pack of wild dogs barking and sprinting towards the group were increasingly visible to the six contestants.

Wayne and Raj's excitement quickly faded into one of alarm as MK, Caleb and Julia showed visible concern of their own. Damien on the other hand began to scream in fear as five large canines stopped next to the grinning MacArthur, with a sixth stopping just behind them.

"Please give a warm welcome to…" MacArthur smirked as she began gesturing to each dog standing next to her. "Edward Scissormouth! Beartrap! Chainsaw! Bloodhunter! Jackhammer!"

The mention of the fifth dog only served to make Damien scream once more, making the others flinch and Chris chuckle at his misfortune.

"And… Booger!" MacArthur finished, looking like a proud mom as she made another grand gesture to another dog, this one being much smaller than the five she announced, plus the sixth one lurking just behind the rest.

As Booger made its way next to the other five dogs that MacArthur had already introduced for the challenge, Chris and Chef's smiles dropped as they noticed the visible size difference themselves, with Chris in particular looking almost disappointed that she seemed to have brought the 'wrong animal'.

"Is uh… Booger subbing in or something?" Chris asked MacArthur, pointing at the small dog who was currently sneezing snot onto the grass. "Maybe for an actual attack dog who's in prison for mauling a tiger or something?"

Chris then grinned maliciously and pointed back at Chef, who's eyes widened in concern as he took a step back, knowing all too well what the look in Chris's eyes meant for him.

"I could send Chef to break it out!" Chris asked her, causing Chef to wave his arms in disapproval as he shook his head to say no. MacArthur on the other hand looked less than impressed with Chris's comments, placing her arms on her sides in disappointment.

"No no no!" She proclaimed, before turning to look at the small dog with pride as she placed a hand on Chris's shoulder, causing Chef's eyes to almost widen into saucers and the host to glare down at her hand, annoyed that she dared to think that she could touch him.

"Boogers right where she belongs, trust me on that!" MacArthur continued, looking back to smirk at the pair.

"Right… fine… whatevs…" Chris dismissed her, deciding to just roll with it, thinking that it couldn't hurt to let the small dog participate in the challenge. He took one last dismissive look at Booger before turning back to the visibly concerned contestants.

"Anyway… Chef, give them the deets!" He announced, prompting Chef to abandon his own concerns in order to address the rules of the challenge, although he took one more glance at the seventh dog, the one that MacArthur had yet to name.

"Right… you'll all have around two minutes to run for it!" Chef began, holding up two fingers as the contestants looked increasingly concerned by the rules of the challenge. "Then we'll release the hounds, to hunt you down…" He finished, his eyes narrowing as the contestants audibly gulped, with Damien in particular looking ready to book it before Chef could even finish explaining the challenge.

"Okay… and then what?" MK crossed her arms, trying her best to look unfazed by the challenge, even though she looked just as unnerved as Caleb and Julia were by the prospect of being mauled. "You can't be suggesting that you'll send attack dogs to kill us or something?"

The sounds of the dogs barking at them didn't help one bit, with Wayne and Raj sharing another look of fear as Caleb had to grab Damien's hoodie to stop him from running away screaming.

"Relax MK, it's nothing like that…" Chef waved his hand in dismissal, although his expression softened slightly once he realised how scared everyone looked.

"Besides, Edward Scissormouth put it best!" Chris smirked in glee, mimicking the gestures of a dog biting and dragging something away with his hands. "Chomp chomp, draggy draggy!"

"They drag you back to the circle you're currently standing on…" Chef explained for them, causing everyone to look down at the orange circle they were in fact standing on, understanding beginning to dawn on their faces for the most part. Wayne still looked a little confused, but Raj whispered something in his ear with a loud "Ohhhh!" escaping his lips.

"So uh… these dogs have had their rabies shots… right?" Caleb asked MacArthur, taking a step back himself as one of the dogs growled in his and Damien's direction, the latter looking more frightened as he noticed that it was the one called 'Jackhammer' growling at him in particular.

"No need for shots, rabies are too scared to come near any of these dogs!" MacArthur boasted, with the five dogs next to Booger growling once more as if agreeing with her.

"With these smelly socks I found on your cabin floors, these monsters…" Chef tried to explain, holding up a pile of dirty socks in one hand, only briefly being interrupted as MacArthur felt the need to correct his term of 'monsters' with 'my sweet babies'. "...will memorize your individual scent, so you'll each have the same individual dog chasing you for the entire game!"

"It's like each one of you gets your own individual puppy!" Chris mocked, gesturing towards the dogs once more as he walked back towards MacArthur.

"P-Please stop calling them that…" Raj asked meekly, regretting showing as much enthusiasm as he had before the dogs had been revealed, feeling dumb that he fell for one of Chris's twists once again.

