Author's Note: Heya, by the time I started writing this, other fics showing off the new cast have started releasing so I'm hoping my version of Lauren fits in with what everyone else is thinking of her.
Reviews
RFtheGreat: Thank you so much for the review! I won't lie I didn't know if I did that well with Ezekiel and Lauren so to hear someone actually praise them was a great confidence boost. I hope the interactions in this chapter are to your liking. :)
Many thanks to anyone who's read this so far, I'm surprised anyone actually liked it yet some people are actually following which made my week, to you guys especially please enjoy the second chapter of Not So Scary After All.
Chapter Two
Ezekiel had been resting for the last couple of hours, it had been a long day for him and his brief encounter with the interesting looking girl and subsequent chase had exhausted him.
Getting out of his nest, he scanned the area once more for any changes, but other than the new addition of the skull that he'd taken from the girl, everything was as it should have been, so either she was leading him into a false sense of security, or he was fine and she'd yet to find his home.
After taking another few moments to regain his bearings, Ezekiel made his way over to where the skull sat, and began to examine it more closely. It didn't seem to be real, at least not compared to the skulls found near where the woolly beavers resided. It had purple makeup and fake lashes on the eye and mouth areas, and the wig closely resembled that of the interesting girls hair, being various shades of purple tied up into two long pigtails, long bangs falling down each side of its face. All in all the job she'd done with it was quite impressive.
Ezekiel puts the skull back and begins to sneak his way out of the cave, still not completely sure about where the girl might be. In all the excitement from earlier he'd forgotten to scavenge for food, and he needed to find something for later. Briefly his mind wandered back to the island of Camp Wawanakwa where he is sure the other contestants for the new season were no doubt suffering under the cooking of Chef Hatchet.
After several minutes of walking he is able to find a small bush full of berries, picking a moderate amount of them off and hungrily wolfing them down, using a nearby stream of water to quickly wash off any residue from his face. On his way back he is interrupted by the sounds of someone singing softly to themselves, realising who it likely was, Ezekiel dives into a nearby bush, peeking through the leaves after a few moments to see the interesting girl skipping by slowly. She… didn't seem very good at the moment, head softly swaying from side to side, eyes dilated and manic with bags beginning to appear under her eyes, permanent grin etched onto her face. She wasn't facing towards him but he had a strong feeling that she knew he was around.
He watched her slowly make her way through the area, away from where he was hiding, singing slowly dissolving into crazed laughter. He slowly began to withdraw from his hiding place, before hearing a loud snap, both of them freezing in shock as Ezekiel slowly looked down in panic, seeing that one of his clawed feet had stepped on a large stick and snapped it into pieces. He looked back up at the girl who had stopped moving, having gone completely silent, and for a moment he nervously stared at the back of her, before her head seemed to tilt almost 180 degrees to face directly at him, a creepy grin plastered on her face and an audible cracking sound heard as her neck twists.
"Found you my little pig." She said slowly, turning the rest of her body to face him, before rushing towards him with a burst of speed. Ezekiel only had enough time to widen his bloodshot eyes slightly before the girl crashed into him with surprising strength, ending up with him pinned to the ground with the girl sitting on top of him, Ezekiel growled at her and tried to swing his claws at her, however she easily pinned his arms down so he couldn't take a swipe at her.
She giggles to herself darkly before looking down at her newest prey, "Hello Ezekiel, it's so nice to meet you 'friend'." She says in a sing-song tone, eyes twitching and smile attempting to look somewhat friendly but coming out completely menacing. "I believe you have something of mine, give it to me or I'll make your lava bath feel tame in comparison to what I'm about to do to you." She continued, her tone not changing but her eyes lighting up at the thought of him getting hurt.
Ezekiel struggled briefly in slight panic, growling in response to her comments, after quickly realising that he wasn't going to break free like this, he quickly began to build up acid in his throat, hoping the threat of the acid will allow him to get some distance away from the girl.
Lauren was having the time of her life, she'd stumbled upon her new 'friend' in the forest (or rather he had found her) and now she was going to have some fun 'breaking him down'. She was only partially joking of course, she didn't want to seriously injure her prey, just mess with him a little, like she did with Damien when she was still in the competition. However she really wanted her other friend back, and only Ezekiel knew where it was, and if it meant that she had to hurt him to get her skull friend back, then so be it.
As Ezekiel launched his acid spit towards Lauren, she jumped up and away from the Feral Homeschooler, watching in glee as the acid burned through the trees nearby. She turned back towards him, head tilting to one side with her deranged smile on full display.
Ezekiel growled at her and attempted to draw some distance away from Lauren, but the Scary Girl wasn't having any of that, grabbing his hood and beginning to swing him around like she did to the bear during the obstacle course challenge. "That's what you get for growling at me!" She said through gritted teeth towards Ezekiel, continuing to swing him around, making sure to hit every object in sight just to maximise the pain he'd be feeling.
