Hi! The incredible Total Drama Writer's Forum is doing a Secret Santa thing where each of us is assigned a forum member to write a fic as a present for. I'm the Secret Santa of Torie Rilistkrytcat, an awesome person and great author whose fics I would recommend to any Total Drama fan.
Anyway, this is her present, a Christmas-themed one-shot starring Alejandro, with the added bonuses of Aleheather and Mal. It's a loose parody of the famous Christmas Carol tale. It's also written as if TDAS never happened.
On another note, this is the first thing I've published since my hiatus (which is over at last)! It's rated K Plus for mild language and mild violence, and I don't own Total Drama. Enjoy!
Alejandro was a lonely man. He had no family or friends whatsoever, and lived by himself in a two-story home that was really a sight for sore eyes. He'd once had a girlfriend, many years ago, but that was over now. At the age of 58, he still hadn't found love.
He had retired four years ago, and now rarely left his house. The neighborhood kids were all afraid of him and called him Scrooge behind his back. The nickname had even caught on with some of the adults, too.
Doing almost nothing with his life had given him a lot of time to think and reflect. He wondered what had happened to the life he used to have. All throughout his childhood and teenage years, he was a popular ladies' man, adored and respected by all. He was evil and cunning, yet dashing and charming. As a 17-year-old, he'd joined a reality show and met the love of his life.
Heather.
Their romance had blossomed over the course of the season, only for her to dump him at the last minute to win the grand prize, leaving him to be defaced by lava. It took him years to recover from his physical injuries, but he never recovered from that shocking betrayal.
Once the show ended, he never saw Heather again. For all he knew, she'd gotten married, had kids, and lived the life he wished he had lived. Alejandro didn't care. Or at least that's what he told himself.
Alejandro was caught up in the past one night when something thumped against his door. It was past midnight, so his thoughts immediately went to a burglar, vandal, or something equally bad. Grabbing a wooden baseball bat from near the door, he flung it open and yelled "Who the hell are you?" only for his jaw to drop at who the hell it was.
In front of him stood Duncan, one of his former fellow competitors. But Duncan had died in jail several decades ago now. Alejandro nearly fainted. Clutching his heart, he sank into a nearby armchair. "Duncan? Wha, wha...?"
"Nice to see you too, Alejandro."
"You're dead!"
"Cut straight to the chase, eh? Typical Al."
"What's going on here?!"
"I'm giving you a chance. And you sure as hell would be an idiot not to take it."
"Wait. Chance? And how are you alive?!"
"Rest assured Al, I'm dead."
"Don't call me Al!"
"Whatever. Don't piss me off; if I leave now you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Now, do you know what happened to me when Total Drama ended?"
"Um, no. I heard when you died, but I don't know anything else."
"I went to jail. I murdered one of my college classmates in a fit of rage, and suddenly I was in for life. No one came to visit me. Not Courtney. Not Gwen. Not you, may I point out. I screwed up. Big time."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you've screwed up too."
"I never killed anyone!"
"The point isn't that I killed someone, it's that I ruined my life. And so did you. I died in prison; it's too late for me. But it's not for you."
"You're really confusing me. Too late for what?"
"Too late for true love."
"Wait, are you saying...Heather? Duncan, I haven't seen her in over forty years."
"But you think about her every day."
"How do you know?"
"I'm a ghost. We know things. And listen, I'm not the only ghost coming here tonight. I'm mainly here to explain what the hell this is all about. The other three won't be telling you; they'll be showing you."
"What? Showing me what?"
"Ugh, shut up already! I can only stand a certain amount of questions. See you later!"
"Wait!" yelled Alejandro, but Duncan's ghostly figure had already faded. He stood up, only to sit back down again. What had just happened? Had he been hallucinating? Was it real? His head was spinning, and his thoughts went around in circles. He was probably just too tired; it was one in the morning after all.
So Alejandro decided to go to bed, but he couldn't fall asleep. Just when he was on the verge of drifting off, a certain C.I.T. yelled at him.
"What are you doing?! We're supposed to be back in time by now! Hurry up and get out of bed!"
"Courtney?" asked Alejandro, confused. She didn't look a day older than when he'd seen her last, on that hectic day on the volcano.
"I'm not Courtney, I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past!"
"Whatever you say, Courtney."
"Shut it! Are you coming or not?"
"Coming where?"
"To the past! Let's go!" Before Alejandro could protest, she had grabbed his arm and yanked him into a swirl of colors. They emerged in midair, thousands of feet above the ground. Alejandro was bewildered, but he had no time to ask questions as the Total Drama Jumbo Jet flew overhead. Suddenly, he was inside the cargo hold, with Courtney standing next to him.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"You'll see for yourself in a second," she replied. "You'll be able to see and hear everyone else, but they can't see or hear you."
Suddenly, a door near them cracked open and a much younger Alejandro peered in. Glancing back to make sure no one was looking, he stepped inside and quickly closed the door.
Heather stepped out of the shadows. "You're late."
"I'm aware of that, senorita, and I apologize."
"Save your apologies for someone else, Alejandro, I don't give a damn. You're the one who convinced me to meet you here; now what do you want?"
"I'd like to discuss some strategy with you, my dear. And perhaps an alliance."
"Me? Ally with you? Hah! Dream on."
"I know you want an alliance with me."
"Oh, and why is that?"
"Because you like me."
Heather scoffed. "I do not like you. At all, okay?"
Alejandro grinned. "Keep telling yourself that, senorita, but you can't deny your feelings forever."