As Chris kept explaining the rules of the challenge, showing that each contestant had three lives and once they'd been dragged back to the circle three times they were out. Damien couldn't help but let his focus drift away from the impending fear of Jackhammer looking right at him, and he glanced over towards the unnamed dog with a mix of fear and curiosity.

"So… any questions?" Chris asked, knowing that he was about to ignore them in favour of starting the challenge right away, but before he could, Damien spoke up.

"What's with the extra dog then?" Damien pointed towards the unnamed dog. "Is that like an extra dog that'll go for all of us or something?"

Chris and Chef both looked at the extra dog, their expressions dropping back into a more serious one for a moment before Chris managed to regain his composure.

"No no… that one's got… another job…" Chris spoke slowly, almost too vaguely for the contestants to not get curious about. The smarter contestants like Damien, Caleb and MK had their suspicions, but before anything else could be voiced…

"Anyway! Your two minute lead starts… NOW!" Chris announced as Chef blew an airhorn to signal the start of the challenge, causing the six contestants to refocus their efforts on getting as far away from the canines as possible.

After only a few seconds, once they barely had enough time to get out of the eyesight of the two hosts and MacArthur, Chris took a quick look at his watch before glancing at Chef.

"Was that two minutes…" Chris asked rhetorically, already knowing that Chef would turn back to him and say 'no'. As he heard Chef do exactly that, he looked at MacArthur and gave her the go ahead, a sinister grin adorning his face. "Release the hounds!"

MacArthur grinned and gestured after the contestants, with the six dogs involved in the challenge barking in approval before beginning to sprint after the retreating contestants. As they watched the dogs disappear into the woods after them, MacArthur turned back to Chris, all pretenses of the game disappearing from their faces as she called the seventh dog over.

"So… about your little… problemo?" MacArthur spoke gruffly, noting the lack of concern on Chris's face, even as Chef looked genuinely concerned about what was about to happen. "Ol' Reaper here is my best tracker, he'll be able to hunt down this 'Scary Girl' chick with little issue."

"And he's as non lethal as the others are going to be… right?" Chef questioned, noticing Chris sigh in disappointment.

"Yes, Chef… unfortunately we still need Scary Girl alive…" Chris grumbled in slight disappointment, before smiling as he patted Chef on the shoulder "Now… the 'goods', if you would."

Chef grumbled to himself as he pulled another pair of socks from his pocket, being a pair recovered from 'Normal Girl's' brief stint on the island. The socks were lowered to Reaper's nose, the canine taking a couple sniffs before growling in approval, knowing who his target was.

"You got it boy… then go get 'em!" MacArthur commanded, pointing into the woods where the other dogs had disappeared into. Reaper barked as though accepting her command, before beginning to sprint into the woods to track down the still missing Lauren.

The trio watched as Reaper disappeared out of sight, with Chris in particular looking ready to nip the whole 'Scary Girl' problem in the bud after what had happened during the previous challenge. But only time would tell if the canine would be successful in finding the missing Scary Girl, or if she'd be too elusive even for a trained attack dog…

*Meanwhile*

As the six remaining contestants began to spread out into the depths of the island to start the challenge, across the island a tired figure trudged through the forest, their clothes worn and covered in dirt from hours of wandering the island.

Ezekiel found himself stumbling into a clearing, his breathing heavy and his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep as he looked around deliriously, having to grab a hold of a nearby tree so he didn't fall to the ground. He'd been searching high and low all night with no sign of his girlfriend so far, and he was starting to run out of places that he felt comfortable enough to explore…

He'd searched through around two thirds of the forest, and he was scared that soon enough he'd either have to make the decision to get uncomfortably close to the campgrounds or the area where Chris's quarters would reside, or worse…

Those cursed mines that still haunted him…

He shook his head, ridding his thoughts of the mineshaft that he'd spent days trapped in during his feral days, the toxic waste that had given him mutations that even with the cure he'd taken years later had never fully gone away.

It didn't matter if these areas of the island still made his spine shiver at the thought of coming into contact with once more, he'd do anything if it meant he could find Lauren and make sure she was alright…

"Okay okay…" Zee sighed, then looked directly into the terrified Prairie Boys eyes. "She's… not good at all man… she looked rough, her appearance was falling apart… and she sounded even crazier than normal…"

"Lauren…" Ezekiel muttered under his breath, pushing himself back onto his own feet as he forced himself to keep moving. "Where the heck are you eh…"

He continued his search through the forest, his eyes darting around wildly at every little sound that wasn't from his own feet. Until after a few more minutes of searching, he heard it…

Crying… coming from the nearby river…

His breathing sped up as he pushed himself to move faster, the forest giving away to a small stream. He couldn't see who it was at first, but eventually the foliage gave way, and a familiar head of purple hair could be seen hunched over…

Lauren had her back turned to Ezekiel, so she didn't notice him approaching, her thoughts screaming so loud in her shattering mind that she didn't even hear his footsteps stop, it wasn't until he spoke up that her ears even picked up anything in the real world.

