Author's Note: These last two chapters should end up being a little shorter than the last few have been, now that the other contestants will be officially leaving the building and we're back to just having Ezekiel and Lauren for the most part. These chapters intend to serve as a transitional period in Lauren's story in-between seasons, as well as finish off Ezekiel's time stuck as a (half) feral ghoul once and for all.

WARNING: Minor spoilers for season two will appear during these last two chapters, however it's mostly about what we've seen in the trailer, as of starting this chapter it's November 26th so the second season is a week away so if anything major was to be spoiled (it shouldn't) then it's purely coincidental, I know just as much going into the new season as everyone else. (UPDATE 3 (4/12/23): Since the first four episodes from the new season have been released, some things have changed slightly, so whilst no major spoilers have been added, expect some minor details regarding our favourite Scary Girl to appear in these next two chapters. No teams, no challenge spoilers, no eliminations will be spoiled in this fic!)

UPDATE (27/11/23): And literally a day later the first episode leaked… Well, at least by watching it I can change up a few things for the chapters release, by the time this releases the season should be out in Italy, and people will no doubt upload the season for everyone else (something I don't find too much of a problem so long as everyone shows support for the season when it comes out officially). This chapter shouldn't contain spoilers from that episode, however expect the next (and final) chapter to have some spoilers from episode 1.

UPDATE 2 (28/11/23): So I've managed to inspire another Ezekiel gets rescued fic, if anyone's interested it's 'You Can Go Home Again' by Plutodragon on AO3. It's looking really good so far so I wanted to give them a shout out! =)

Reviews

MatiasND: If the Ridonculous Race is anything to go off then they're still looking for him, otherwise his wanted posters would've been taken down. That being said two years have passed since RR in this fic so who knows.

Chapter Twenty Six

It had been early in the afternoon when the pair had separated from the others after docking back up on the mainland, Lauren creeping out some of the others when she promised to 'see them soon…', and Ezekiel leaving with slightly more warm goodbyes.

The pair had left with several phone numbers added from several members of both casts, Ezekiel specifically being gifted a new phone by Dakota before they left, as well as instructions on how long he needed to keep the injections going for the cure before he'd be fully healed from his mutations.

It all seemed to be going smoothly as they finally left the others when Lauren's taxi had arrived, and from there things quickly began to get complicated for the pair.

When the sixteen contestants for the revival season of Total Drama had signed up onto the new season, the producers had personally covered the travel costs for each of them to get from all over Canada to Lake Wawanakwa where they would've been taken by boat to the island.

When she had first been taken from her 'home', this had been a simple affair for Lauren, even if she couldn't have any fun on the way to the island, although she had certainly gotten a kick out of hearing the driver escorting her scream in terror whenever she so much as moved.

The same couldn't be said for the way home, as although she had much more pleasant company in Ezekiel, the pair of them both knew that the bigger priority was trying to get him back to his home before she could even think about heading home for the mid-season break.

Unfortunately for the pair, the driver hired to bring her home was adamant about the one destination, and unlike the driver that Lauren had on the way to the island was much less intimidated by her presence, and even less enthusiastic about the job he'd been hired to do. It had been a struggle for him to even accept letting Ezekiel into the vehicle, only reluctantly letting him join after several minutes of Lauren refusing to leave without him.

The driver, a big burly man in his forties, had just glanced back at her when she'd threatened him, Ezekiel watching on with a mixture of awe and fear as the two argued back and forth. The driver had spoken in a thick eastern european accent, threatening to throw them both out to fend for themselves in the wild, his pay check from the producers be damned.

It had been early in the afternoon when they'd left, and it was beginning to turn dark when they'd finally arrived at Lauren's 'home', the driver quickly kicking them out once he'd confirmed that they were at the right place, before turning around and driving away as fast as he could.

The circus that they had been dropped off at was huge, various tents littered around what would've been a vast open landscape, surrounded by forest-covered mountains. All of the various attractions barely visible both in-between and above the tents, it looked more and more like a carnival than a circus, however the biggest tent of them all sat in the middle of the entire complex, clearly being the tent where the circus would've been held.

All of this surrounded by a large metallic gate, clearly put in place so no one could sneak onto

Ezekiel stared for a moment in awe as he took the sights in for the first time, not having seen anything like it before, the closest to it being the craft services tent from the few moments he'd spent on the film lot where Total Drama Action had been filmed, this however was so much bigger then he imagined.

