Author's Note: Heya, just wanted to say thank you once more to those who have liked the fic so far, I'm honestly shocked that even one person liked this so far, yet at the time of posting this at least ten people have either Favourited or Followed (or both). As of this chapters release I should have an Archive of our Own account by then as well, which all three chapters will be uploaded to when ready. With all that being said I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter!
Reviews
RFtheGreat: I'm glad the interactions between Lauren and Ezekiel were to your liking. There's a fair bit to go through on both sides of the story, and let's just say the others won't be too happy to see the two crazies teaming up. And yeah it just made sense that in universe they'd need to clear up Chris's act and fix up some of the safety procedures on the show, given how crazy All Stars and Pahkitew Island were.
Chapter Three
"I'm not going anywhere!"
"Why only the most dangerous and chauvinistic animal of all"
"He's like a one man cockroach infestation"
"He's gone totally feral"
"Found him living in the cargo hold homeschooling with the rats"
"Was it season three when I kicked you off the plane, made everyone hunt you down and threw you in a volcano?"
"This years winner is in the house"
"This game's mine eh!"
"Ain't you that creepy stowaway from last season"
"Feral Freakshow, Ezekiel!"
"I lost the stick"
"Was it last year when I sealed you in a mine filled with toxic waste?"
"Whoever nabs the beast formerly known as Ezekiel"
"Yo that's unbelievable, some team! You guys are all a bunch of..."
"But this stowaway's got winning in his heart"
"After all that time with the animals"
"I told you I wasn't gonna lose this time eh!"
"Oh! Was it this season when I flew you back in just to boot you out again?"
"Back when you were still semi-human"
"MINEEEEEEEE!"
Ezekiel's bloodshot eyes shoot open wide as he darts up out of his nest, screaming masked as a guttural animalistic growl. Sweat trailing down his battered, green face as his eyes dart back and forth across the cave in panic. Clutching hard at the remaining strands of hair as he desperately tries to calm himself down from his nightmare.
After a few minutes to calm himself, Ezekiel turns around to get back in his nest, only then noticing the other occupant in the room mere feet away, staring intensely at him, her creepy smile on full display. Ezekiel yelped in surprise and shambled backwards until hitting one of the cavern's walls, having been completely taken off guard by Lauren's appearance, having briefly forgotten about her because of the nightmare.
Lauren for her part just giggled at Ezekiel's expression, taking immense pleasure in seeing him look completely terrified. She was currently at the other end of the nest to where Ezekiel had been, sitting with her knees up, arms laying on top of them with her head resting on her hands. Hidden behind her arms was the decorated skull.
"H-how long… h-have you been… w-watching me?" Ezekiel struggled to get out, still slightly shaking from his earlier panic attack and the recent one given to him by the Scary Girl.
"A while." She stated eerily. "I would've tried to wake you up, but you were screaming a lot, and the sounds of them were just so delicious. I just HAD to watch!" She continued, getting more excited with each word spoken until she started laughing again at the end.
Ezekiel shuddered slightly in response, unsure if it was due to his nightmare or due to Lauren admitting she was watching him in his sleep. In his panic he completely missed the slight concern flashing behind the usual mania in Lauren's eyes, or how her hands started shaking slightly. Seeing him terrified like this was reminding her of things that had happened a long time ago, things she had tried to leave behind, she knew it was hypocritical considering how she took pleasure in the screams of others, and she remembers even creeping out Priya only a few days ago about her potentially screaming in her sleep, a theory she wasn't gonna be able to prove due to her elimination.
She didn't know why seeing him like this was doing this to her, was it because she actually truly cared on some level? Or was it just because the screams of terror were not directly because of her? Either way she felt the need to help him, just like how she had saved Damien from the sharks.
"Does this happen often?" Lauren spoke softly, the sudden question alerting the Feral Homeschooler, what threw him off further though was seeing her not smiling for the first time. Even when she fought him briefly she had that permanent creepy smile so seeing her look sad was… strange? It didn't belong on her at all.
"S-sometimes… Not e-every night b-but happens… since plane eh?" Ezekiel slowly responded, voice trembling with every word spoken.
"I understand how you feel, I used to have them all the time when I was younger," said Lauren, sounding almost vulnerable.
"R-really?" Ezekiel responded, confused about where this was going.
