Vanity. Vanity was yet another of the concepts that Dawn hadn't really understood until she competed on Total Drama. Vanity was one of those concepts she hadn't really even thought about until she met Justin Marshall. And that's when everything changed and she finally started thinking about what made people vain.

Dawn's first encounter with Justin had been watching him on TV during the first season of Total Drama. And like most people who met him she had found herself drawn in by his stunning body and charm. But it wasn't until she met him in person, sometime after TDRI, that she truly began to understand just how good he was at manipulating people. Justin hadn't been as adept at manipulation as Heather, Alejandro, and Scott had been, but he had been good, especially at using his looks to bend women to his will.

Dawn had fought his so called "powers" as best she could, but it hadn't been easy, considering how often he flaunted his looks. And yet, no matter how hard he tried, Justin had never been able to completely sway Dawn to his way of viewing the world.

And that's because I was stronger than you, Dawn thought, smiling. Maybe not physically, but mentally, I was always stronger than you Justin.

Dawn was one of the few who could make that claim truthfully. Most of the other female contestants had fallen under Justin's spell at some point or another. He had used that power from the moment he arrived at Camp Wawanakwa and Dawn had watched him with disgust for the first two seasons as he manipulated Lindsey, Beth, Katie, Sadie, and to a lesser degree the other girls. Even Owen had fallen for Justin's charms. Only Heather, Courtney, Bridgette, and Gwen had been semi-successful at avoiding his power.

At yet Justin hadn't remained the top villain for long. Alejandro had usurped him in TDWT, in which Justin did not compete. Even on TDI he wasn't much of a factor. It wasn't until TDA that his powers really began to work to his advantage, but even then it hadn't been enough to get him the win. And that failure had left Justin bitter and angry, which had led him to wallow in the mire of his vanity following the cancellation of the show.

"But you didn't need to wallow, did you?" Dawn asked aloud. "You had everything, you vain, arrogant prick. You had looks, fame, money, all of it. So why did you do what you did? Why did you give it all up when all you had to do was hold on?"

Dawn had no answers to those questions, no more than she did for any of the others she had asked. And it wasn't like she really cared. She didn't miss Justin the way she missed many of the others, but there was still something about his demise that made her sad. She wasn't quite certain what that something was, but she was certain there was something. Her best guess was that it had something to do with the circumstances of Justin's death, which had been one of the most shocking events in the sordid history of Total Drama.

After the show had been canceled Justin had returned to modeling, but he had soon grown bored with the scene. And it was that boredom, coupled with his vanity, that had led him to make the boldest of moves in the war to resurrect Total Drama. The move was a selfish one, to be sure, but Justin had insisted that it was for the greater good. And that excuse had almost worked, if only the people he had targeted hadn't been smarter than him. Those people were two of his chief rivals for the title of ultimate Total Drama villain, Heather and Alejandro.

Justin had gone after them with intense vigor, blindly believing that all that was needed to return Total Drama to prominence was a power couple. And Justin believed that the only couple that would work was him and Heather.

"Which was stupid." Dawn muttered. "You had to know that Alejandro was never going to give Heather up without a fight and that Heather was never going to leave him."

But apparently Justin hadn't known that, or he had simply chosen to ignore those facts. And that had ultimately been his undoing. For in his blind pursuit of Heather he had lost sight of just how dangerous both she and Alejandro were. And Alejandro had ultimately used that to his advantage, though it had actually been Heather who had taken Justin out.

When Justin had come to Heather, trying to convince her to join him, Alejandro had gone behind his back and convinced Heather to eliminate the threat. And that Heather had done. She had led Justin on for more than a month before finally revealing her true intentions. When Justin had least expected it, Heather had put a bullet in his head and two in his heart, ending any and all chances he had of reclaiming the glory he felt he had lost upon Total Drama's cancellation.

Justin's murder had been a shock and the fact that it had been Heather who pulled the trigger had been even more shocking, as no one had actually believed her capable of murder, despite her less than friendly demeanor. And yet there had been a lesson in Justin's demise as well, one that Dawn still recognized today, as clearly as she had then; vanity does not, in the end, pay.

Justin thought, vainly, that he was the best, Dawn mused, the pit of darkness she lived in brightening just a bit. But in the end he learned that vanity is no way to win friends and he was really just as pathetically human as the rest of us.

A/N: And that's chapter 9. Sorry for the delay. I was working on other ideas for a while and then suffered from a temporary loss of inspiration. But, as you can see, I'm back and things should get back on to a more regular schedule in the coming days. So, that's how Justin died. Shocking, isn't it? His vanity was his undoing, who would've thought right? Anyway, that's all I have to say on that, except to add that Justin was the 22nd to die and that the next chapter will be about Lindsey and Tyler. Until then, hope you enjoyed. Cheers, KT.