To his credit, Ezekiel was able to keep quiet during his beatdown courtesy of Lauren, the amounts of pain he was put through during his time on Total Drama helping to build up a slight pain tolerance. However that didn't mean that he wasn't getting away pain free, and when she released him via throwing him into a nearby tree, he let out a small groan of pain, once again shocked at the strength that she had, being able to easily throw him around with only one hand.
Lauren skipped over to the downed Ezekiel, giggling at the state she had him in. "You're funny!" She stated looking down at the former contestant, tone sounding sweet with a ominous undertone underneath. "But I really want my skull back, can you lead me to it 'friend'?" She asked, smiling creepily at him, head tilting to one side once more with another audible crack.
Ezekiel got up slowly, groaning once more, looked at Lauren who was waiting expectantly for a response, and just nodded his head slowly, not wanting to be swung around like that again. He gestured for Lauren to follow him, before taking off on all fours, the Scary Girl skipping along after him, singing happily to herself once more.
Some time had passed, and the two eventually made it back to the cave where Ezekiel called his home. Ezekiel sighed, preparing his damaged vocal cords to speak to Lauren for the first time since she arrived on Boney Island when she suddenly squealed happily, barging past him in order to get to the decorated skull sitting nearby.
Lauren picks up her skull, clutching it closely to her chest, then turns to see the downed Ezekiel nearby. She grins down at him as she proceeds to pick him up with her free hand and carry him to the nest nearby, throwing him down then proceeding to jump into the nest herself, landing on Zeke and making him groan once more, Lauren bursting into more giggling at the sound of his pain.
"W-who… you…" Ezekiel attempts to say once he recovers from her landing, words partially coming out as growls. Lauren tilts her head at the feral homeschooler, her creepy smile once again widening at seeing him struggling to speak. "ME!" she says excitedly. "I'm Lauren, but everyone always calls me 'Scary Girl', at least the others on the island did, most people just scream and run away when they see me." She continued, still smiling as if nothing was wrong with what she had just said.
Ezekiel frowns at that last comment, but chooses not to speak up about it, knowing how it felt to be isolated from the rest of society, even if Lauren didn't seem to let that get to her, even relishing in the fact. "Zeke…" He eventually responds with, preferring to just let her carry any conversation due to his limited speech.
She looks him over a few times, noting every little detail from his mangled ear, to his sickly green skin and the small, almost unnoticeable burns littering his body. Unbeknownst to either of them, a small blush begins to form on Lauren's cheeks as she fully takes in the appearance of Ezekiel's battered, mutated body for the first time.
"I know who you are. You were always one of my favourites." Lauren said softly, pale blue eyes briefly losing their crazed look as she looked back into Ezekiel's grey bloodshot eyes. The feral homeschooler looking back confused, head tilted to one side.
"The way you never gave up on what you wanted, even though everything and everyone didn't approve of you or your methods, I can respect it." She continued, a genuine smile plastered on her face, for a moment she didn't seem so scary as two social outcasts briefly stared into each other's eyes.
Then the manic look returned. "I also loved how you went out of your way to injure the other contestants, I rewatched those moments so many times. And how you stole the money off of Heather in the season three finale." Lauren began cackling once more, startling Ezekiel who was listening intently, he may be slightly weirded out by her, but at least she actually seemed to want to talk to him, so he wasn't going to complain too much.
Lauren suddenly stopped laughing and adopted an extremely confused face. "How did you survive the lava anyway?"
Ezekiel could only shrug at that question, even at his worst he knew he was lucky to survive the end of Total Drama World Tour, his fall into the volcano, being completely submerged in lava, followed by being sent into the Hawaiian waters nearby at high speeds, crashing into the boat that Chris and Chef were using at the time. He knew he shouldn't be alive, and he couldn't explain it away as his mutation since he only gained his acidic spit during his time trapped in the Radioactive Mines, not on the plane.
Lauren just shakes her head in response, slight cracking being heard with every movement "it doesn't matter." she states simply, before turning her full attention back to the skull still in her grasp, humming quietly to herself with her creepy smile plastered on her face once more.
For a few moments Ezekiel was content to just leave her be, glancing at her occasionally, curiosity eventually getting in the way. "S-show…"
Lauren looked at him, one eyebrow raised in confusion but her smile was still in place.
Ezekiel continued to try and speak, "Why… d-did you come h-here…"
Lauren's smile became wider, "I was bored of the people I knew, they still screamed, but it was just soooo boring after a while. I decided to join because there's always something 'interesting' going on here so it'd be more fun, and more importantly I wanted to make a lot of new 'friends' and watch them get really hurt." She laughed innocently, but the ominous message was clear.
"And did you?"
Lauren stopped laughing and her smile became a toothy grin, "Yeah, it was fun to mess with the others, sometimes I get carried away. But their screams were always so… delicious!" She started to blush again as she continued, "But they weren't so bad, Damien was my favourite to mess with, he didn't realise what he was getting into with this show so everything scared him, it made his screams even better. And Priya, I know she meant well but she was always so nervous when talking to me, I just HAD to mess with her a little." She sighed softly, then started to giggle once more. "I wish I could've stayed slightly longer, it made the experience so much more enjoyable."