He stood there gawking at it for a few more moments, Lauren rolling her eyes with a small smile at his expression before grabbing his hand, dragging him towards the entrance of the establishment. However instead of heading through the main entrance where Ezekiel could faintly see more and more attractions and stalls amongst the tents, Lauren instead typed in a code into a keypad next to a door to the side of the entrance, and entered what seemed to be a staff only area.

She carefully led Ezekiel down the hallway, eventually entering what seemed to be a lounge area, it was fairly large, a few tables and chairs lying around, an old TV bolted to the wall in one of the corners. In another corner was what appeared to be a kitchen area, bottles of soda scattered across the table, but otherwise looked fairly well kept, if not slightly worn down from usage overtime…

There were a few doors leading away from the room, one opening up towards a small hallway, leading up a flight of stairs that had a restricted access sign plastered on the wall just before the staircase. There were three other doors, all of them currently closed, and for two of them there was no indication as to what they led to.

The third one on the other hand had a simple purplish sign hammered onto the front of it with the name 'Lauren', clearly indicating to Ezekiel that this was where she had lived before signing up for Total Drama.

"T-This was w-where you've been s-staying?" Ezekiel questioned, looking around nervously at the small private part of the circus that Lauren called 'home'.

"Yep! I can't wait to show you around one day!" Lauren chirped, grinning from ear to ear at the familiar territory. "I'll even show you where I filmed my audition tape…" She said in a sing-song tone.

"Well look who's finally back…" A voice called from the restricted hallway, Ezekiel turning around apprehensively whilst Lauren's grin got even wider as she turned to see the figure entering the room.

The figure turned out to be a tallish man in his fifties, dressed in a black and red ringmaster costume. His black tailcoat being accented with dark red trims, the waistcoat underneath being a similar shade of red with black highlights, he wore a black top hat on top of his dark brown hair, the ends of which were beginning to turn silver, he wore a purple bow tie that matched the purple trim on his hat, as well as the dark purple gloves he wore on his hands, the purple matching the colour of Lauren's hair.

Most alarming to Ezekiel was the long whip that was hung up by his waist, one flick away from being unleashed on whatever poor soul got in its way…

His dark blue eyes glanced first to Ezekiel, who stood nervously in front of him, before he set his eyes on the Scary Girl once more, and smiled warmly.

"Welcome home child…" The man greeted Lauren warmly, the Scary Girl's creepy smile quickly dropping into a more genuine one as she rushed over to hug him.

"How was the trip to Wawanakwa then, I assume you got what you wanted." He continued after their brief hug, placing his hands onto Lauren's shoulders.

Lauren nodded gleefully, her creepy smile on full display once more. "And so much more…" She said eerily.

The man smiled once more, before looking past her and towards the nervous Ezekiel. "And I assume that he has something to do with it?" He asked.

Ezekiel paled slightly, seeing that the man's attention was now on him, he knew that Lauren's home life was a disaster, her biological family disowning her because of who she was, and by the looks of the man standing in front of him, this was likely the man who took Lauren in when she ran away…

"Wait… I recognise you…" His eyes narrowed briefly as he sized Ezekiel up, before widening slightly in surprise. "You're that homeschooled kid who turned into a feral ghoul a few years back…"

"Yep! I found him on an island near Wawanakwa after I was eliminated!" Lauren grinned, moving past the man in order to link arms with the nervous Ezekiel, the latter beginning to shake slightly.

The man grunted in slight displeasure as he looked at Lauren once more. "How unfortunate, so you didn't win the money in the end…" He muttered almost sadly.

"Sorry Mister Mecidi, I tried to win but I got kicked off fourth in the end…" Lauren responded apologetically, a small frown on her face.

The man, Mecidi, smiled at her once more. "At least you tried Lauren…" He reassured her, before looking at the pair, Ezekiel still unsure about the man who was now quite clearly close to the Scary Girl. "Maybe the others couldn't appreciate the talents you possessed, and saw how much of a threat you would've been later on, but alas…" He sighed dramatically, tilting himself back as if he was performing on a stage.