"Lauren!" Ezekiel cried out, a mixture of relief and worry on his face as his eyes took in her appearance for the first time. On one hand he was thankful that he was able to find her…

But the sight of Lauren's hair wild and unfocused, with one of her hairbands completely missing and large strands from the other pigtail undone. Her dress was similarly covered in dirt and grime, her arm warmers and socks torn in several places. The sight of her clothing alone was enough to make Ezekiel seriously worried about her current condition, but what really alarmed him was the cuts and bruises on her arms and legs…

Lauren had yet to respond to him, even as he took another step closer, but her crying had since stopped, and she had gone unnaturally still since he had shouted her name.

"Lauren, please talk to me…" He spoke softly, concern heavily lacing his words as he took one more step closer, only to freeze as Lauren slowly turned to look back at him.

Her eyes were wide and unfocused, a mixture of fear and insanity swimming through her icy blue gaze. Her usual creepy smile was plastered across her face, however unlike the almost playful energy that Ezekiel had come to associate with Lauren's smile during the six months they'd been together, this smile had genuine malice that made him almost afraid to come any closer…

For the first time since they'd first met on Boney Island all those months ago, Ezekiel was seeing the Scary Girl that everyone else had claimed she was, and it terrified him that things had gotten this bad…

Inside the inner turmoil that was currently Lauren's mind, she didn't hear the sound of Ezekiel's worried voice, nor did she see him or the surroundings of Camp Wawanakwa at all. Instead, she was once again back in her childhood home, trapped in her small room with little furniture as her abusers stood before her.

"Why can't you just be normal you little shit!" Her mother snarled, both her and Lauren's father advancing towards her as they prepared to beat her once more. "You're rotten to the core!"

Lauren's lips curled into a snarl as she stared down her prey, in her mind something gave out, and instead of the fear she'd been feeling all this time, now nothing but pure rage began to take over her features.

"Y-You want a S-Scary Girl t-then Mom…" Lauren spoke slowly, a mixture of raw hatred and pure insanity coating every word as she took her own step towards Ezekiel, whose eyes began to widen as he saw Lauren's fists clench tightly enough to draw blood. "T-Then f-fine! I'll m-make sure y-you'll live to r-regret it!"

"Lauren! Wait!" Ezekiel held his hands up, pure panic in his voice as Lauren began to laugh madly, before beginning to charge at him…

He had successfully found her, but now…

He had just become her next victim.

End Chapter

Author's Note: Okay… yikes did this take a while to upload, if anyone actually ends up reading this chapter then I'm gonna use this note to thank all of you who've given this a chance once more. I'd imagine that this ship has faded into obscurity once more for the most part since let's be honest, it is a sore topic at times within the TD fanbase haha.

Speaking of the TD fanbase, admittedly part of the reason why I went on a hiatus was because of slight burnout with Total Drama as a whole, I'll always love this series and I'll never drop it completely, I always look through AO3 for new fics and I'll always support artists and other writers. But with no new content I just slowly lost interest for a while, but recently I've regained that spark between reconnecting with old and new friends in the community, and the TD rewatch I'm currently doing with someone I really care about, and watching her get into the series has really helped me regain my motivation for the series.

I'm also slowly getting back into the TD fanfic community once more, between the old server full of passionate writers that had inspired me for years now, and the new group that I joined that's welcomed me with opened arms, it's really helped with motivation and potential new ideas that I hope to share on this site soon!

Speaking of which I wanna shout out a couple of their fics which I think you guys should really go and read sometime! If you love Ezekiel focused fics like this one or Isekai fics I'd totally recommend CaioCoia's 'Reality Collides: The Ezekiel Chronicles'. Another great fic I'd also recommend which is similar to that one is Oberon1211's 'Total Drama Island: The Records of Justin'. Or if you'd prefer something a little more mature and with OC's instead of isekai's then I'm also recommending AxalFlameHart's 'Total Drama: Black Swan' over on ffnet. Of course I also have to once more recommend my good friend Kathryn13Imagination's 'Dreams Come True' series.

That's all from me for now tho, like I said at the start of the chapter, hopefully the next part doesn't take nearly as long, but until next time!

And what a next time it'll be… next chapter, it's Lauren vs Ezekiel…