"Want… talk a-about it?" Ezekiel struggled to say, finding the thought of getting to know more about the new cast, and especially his new friend appealing, at the very least it was something new compared to his usual routine on the island.
Once more he thought back to the few friends he had from before his time on the plane, of the good times he had at the playa with Izzy, Harold, Cody and all the others from his seasons, even if this didn't last long he'd rather spend the time talking with Lauren than continuing to be alone, he missed having interactions with people rather than just animals, and a part of him once more wishes to go back to his old life.
Lauren smiled her toothy grin at him once more. "Only if you give me some stories about yourself as well."
Ezekiel smiled back with his own toothy grin and agreed. They spent the next several hours talking about each other's times on the show (and after in Ezekiel's case), Ezekiel doing his best to go into depth about the others, his time at the playa and also his time on the plane after his elimination. Lauren responding with her own time on the island and her interactions with the other contestants. Both of them eventually falling asleep as time passed into the next morning.
"Why exactly do we have to wait here again?"
It was quite late into the night at the Playa Des Losers, and the three losers of the season were made to stand and wait for their new 'companion' to arrive, alongside them is two interns, being there to make sure that no one tries to escape the resort and try to infiltrate Camp Wawanakwa, a necessity brought in by the Executives and Chef Hatchet after the incident last season with Amy infiltrating Pahkitew Island to get revenge on her sister Sammy for kicking her off, that combined with Scarlett and Dave's meltdowns towards the end of the same season had led to the series nearly being cancelled, with a long hiatus between seasons in order to get McLeans head straight after his spiral into insanity throughout the show, as well as various safety measures being brought in so that another Pahkitew Island couldn't happen, such as the increased security, Chef keeping Chris under control so the challenges wouldn't be too dangerous and more like the older seasons, and the age increase for new contestants being eighteen so the chances of lawsuits for hurting minors would no longer apply, again as a result of Pahkitew Island being too dangerous.
"We've been over this 'Action Star', Chris wants us all to greet the other contestants and 'welcome them' to the resort. I couldn't care less if you hate it, SHUT UP ABOUT IT!" Axel shouted over at Nichelle, fist raised towards at the last part.
Caleb jumped in-between the two in order to intervene, "Hey now Axel, calm down, Nichelle was just asking a valid question, one that we both had as well." He said calmly, somewhat nervous at what the survivalists reaction to this would be, only to sigh in relief when Axel simply turned around with a short "Whatever".
Nichelle was currently looking into the distance back towards where Camp Wawanakwa was located, faintly hearing the sound of the Drone of Despair approaching. "Guys stop, they're coming."
Axel snapped to attention, both her and Caleb joining Nichelle at the edge of the dock in order to 'greet' their newest companion, only to be slightly shocked at the sight of just a black umbrella attached to the drone, no contestant in sight.
"What in the world?" Caleb wondered, as Axel started screaming, "IS THIS A PRANK, IF SO IT'S NOT FUNNY CHRIS!"
The intern however knew something had gone wrong, as there were no non-elimination episodes scheduled due to the number of competitors there were this season, and immediately phoned over to the island to see what had gone wrong.
"Chef here, what's the problem intern?" Could be barely heard from the phone.
"The drones arrived but there's no contestant, just some umbrella attached to the drone." The intern replied.
The intern could hear the sound of a chair falling to the ground, followed by the concerned voices of both Chef Hatchet and Chris McLean in the background.
"Chef sir? Mr McLean? What's happened over there? Hello?"
Behind the intern Caleb, Nichelle and Axel looked at them confused as to what was going on, but they knew something had happened involving the recently eliminated contestant, only for that confusion to turn into mild panic when the intern screamed, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SCARY GIRL WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! SHE CLEARLY ISN'T!"
Some more chatter could be heard from the phone, but this time it wasn't audible to the eliminated contestants. Eventually the intern responded nervously with, "Okay, I'll take the contestants back to their rooms, then I'll gather as many spare interns as we can to check the surrounding islands for her, she couldn't have gone far."
Axel just stood there with her arms crossed as Caleb and Nichelle looked at each other with extreme concern on their faces, even though they barely interacted with people on the other team during their time on the island they both knew how crazy Scary Girl was, as well as how dangerous it could be for her to be left unchecked.
As the intern ended the call and picked the Drone up to recharge for the next elimination, umbrella still in the drones clutches, they gestured to the contestants to follow them back into the resort. The two exchanged one last glance at each other before Axel shoved them both forward in an attempt to get away from the Dock.
End Chapter
Authors Note: I tried to do my best with this one, the interactions between the two may feel awkward at times but since Ezekiel won't have had proper human interaction in years, and from what we get in the new season Lauren also has little interactions beyond scaring people (Zee probably being the exception).
Originally I wasn't going to add the last section at the Playa Des Losers, however midway through writing the third chapter I decided instead to come back to this one and try to flesh out the story in an attempt to link this season more so to the previous ones, whether the original '15 Year' time skip would've applied or not (again, only 5 years between season one and this season in this fic), it felt wise to at least have an in universe explanation in order to try and explain why no seasons aired between Pahkitew Island and the new seasons.