"My parents weren't very good to me, I always liked watching people do dangerous stunts, I loved the accidents that happened from it, their screams of delight or terror. But they hated it, calling me a 'psycho' or a 'demon child' for not being their perfect 'proper' little girl." Lauren's expression became pained. "They used to beat me relentlessly whenever I would show the slightest interest in something they didn't like, it made me feel so weak, so useless. It didn't matter what I did to try and please them, they'd always find an excuse to 'put me in my place'. They had tried to control everything in my life for years, so one day… I ran away, as far as I could. Trying to find somewhere no one could ever find me so I could die…"
Lauren looked to be near the verge of tears when she suddenly smiled her crazy smile, "That's when the circus found me and took me in, they looked after me and they even trained me to help out with their attractions when I was old enough. They made me feel like a person again, even when I was at my worst, they made me my outfit, they didn't even care that I liked seeing people get hurt, that I like to scare people and make them scream. They said it was who I was, and no one can change that, I'd still find people who'll accept me."
She stood up and slowly walked over towards Ezekiel, who was still laid against the wall near the cave entrance, placing the skull into his hands and kneeling in front of him so that they were directly looking at each other.
"I should've helped you, and I'm so sorry that I didn't because of my obsessions." Lauren finished, smile shaky and eyes watering slightly, but a genuine smile nonetheless.
For the vast majority of the time Ezekiel had interacted with her since she arrived on Boney Island, he had thought of her as either 'interesting' or 'creepy', and Lauren herself even admitted people always called her 'Scary Girl'. But right now, when she was showing him her vulnerability, she didn't look that scary at all.
He thought back to before his first season on Total Drama, when his parents gave him advice before he departed for the show, sure his dad gave him some horrible advice about women when it came to guys being stronger, smarter and better at sports, as many of the girls he'd known like Bridgette, Eva, and Izzy were far more capable than someone like him.
However, one piece of advice stuck out to him that would be helpful in this situation, if someone is struggling and is in need of help, do your best to help them, whether it's physical, mental, or emotional pain.
Ignoring the brief pain in his chest whenever he thought of his family, Ezekiel gently puts down the skull and hugs Lauren, her eyes widening and her face going slightly red at the contact. "I u-understand, It's n-not your fault. A-and if it helps, m-maybe we can be f-friends eh." Ezekiel says.
Lauren stays silent and unmoving for a moment, for all the talk she had made about being 'friends' with the likes of Priya and Damien, she had never actually made any friends on Total Drama, everyone had always been unnerved at her presence, and while she was usually okay with that, it felt nice for someone to actually reach out to her, that person being someone who'd suffered through just as much pain, if not more was a bonus. Lauren returned and leaned into the hug, smiling gratefully, and for a moment the thoughts of scaring or hurting people completely evaporated as the two just held each other softly.
After what felt like an eternity for the pair, Lauren smirked playfully, and with her arms still wrapped around the Feral Homeschooler, the Scary Girl launched the pair across the cave back into the nest, Ezekiel yelping at the sudden movement. The two landed, separating upon impact, with Lauren bursting into more giggling at the shocked face of Ezekiel, the other occupant of the nest following suit upon seeing how happy Lauren looked, for as creepy as her smiles usually looked, they really suited her, and he wanted to keep it that way.
Chris McLean was frankly, tired reviewing the contents of the last challenge. The challenge sounded good in concept, having the contestants race across the island to the Dock of Shame whilst trying to avoid Raptors however the twist in hindsight was too disgusting even by his standards, it was almost like Owen had been allowed to write up this challenge. 'Oh well, what's done is done,' he thought.
Some of the drama was heating up, and that was at least refreshing, between the budding romance in the Frogs of Death, and the sabotage to Julia's reputation by a certain thief was going to be glorious for the ratings when she inevitably finds out what's happened. However those weren't the main concerns in the hosts mind, in fact the current events happening on Camp Wawanakwa were the least of his concerns compared to the information Chef and he had received from the Playa last night.
Scary Girl had gone AWOL, disappearing somewhere between the island and the losers resort, which meant the deranged psycho could be anywhere. Admittedly her appearance on the show in the first place was mainly to keep some of the impending danger that the higher ups had forced him to tone down after Pahkitew Island, which Chef had agreed to enforce. He also knew that Don from the Ridonculous Race was also eyeing up his position as host of Total Drama, and that going off the rails again in regards to torturing the contestants would result in him being replaced, something Chris vowed to not let happen after the incident with Topher.