"Now, about your 'friend' here…" Mecidi gestured towards Ezekiel as he leaned back up to face them once more, glancing down to see their arms linked together, a small dust of pink appearing on Lauren's otherwise pale face as her smile twitched slightly. "What exactly is he to you Lauren?" He asked Lauren, however the look he gave to both of them suggested that Ezekiel was asked as well.

"U-Um… W-Well…" Ezekiel stuttered out. 'I thought I was used to this by now with everyone back at the Playa, this feels so much worse eh…' He thought to himself.

"He's… Well…" Lauren's grin faded, the Scary Girl not knowing how to explain herself to her father figure. Now that she was home, there were finally some consequences for some of the things she did on the island, she began to feel the same nerves that Ezekiel had felt ever since Mecidi had shown up.

She knew he wouldn't judge her for her performance in the competition, maybe raise an eyebrow or two at her antics the day she got eliminated, but after spending a few years with her he knew that deep down Lauren didn't want to hurt anyone, just get a reaction from them with her antics…

It just so happens that usually in order to get said reaction that they needed to be hurt or put in serious danger…

"Well… He's… sorta my… boyfriend…" Lauren eventually said, both her and Ezekiel's faces both bright red as they looked away, embarrassed and fully expecting the worst from the man standing in front of them.

…

…

…

…

They heard a chuckle, then another, then as they opened their eyes and looked slowly back at Mecidi, they found him crossing his arms in amusement, laughing heartily to himself.

"Ahh the looks on your faces…" He said in between laughs. "If you thought I was angry, don't worry about it." He grinned at the pair as he put a gloved hand into his pocket, pulling out his phone and showing it to the embarrassed pair, the clip of Axel and Lauren's fight on the screen, paused at the moment where Ezekiel and Lauren were hugging following the aftermath of the fight. "I kind of figured it out already…"

"Oh…" Ezekiel paused, hiding his eyes under his toque, whilst Lauren's grin returned, her eyes glazing over as she tried to hide her embarrassment, internally panicking as she realised for the first time how damaging that clip would actually be…

Not just because of the fact that her 'father' knew about her and Ezekiel, but more worryingly for her, her biological parents knew that she'd been on Total Drama, and knowing Chris McLean he'd tell them exactly where she'd be, knowing that the broken relationship between her and her old family would be a potential source of drama, especially with season two on the horizon later in the year.

Mecidi also seemed to realise this, his beaming smile fading away as he noticed Lauren frozen in place, her crazed expression shielding both him and Ezekiel from how terrified she truly was. He'd already known that this would be coming, the promos for the season that she'd just come back from were beginning to release, and eventually she would appear on them, and when the audition tapes would eventually leak…

His eyes widened in horror, he remembered the first time he met Lauren around seven years ago, the girl being found in one of the tents in his establishment malnourished, battered and scared. He remembered how livid he'd been when Lauren had eventually admitted the truth, that her parents had abused her for years, having preferred to beat her and shout at her rather than attempting to understand and help her…

Jack Mecidi knew that his adopted 'daughter' was unique, her interests and lack of social awareness, combined with her poor childhood had shaped her into someone who admittedly was never going to fit in with societal norms, especially with the rise of social media and cancel culture. However he also knew that Lauren wasn't the freakshow that her family had made her out to be, he'd seen over the years what she was really like, and clearly so did Ezekiel.

Ezekiel had since peeked his head out from underneath his toque, having noticed the silence that had suddenly entered the room. He first saw Mecidi staring worriedly towards them, he then turned his head to see Lauren's frozen expression of fear, masked behind the creepy smile that he'd begun to adore…

"L-Lauren?" He spoke quietly, the Scary Girl not noticing, her expression unchanging. He looked back towards Mecidi, who motioned for him to come over, his expression becoming more and more of a mixture between fear and anger. Ezekiel gulped slightly, unlinking his arm from Lauren's as gently as he could, before walking to him.

"I'm not angry at you Ezekiel, but I need to ask you something?" Mecidi stated quietly, his gaze moving back to the frozen Scary Girl in the centre of the room.

"W-What is i-it?" Ezekiel said worriedly.

"Did she ever mention anything about her home life to you whilst at that resort?" He asked the Feral Homeschooler.

"N-No… B-But it came u-up o-on Boney I-Island…" Ezekiel recalled. "I-I have n-nightmares sometimes, a-about the show… about w-what happened to me. S-She s-saw it the day after w-we met, and s-she told me a-about how she had t-them when she was y-younger eh…" Ezekiel explained, remembering how vulnerable and sad Lauren had been at the time, about how she unexpectedly opened up to him.