"I can and will deny feelings that don't exist." With that, she turned to go.
"Wait! What about the alliance?"
Heather looked at him. "You can forget any alliance. But keep trying and maybe I'll have some feelings after all."
She left and slammed the door behind her. Alejandro grinned in the darkness. She was playing hard to get. Whether or not he actually got the alliance, he would get the relationship for sure. Then he heard the sounds of feral Zeke crawling around in the cargo hold, and hurriedly left.
The older Alejandro turned to look for Courtney, only to find her gone, with Owen in her place. The blonde teen had a full beard, wore red robes, and held a turkey leg in one hand and Mr. Coconut in the other.
"Hey Al! Fancy seeing you around here!"
"Don't call me Al, Owen."
"I'm not Owen, I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present!"
"Well you're rather present for being in the past. What are you doing with Mr. Coconut?"
"He's not Mr. Coconut, he's the ghost of...um...fruit. Yeah. Anyway, we need to get back to the future!"
"You mean back to the present?"
"Is that a movie?"
"No."
"Shame. Let's go." The same swirl of colors enveloped Alejandro, and suddenly he stood outside a gigantic mansion. A second later he was inside, looking at none other than Chris. Assuming they were back in his current time, the host had to be seventy plus years old by now, and his gray hair and wrinkly skin definitely gave that impression.
The host was sitting in a gigantic king bed that really looked as if it belonged to a king, what with the size and fancy curtains. He was watching a flat-screen TV on the wall in front of him that had to have at least a 120-inch screen.
The TV was currently showing a middle-aged Zeke getting chased by an angry mob. He escaped after a while, causing Chris to 'boo' and change the channel, where Justin was on a date with some random woman. He tried to flirt with her and struck out.
"I love watching past camper's woes!" said Chris to no one in particular. "I thought their miseries would be over when the show got canceled after Season 4. But nope! Hah! Spying on them is the best idea I've had in ages! Hmm, let's see what Alejandro's up to."
He changed the channel again, and this time it showed Alejandro at his desk, with his head in his hands, sobbing gently. "Heather!" he cried. "Why did you leave me?! We could have grown old together, and made far more money than that damn million! Instead I am now alone forever, wretched and unhappy."
Chris burst out laughing, before going into a coughing fit. "What a fail! He's still not over Heather?! Ha ha, that's insane! What an idiot!" He kept laughing until more coughing interrupted. The Alejandro present in the room scowled and turned to Owen, only to find a hooded figure clothed all in black with his face hidden.
"W-w-who are you?" stammered Alejandro nervously, as Chris' mansion faded away and was replaced with a dismal graveyard. The figure didn't answer, only gesturing for Alejandro to follow him. He complied, walking behind the ominous specter.
Eventually they reached a row of worn graves, and Alejandro bent down to get a better look. "Noah. Blaineley. Gwen. Oh my gosh! These are our graves! We're all here." He ran down the row, spotting name after familiar name. "Zoey. Ezekiel. Chef. Harold." The row ended with a much larger tombstone, topped by a statue of an angel.
He knelt down, knowing whose grave this must be. "It's Heather's, isn't it?" The figure nodded, before guiding him over to another grave, broken and worn, and so small it was barely noticeable.
"Whose grave is this?"
The specter ripped off his hood, and Mal smiled at him evilly. "Why Alejandro, it's yours!" He pulled a sword out of his robes and stabbed it into the ground, opening up a fiery gap in the earth through which Alejandro fell.
"No! I refuse to die!" he yelled as he spiraled down the pit. His hands grabbed at the dirt and he managed to grab hold of a root. The sword fell down next to him and he caught it with his free hand.
He could see Mal above him, laughing. Quick as a flash, he threw the sword. It impaled the ghostly figure in the stomach, and Mal's knees buckled. He collapsed on the ground and disappeared. Alejandro lost his grip and fell again, only to land back in his bedroom.
"Right," he began after he'd gotten his wits back, "I need to find Heather." He sat down at his computer and ran search after search on the Internet. After a few tries he was successful, and the awful truth stared him in the face. Heather had died of breast cancer eight years ago.
With a cry of anguish, he threw the computer across the room and overturned his desk. "What the hell?!" he yelled. "I was visited by frickin' ghosts to tell me to seek out a girl I haven't seen in over half my life, only to find out she's DEAD! What's going on?!"
Mal stepped out of the shadows, swinging the sword Alejandro had impaled him with. "Hello Al. Look at you in your misery. It's almost enough to make me pity you. The operative word being 'almost', of course." He laughed evilly. "I didn't appreciate getting stabbed in the gut, by the way. In fact, I feel compelled to return the favor." Alejandro tried to dodge, but the sword went right through him before he could move. Everything quickly faded to black.
His eyes cracked open, and he found himself back in the swirl of colors. Next to him was Courtney, a.k.a. the Ghost of Christmas Past. "It's time to finally set things right," she said. Alejandro closed his eyes again, and opened them to find himself standing back on the volcano, in the middle of kissing Heather.
Right before she lifted her leg to knee him, he swung her into a more passionate kiss. She relaxed and kissed him back, forgetting about the money. In the background, feral Zeke grabbed the case with the million and ran away, only to trip over a rock and fall into the volcano. But Alejandro didn't care. He was together with Heather at last.
I hope Torie and any other readers liked it. This was probably my most serious story to date; I generally specialize in goofy insanity. :)
And of course, Merry Christmas Torie Rilistkrytcat!
~TheImpossiblyAwesomeWriter