Whatever interns that could be spared had already set out earlier in the day to go looking for the Scary Girl, knowing that left unchecked she could end up causing another 'Scarlett incident'. Chef had to stay behind to assist with the challenges, as agreed by the higher ups, and a couple of interns were still around to keep the soon to be four eliminated contestants at the resort until the finale. But hopefully the group of interns should be able to find her before she can do any damage to the surrounding area.
'With any luck she'll have done an Ezekiel and still be somewhere on the island' he thought, rolling his eyes at the mere thought of his all-time least favourite contestant. They were never able to find him after Camp Wawanakwa had previously sunk at the end of Total Drama All Stars, and his company were fearing a lawsuit off of homeschool's family considering they were the last ones to see him, however the lawsuit never came, only a missing person report, apparently the runt hadn't even told his family about the third season, so they've just assumed all this time that Ezekiel was missing, not even realising what the idiot had done to himself.
Chris was thankful to Ezekiel for that however, as his descent into madness stowing away on the plane all season had meant that Chris was able to milk him for ratings, using him as an obstacle towards the contestants throughout seasons three and four. However he personally didn't care where he had ended up, and after Pahkitew Island when the show went on hiatus for over two years, the producers had stopped caring when they were too busy trying to get their star asset back on the air.
A small part of him was afraid that the Feral former contestant was still somewhere in the area, remembering how he was almost killed by Ezekiel during All Stars, however he assumed that Ezekiel would have probably shown up by now if he were in fact around, if he was even still alive that is, he smirked at that thought. That smirk quickly turned into fear when the thought of Scary Girl and Ezekiel teaming up for revenge entered his mind, but the thought was fleeting, and a pipe dream at best. 'Yeah, no way that weirdo would ever be allies with the feral freakshow, best case scenario she'd end up killing him.' He thought once more, smirking once again at the former contestant's potential suffering, before drinking from his warm latte.
After finishing it off, Chris stood up from his leather chair, preparing to get back to camp for the elimination ceremony, putting the thoughts of the two crazy contestants out of his mind and getting his game face ready. He knew that a dramatic twist was coming in the next elimination, and he was so ready for it, already imagining the ratings.
It was getting to that point of the day where the eliminated contestant would soon be flown off of Camp Wawanakwa via drone, and Ezekiel was excited for this one, not necessarily for the contestant themselves, but because he had someone to talk to about it. Sitting on the beach next to him, Lauren was singing to herself happily, skull resting on her lap, Ezekiel's old burnt toque nestling gently on top of the skull.
"So…" Ezekiel started to say, turning to directly face Lauren, "Who d-do you think i-is getting v-voted off eh?"
Lauren pretended to think about it, her permanent smile still plastered on her face, "I hope it's Ripper, he's such a jerk, he deserves it after what he did when I was kicked off." She eventually responded with.
"W-well I hope it's t-that Julia. I don't k-know why, but s-something about her r-reminds me of Heather."
"You have a point there, from what little I saw of her she did seem fake. But I was too busy having too much fun tormenting the others to say anything." Lauren giggles slightly, remembering some of the things she did to the other contestants.
After a few minutes they could hear the drone slowly approaching, the occupant being held by his skull, screaming frantically, "THIS IS NOT SAFE!". Lauren gasped in shock, then smiled wickedly. She was slightly surprised that her 'friend' Damien had actually been eliminated, but now it at least meant that she could have a little more fun messing him around.
Grinning evilly, the Scary Girl leaped to her feet and rushed towards the shores that the Drone of Despair was passing through, shouting Damien's name ominously, Ezekiel following behind a little more apprehensive of the unfamiliar face passing through.
Damien, barely hearing the shouts of Lauren from below over his own screams, glances down to see her grinning up at him, arms wildly waving, skull in one hand. It has the desired effect that Lauren wanted, because as soon as Damien notices the Scary Girl waiting below, his screams only intensify. "SCARY GIRL! NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"
Lauren begins laughing gleefully seeing the reaction that her mere presence is giving to Damien, as Ezekiel walks up next to her, frowning at the passing drone. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" Damien screams once more, noticing the Feral Homeschooler for the first time.
Lauren's laughter only intensifies as Ezekiel growls to himself, almost expecting the negative reaction. "You've missed so much 'friend'! Meet my new bestie!" She shouts up to Damien once more, the panicking former contestant barely able to register anything that the Scary Girl was saying.