"Yes…" Mecidi muttered, taking his top hat off and scratching the top of his scalp nervously, looking ashamed. "She had many issues when I'd first taken her in, it took months before she'd opened up to me about anything to do with her old life… Honestly I don't know what to say in regards to her opening up to you so fast…" He said to Ezekiel, before smiling and placing an arm on his shoulder.

"She must really like you if she did that…" He grinned softly for a moment, before frowning once more. "Look, the reason I asked you is because well…" His eyes clouded slightly, his expression becoming slightly annoyed once more. "Her parents are going to find her here soon, because of that blasted show…" He announced.

"W-What?" Ezekiel's eyes widened in concern. "H-How?"

"The audition tape for one, the clip that was put all over the internet involving you two for another, and I also suspect that that troglodyte Chris McLean will probably spill the information to them." Mecidi explained.

Ezekiel's eyes narrowed dangerously, his sharpened teeth on full display as he glared into the distance. "W-Well… that asshole h-has a problem with h-her because of her r-rescuing me…" He spat out, growling slightly. "He a-already threatened to s-shut your c-circus down, I-I wouldn't put it p-past him to bring h-her a-abusive family into t-things…"

Mecidi's eyes lowered, calculating what he could do in response to this, he thought to himself for a few moments, before glancing back towards Ezekiel, realising something. "If I may ask, why come straight here? Not that I don't appreciate seeing my 'daughter' again but, I would have thought that after being missing for so long, you'd be wanting to see your family again?"

"I-I do…" Ezekiel responded sheepishly. "B-Bu-" Ezekiel began before being quickly cut off by a voice from behind him.

"But the stupid driver wouldn't take a detour, and I wanted to be the one to bring him home!" Lauren said, her voice raised as she walked over to them, her eyes lighting up in a similar amount of fear and anger as Medici's were moments ago, the Scary Girl having snapped out of her frozen expression just in time to hear about the possibility of her 'parents' finding out where she was.

"I see…" Mecidi pondered for a moment, before smirking. "Do you still need a ride home? I can take you both there tomorrow, the circus will be fine without me for one day, and this could work out in both of your favours."

"H-How so?" Ezekiel asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Lauren's biological parents won't know anything about you unless McLean spills everything, so she stays with you, at least until we lead them away from here…" Mecidi explained.

"But, wouldn't Chris know where Ezekiel lived before his… uh… 'Feral State'...?" Lauren questioned.

Mecidi sighed heavily. "That is true, however I'm banking on them not going to Chris, and instead trying to find us through Lauren's audition tape."

He sighed again before walking towards the door leading to Lauren's room, opening the door slightly before gesturing towards them. "Look, I'll handle the details of how we can keep Lauren away from her abusers, for now you two need some rest, we can talk about this more on the way to Ezekiel's home…" He said before walking away from the door, instead heading into

The pair looked at each other for a moment, Lauren smiling creepily towards Ezekiel before shrugging and skipping away into her room. She peeked out moments later, holding her decorated skull like a trophy, giggling like a madwoman.

"Come on Zekey… We have SO much I want to show you…" She giggled eerily before vanishing into one of the other doors in the room, presumably his own room. Ezekiel stared for a moment, before smiling and following Lauren.

*The next morning*

As the sun slowly began to rise over the circus, a small purple car could be seen leaving the premises, the three occupants awaiting the final journey to reunite Ezekiel back with his family.

Mecidi sat in the driver's seat, mainly focusing on the road ahead of him, occasionally glancing in the mirror, watching the pair as they sat quietly talking to each other, he was completely unaware of what exactly they were talking about, but at the very least he knew that Lauren was at least getting into it judging by the large grin spread across her face.

Surprisingly the farm where Ezekiel had grown up wasn't too far away from where they currently were, only being around a couple of hours away by car, however it was within the most rural parts of the country.

Mecidi had spent most of the night researching what he could do to protect his 'daughter' from what was inevitably going to come from her time on the show, evident by the bags beginning to appear under his eyes. He'd managed to settle on a spot where she'd be able to live for the moment in the event that Ezekiel's family didn't take kindly to her, a small abandoned funeral home quite close to the area where Ezekiel was from.

