The Long Journey of Redemption: By Luna Mrow

Disclaimer: I don't own TDI or any of its characters, only the plot to the story.

Summary: After the volcano exploded on the island at the series finale of TDWT, all the campers tried to swim for their lives to get to safety. Luckily, everyone of them did. Except for Courtney. She finally decides to do the unthinkable—fake her death and make everyone think she's gone missing. Why? A fresh start. A new beginning. She finally had enough of herself.

Now, three years later, Courtney is living off somewhere secluded, everyone thinking she had gone missing. Now she has changed, she's not the same perfectionist monster she used to be. She also befriended an old retired janitor, who helped her through her change. But now she wants to go back to her old life, just to prove to everyone she's not the same bitch she used to be. Can she really face her old teammates and campers? Most importantly, can she face the one man who made her change in the first place—Duncan?

Follow Courtney on her journey of redemption and all the chaos along the way.

~X~X~X~

My name is Courtney Haley Vega. You may know me, depending on if you watch television and have cable, which you probably do, and if that's the case you know me from the popular series Total Drama. The show was on three years straight and had quite the fan base.

Well, I was basically known on the show as the 'prep' that was a perfectionist and always wanted things done right. I dated the polar opposite bad boy Duncan, got unfairly voted off by the geek Harold and was friends with the blonde surfer Bridgette. That was season one. Things started to get hectic in season two: I acted hostile and mean towards the Goth girl Gwen, threatened to sue and take action against Chris and Chef and basically threw a complete fit when things didn't go my way. I was a snob, a manipulator, a user.

Finally it was season three that hit me hard. I traveled all over the world, sang and danced, competed against the other campers. I still acted rude to Gwen at first, but then something happened between the two of us and we became really good friends. Perhaps we bonded over our dislike for Heather, who knows. But at least Heather knew she was a bitch and didn't deny it. I was still under the illusion everyone 'liked me'. Right.

Anyway, the trouble didn't start until my boyfriend Duncan came back on the show when Gwen and I stole him from a London raid. And just to go into a little detail with Duncan and me, we had our ups and downs through the past two seasons. But I was still under the impression he liked me. I was wrong. He liked Gwen now. But why shouldn't he? Gwen didn't try to change Duncan into something he wasn't. Gwen didn't kick him in the balls over the past two seasons. Gwen didn't leave him with a hurt leg and try to cash out on a million dollars in the series finale of Total Drama Island. Gwen didn't fight with Duncan almost every minute.

I did.

But even then I didn't think anything was wrong with me. I didn't think anything was wrong with our relationship. So imagine my surprise when Tyler announced during a challenge in Greece that Duncan kissed Gwen. Oh yes, not the other way around, he kissed her. I was mortified. I was pissed. I cried and I swore hatred on those two.

I didn't just swear hatred, I swore revenge. And funny thing about revenge; it possessed me. I got Gwen kicked off the show but that wasn't enough… I wanted Duncan gone too. It hurt, it hurt for him to suddenly love me and then turn around and hate me. He wanted me gone as much as I wanted him gone—that hurt. But I wasn't about to let it show on my face. I wasn't about to show weakness.

Admittedly, I felt bad about the Alejandro-Heather fiasco. There wasn't any true attraction I felt for Alejandro. He was using me, but I was using him to try and get over Duncan… and maybe to make Heather go crazy. That was the person I used to be; I took advantage of people's emotions and their weaknesses.

Why? All because I wanted to be famous. I wanted money. I was so petty then. It makes me sick to my stomach to think I used to be like that.

So there we were all the campers at the top of a Hawaiian Mountain, waiting to see who would win season 3, Alejandro or Heather. The volcano starts rumbling, it explodes, and then we're all running out into the water trying to swim for our life. I remember Chris and Chef's boat sinking and laughing about it. Then I remember the rocks falling from the island and everyone trying to swim for their lives.

It was then I had my breaking point. Everyone hated me. No one on the island was my friend, not even Bridgette, even though we weren't on bad terms. All the fans watching the show either hated me and were supporting Duncan and Gwen, and the other half were supporting me and Duncan. But just me, Courtney, as a person… everyone hated me. Why shouldn't they?