Unfortunately for her but very fortunate for Damien, the Drone of Despair passes by without incident, carrying on its set path towards the Playa Des Losers. Lauren continues laughing gleefully, taking full pleasure in seeing how afraid Damien was seeing her again on top of the appearance of Ezekiel. Said person standing next to her looking slightly bemused at the events of the last few moments, unlike the panicking man attached to the drone, he could tell that Lauren wasn't being malicious at all, although it was also understandable as to why Damien was so afraid of her, given that the last time he saw the Scary Girl she was chasing him around Camp Wawanakwa with a jackhammer.
Eventually Lauren's laughter began to die down, a beaming smile taking its place. She sighs contently as she falls flat onto the sand, glancing at Ezekiel who sits next to her once more. "That was fun!" She says happily, Ezekiel just chuckling slightly at her in response.
Still screaming from his brief encounter with the Boney Island Duo, Damien eventually lands at the Playa Des Losers, where the other eliminated contestants are waiting for him, seeing that he wasn't going to move anytime soon, Axel pushes him into the water, snapping him out of his panic induced shock.
Damien resurfaces moments later, spitting out water, glaring at the survivalist. "What! You were asking for it!" She says angrily, glaring back at him, Nichelle and Caleb behind her rolling their eyes at the small exchange.
"Damien right? What was that all about anyway, you just don't like drones or something?" Caleb asked him, reaching a hand out to Damien to help him back onto the dock.
"No sorry, the drone took me by surprise but it wasn't that that frightened me so much, I may have seen Scary Girl on the way here, she had this green looking thing with her wearing old tattered clothes…" Damien slowly responded, gratefully taking Caleb's hand.
"Wait you saw her, where was she?" Nichelle said, looking slightly uncomfortable at the mention of Scary Girl.
"It was this weird looking island with a skull on it, looked really creepy." Damien shuddered at the thought of the island that Scary Girl was currently on. "Wait… why isn't she here with the rest of us anyway?" He questioned.
"Island with a skull on it? Green thing with old tattered clothes? Wait…" Axel gasped, "Is she on Boney Island?" She realised.
"Boney Island?" Damien asked, confused.
"It was an island used for certain challenges during the older seasons." Caleb responded.
"Yeah, and if I'm remembering correctly, one of the old contestants ended up being stuck there after Wawanakwa originally sank. And if I also remember correctly there was only one contestant who turned green." Axel stated.
"Ezekiel." Caleb stated simply, starting to get a little more nervous at the implications.
"Ezekiel? What on earth happened to him to look like that?" Damien asked, looking really uncomfortable about the deformed being he saw with Scary Girl on Boney Island.
"He was a former contestant from the original seasons of this show, on the third season he refused to leave the plane they were travelling in and spent weeks if not MONTHS in the Cargo Hold with only animals for company. He went completely feral by the end of that season, and being mutated by toxic waste when Wawanakwa was a toxic dump didn't help either..." Axel explained to Damien.
"Shouldn't we try to get into contact with Chris about this?" Nichelle asked nervously, realising how bad the situation was becoming.
"And potentially bring TWO psychos on our doorstep, are you serious?" Damien replied, panic starting to settle in once more.
"It's not like we want either of them here!" Axel stated angrily. "But they're already looking for Scary Girl anyway, like it or not she's gonna be here at some point anyway so just suck it up!"
"Look we don't have to do this tonight, lets just get some rest for now, and we'll let them know in the morning, at the very least it'll give Damien some time to settle in and calm himself." Caleb said calmly, trying to diffuse the situation before Axel tries to attack someone.
After a moment Axel just grunted in response and turned to head back into the resort, the others following suit.
End Chapter
Author's Note: Just a reminder that Damien never saw anything to do with Total Drama before appearing on the show, so I think his reaction to seeing Ezekiel for the first time would be quite justified. Meanwhile there's nothing saying that the others never did so I feel like at the very least one of the other contestants will have seen the show before and thus know about what happened to Zeke.
I also tried to make something resembling a backstory for Lauren, using some inspiration from Himiko Toga's backstory from My Hero Academia for the first part, and a shout out to Dexter1995 for the second part involving the circus, if you haven't already go read his story 'Tied', it's been really good to read so far.