It seemed almost too good to be true, it was close enough to home so he could still check on her often enough, plus the closeness to Ezekiel meant that she'd at least have one 'friend' if she needed him. It also helped that he knew that Lauren would jump at the chance to live somewhere as creepy as a funeral home, so little convincing would be needed on that part…

He looked over once more towards Ezekiel specifically, he of course knew all about the prairie boy from before his exile to Boney Island. How could he not? The 'former' sexist turned wannabe eliminated first twice in a row, only to stowaway for weeks on a jumbo jet and resurface as some feral gollum rip-off…

When he'd said to Ezekiel that he wasn't mad about their relationship he wasn't lying, sure when he'd first seen the clip involving Ezekiel and Lauren he was furious. How could he not be? However he remembered the sad situation that Ezekiel had found himself in over the years, and the story that the pair had given upon their arrival.

The fact that she'd trusted him almost immediately with one of her darkest secrets was simply astonishing to Mecidi, he simply couldn't stand in the way of this unless he risked tearing away the only other support that Lauren had after hearing about that, it was why he'd ultimately told the Feral Homeschooler about what he was fearing about Lauren's family.

Speaking of which… He'd also looked at the promotions for the season that had just ended, seeing that within the next couple of weeks the season would begin airing. Lauren's face was already out there judging by some of the promotional material that had been made, alongside everyone else who'd competed with her, and that wasn't even taking into account some of the clips on social media that had begun surfacing over the last two weeks.

It was only a matter of time before she would be traced back to him…

He glanced in the mirror once more, watching as Ezekiel listened to Lauren in a mixture of fascination and fear as she told some story from when she was younger, the Scary Girl's eyes wide with mania as she went into graphic detail about what had happened.

"And then the rope holding her up snapped off completely and she plummeted about 40 feet to the ground!" Lauren explained, smiling from ear to ear.

"W-Was she o-okay?" Ezekiel asked, fascinated with the story however concerned about how violent it seemed to be.

"She is now, but the screams she made at the time…" Lauren giggled madly, kicking her feet idly as she stared out of the window, watching the trees pass by as they made their way through the prairie towards Ezekiel's old farm.

Mecidi looked away once more, doing his best to hide the small smile that appeared from them before speaking for the first time during the trip. "Lauren…"

Lauren stopped laughing at the sound of her 'father's' voice, however her signature smile still remained plastered on her face. "Yeah?"

"About our current situation…" He began, taking a moment to breathe deeply before continuing, doing his best to focus on the road ahead as he spoke. "I've found somewhere for you to go whilst we deal with your family."

"R-Really?" Ezekiel responded whilst Lauren's eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of her abusers.

"Where?" Lauren asked, her smile dropping into an annoyed frown.

"There's an abandoned building about 40 minutes away from where we're heading that I should be able to acquire, it's an old funeral home…" Mecidi trailed off, seeing Lauren's eyes light up in excitement.

"Does that mean there'll be dead bodies?" Lauren almost squealed, a huge grin on her face as Ezekiel looked on with the slightest look of discomfort, although this seemed to be more aimed at the possibility of the bodies themselves rather than Lauren's reaction.

"Possibly." Mecidi waved dismissively. "I can do my best to try and supply water and electricity, however you'll be responsible for keeping yourself safe."

Lauren just nodded energetically. "I can do that."

"I know…" Mecidi allowed himself to smile. "You've always been one for adaptability."

"Oh this will be so exciting!" Lauren gushed, turning towards Ezekiel. "Zekey, can you help me decorate the place when we get there?"

"U-Uh…" Ezekiel stammered. "O-Of course eh."

"Alternatively you can always stay with Ezekiel once we reunite him with his family? I just thought it'd be best to present the other option since they may still find you through him." Mecidi explained.

"I'll take the funeral home!" Lauren shouted gleefully, Ezekiel just shrugging in acceptance, knowing that they'd be stuck together either way.

"Perfect… Well whilst you two are reuniting Ezekiel with his family I'll get to work on acquiring this funeral home." Mecidi smirked, before falling silent once more.

The rest of the ride to Ezekiel's farm proceeded the same way, Mecidi driving and faintly listening in on Lauren and Ezekiel's conversation. He didn't interrupt them further, knowing that the pair needed the time to relax before they got to the farm, where hopefully Ezekiel would finally reunite with his family after several years…

*One Hour Later*

"We're here…" Mecidi announced to the pair, slowing the car down to a stop.