So I did the unthinkable. While everyone was swimming to safety on the opposite side of the island, I kept swimming away from land. There was so much salty sea water around me. I just kept swimming, away from everyone, away from the cameras, away from my past.

I hated myself. I hated the monster that I had become in the sixteen years I've been alive. This was it for me, a fresh start, a new beginning, and an escape from who I used to be. The ocean water was getting cold as the day turned to night. I knew there would be rescue boats and search parties looking for me. But I didn't want to be found. For all I cared, Courtney could be dead to the world.

Because I was dead to myself.

And that was the first step in my long journey of redemption.

~X~X~X~

God must have still been looking out for me. When my lips were turning blue from the icy ocean and unconsciousness was claiming me, an old fisherman saw me swimming in the water and pulled me into his boat with fishing net. "Who are you young lady?" he questioned when I had regained consciousness. I was wrapped in a blanket and his boat was almost at the shore. He looked to be fifty-five or older, with graying hair, wrinkles, bright brown eyes, but a smile and a warm heart that made him seem thirty.

"Courtney Vega," I answered carefully. "Where am I?"

"In my boat, I just pulled you to safety; you were out in the ocean freezing to death. I'm Sam Whittaker, but you can call me Sam."

"Thanks," I mumbled. It then hit me that this old Sam geezer probably already knew who I was and knew I was famous. "Please don't call the Total Drama Company, the last thing I want is cameras in my face," I groaned.

Sam gave me an odd stare. "Total what?" he asked.

"Total Drama, the television show I'm in."

"You're an actress?"

"Yes! You've never seen my show?"

"Sorry kiddo, I don't have cable."

Good, I had thought, that means he doesn't know what a bitch I am.

"So why don't you want your camera crews to find you?" he asked.

"I want them to think I've gone missing."

"Missing? A pretty girl like you shouldn't talk like that! Why would you want something as crazy as that?"

And that's when I told Sam all about the past three seasons of Total Drama. I already seem out of character, don't I? The old Courtney would've told them old man none of his damn business. But I found it comforting to vent out my feelings. And he never once judged me, never once made a comment. He did ask why Duncan had a Mohawk and I just laughed and said it was because he was a punk. And after I finished my story, I told him why I want everyone to think I'm missing, or dead even.

Then Sam looked at me and he smiled. "It sounds to me like you need a break," he said. "A break from society, a break from all the people you know. It sounds like you need to find yourself. You're lost. You've spent your whole life striving for what you think is perfection. You don't know who you are. And when you don't know who you are kiddo, no one does."

Fate would have it that Sam actually was vacationing in Hawaii and he lived in Canada. Perhaps it was also fate that put the crazy idea in my head that I should stay with him. It had to be fate, because the old Courtney would have never considered staying with an old man she just met and talked to for three hours. Never ever.

Sam had just one condition: tell my parents what I was doing. "You can't escape family Courtney," he had said. "And trust me; you don't want to cause your family heartbreak if you make them think you're dead."

I called my parents the next day and told them I wanted to live on my own. They were harsh at first, but when I told them why they finally agreed. I made them swear not to tell my friends or anyone at all. They agreed not to and if they press ever questioned them they'd say no comment.

So here I am now living in a secluded house a mile away from the old man Sam. It's been three years since the TDWT escapade. And now I want to do the unthinkable—I want to make a comeback.

Author's Note:

Hello TD lovers, I'm back, after a long hiatus. This is indeed a Courtney-centric fic but it becomes a DxC. Courtney is being harsh on herself on purpose. In my opinion Duncan is just as messed up too. But the main focus of this fic is redeeming Courtney's character, with of course more plot twists and Duncan. She probably seems a little OOC, but don't worry, she kept her wit and her smarts.

If you like this story, please review and I'll continue. Don't worry, there will be humor, fluff, action and Duncan in later chapters. This was kind of a summary chapter, the next ones will be when the plot begins. Please review and thank you for reading.

~Luna