The car was blocked off by wooden gates surrounding the farmland, a small path being the only way through what seemed to be an endless amount of wheat and corn. In the distance were a couple of buildings, one being a barn with a large silo attached to the back of it, and one being more of a regular building, a simple average sized house, spanning two floors with a porch just outside the front. Surrounding the house was a large empty field, surrounded itself by either forest or crops.

Overall it looked almost isolated from even it's neighbours, the nearest farms being minutes away, it was a miracle that they'd even been able to find it, Ezekiel's fuzzy memories of his old life needing supplementing by the information that Sierra had given to the pair before they'd separated from everyone else back at the docks the previous afternoon.

Speaking of Ezekiel, he took a moment before stepping out of the car, his body sagging from emotional turmoil as he took in the sights of his old home for the first time in over four years, the last time he'd been home being just before the Gemmie Awards back before World Tour had taken place.

He walked slowly over towards the wooden gate leading towards the farm, only to instead collapse on to his knees, Lauren quickly leaping out of the car in order to support him, the Scary Girl lifting him up just in time to see Ezekiel's tears begin to trail down his face.

"Lauren?" Mecidi called over, watching as Ezekiel shakily got to his feet, leaning on the gate for support whilst Lauren turned around to listen to him. "I'll wait here for you two, if any problems arise you know how to contact me…"

Lauren looked for a moment before nodding silently, a determined look crossing her face as she gently opened the gate, allowing Ezekiel to hold onto her for the moment as he absentmindedly looked around, the tears having stopped for the moment.

"Hey…" She whispered gently to him, a small smile on her face as he turned to look at her. "It'll be okay, I'm right here for you ok Zekey…"

He smiled back, nodding slowly as he began to straighten up, beginning to balance himself more as he gently let go of Lauren's shoulder. The pair began to walk slowly towards the farm, Ezekiel taking the time to point out some spots on the way down the pathway.

"A-And that's w-where I l-learned to fire my b-bow…" Ezekiel pointed out to a small tree near the cornfield, several dozen marks scattered across the trunk where the arrows clearly will have struck over the years.

"You know how to use a bow!" Lauren shouted happily, stars in her eyes. "Can you teach me how to use it?"

Ezekiel nodded happily, not realising the potential danger that would come from allowing access to archery equipment.

It was then where Lauren noticed something nearby the house, a small play area that looked more suitable for a young child rather than someone who'd been living there in their teens. "What about that?" She said, pointing over to it.

Ezekiel followed her gaze over to it, his brow furrowed in confusion. "I-I d-don't remember that eh?" He questioned, his nerves beginning to rise, what if Sierra was wrong after all? Could someone else be living here now?

"Hey!" Lauren said to him, placing her arms on his shoulders. "It's fine, if they're not here we WILL find them. At the very least they'd come looking for you when they hear about you through us." She smirked at that last part, the clip of her fight instantly coming to mind.

"Y-You're right eh…" Ezekiel eventually muttered, leaning into Lauren's embrace for a moment, before the pair separated, making their way over to the porch of the farm.

From what little Ezekiel could see of the house itself, everything seemed to look the same as in his memories, in fact minus the play area that seemed to have materialised out of nowhere, everything looked the same to him as it did four years ago…

The barn seemed to be in a similar state, although with a closer inspection he noticed that a lot of the interior looked worn in comparison, the paint of the exterior was fading slightly, and some of the wooden pillars holding the structure together looked in danger of snapping. The silo in comparison looked mostly fine, with the exception of one or two dents towards the bottom of it, likely the result of something colliding with it.

"Oooh someone definitely had an accident there." Lauren giggled slightly as Ezekiel raised an eyebrow.

"P-Probably my d-dad eh, t-this w-wasn't here when I-I was around, and h-he wouldn't have let m-my mom use any of t-the heavy e-equipment…" Ezekiel responded, trailing off when he realised where the conversation was heading towards.

"He was the guy who put that sexist crap in your head, right?" Lauren asked, her eyes narrowing slightly in the direction of the house.

"Uh, yeah…" Ezekiel nervously replied, watching as she turned to look at him, her eyes widening as her smile stretched from ear to ear.

"I wanna carve out exactly what I think about his comments directly into his skull!" She said gleefully, swinging her hand around as if there was a knife in it.

"P-Please don't…" Ezekiel muttered, drowned out by the sound of Lauren's giggling as they walked up the steps to the front doors. "L-Lauren!"

"Hmm?" Lauren hummed as they stopped just outside the door, before smirking. "I'm just kidding Zekey! He's probably learned his lesson anyway!" She giggled once more before her smirk dropped into a more concerned frown.

The pair stood there for a moment, the realisation beginning to hit the pair about what was about to happen. Ezekiel in particular began shaking once more, clinging onto Lauren's hand for support, the Scary Girl looked over at him, nodding slightly as if to say that she'd handle things, before stepping forward and knocking on the door.

"Well, like I said before… If they're not here then we'll just keep looking…" Lauren smiled back at him. "In the meantime you could always stay with me at that funeral home!" She grinned, Ezekiel reluctantly smiling back at her, wanting Lauren to stick around but NOT liking the idea of living somewhere as creepy as that.

'Well, I suppose it's slightly better than the plane or the fun zone… I'd still take the cave over it though eh…' Ezekiel thought to himself, before the pair refocused their attention on the door upon hearing footsteps come closer to the door.

'Well… here goes nothing…' The pair simultaneously thought as the footsteps stopped just outside of the door, everything going quiet for a moment before the sounds of the locks being moved could be heard. Ezekiel's hand gripped Lauren's more firmly, the former shaking from nerves as the door slowly began to open, Lauren doing her best to adopt a more 'normal' smile as the door opened.

…

…

…

"Who are you?!" A little girl called up to the pair, her grey eyes looking up at the pair with a mixture of curiosity and slight fear, the curiosity from seeing two unfamiliar people show up out of nowhere, and the fear from the appearances of both Ezekiel and Lauren.

"Uh…" Ezekiel paused, his own fear skyrocketing from the unfamiliar face, although strangely to him she looked somewhat familiar.

The girl looked only about three years old, her brown hair neatly tied into a small ponytail with bangs just about staying out of the way of her grey eyes. She wore a small white dress, small marks all over it as if she'd spent too much time in the dirt, most curiously was the familiar blue toque that Ezekiel was wearing was also on her head, this one looking pristine compared to the slightly charred one that Ezekiel still wore.

Lauren tried her best to keep her smile as 'normal' as possible, not wanting to scare away the child, especially when she noticed the small similarities between her and Ezekiel. "Hey there!" She said quietly, a cheerful tone in her voice as she crouched down to meet the girl at eye level. "Is your parents home? I think I have something that belongs to them?" She asked her politely, her smile beginning to stretch slightly.

Thankfully for Lauren she managed to come across nice enough, as the girl nodded shyly, not looking so scared of her as Lauren thought she would, before turning around and shouting for her mother.

"Eliza what is it thi-" A woman in her early forties shouted as she walked into view of the door, the plate she'd been cleaning falling to the ground with a loud smash as it broke into pieces as she looked at the pair standing in the doorway.

"M-Mom…" Ezekiel whispered, tears beginning to form as he stared at one of his parents for the first time in years, he quickly shook his hand out of Lauren's grip, the Scary Girl allowing him as he ran over and hugged the woman softly.

"E-Ezekiel… I-Is that really you?" She whimpered, looking down at him in disbelief, her eyes widening in shock and horror at Ezekiel's reappearance. She recognised so much of him in his appearance, however she also looked horrified at what happened to him, noting the bags around his eyes, the pale green skin, and especially the various scars littering his arms. She began to cry herself, tears falling onto her pale blue dress as she began to hug Ezekiel tightly, the other two girls in the room watching the reunion from the sidelines.

"Mom? Who is that?" The little girl asked, looking extremely confused at the whole situation. Who is this? Why was mom so sad when she saw them? What about the purple haired girl?

"Eliza…" Ezekiel's mother looked at her, pulling away from the hug with a sad smile on her face, Ezekiel's bloodshot eyes widening in shock as he finally began to register who that was.

"This is your brother…"

"What!" Ezekiel shouted in shock, Lauren's grin slipping back into her usual one as they both looked at the little girl, Eliza.

"Wait…" Eliza looked between her mother and brother? for a few moments, her confusion not lifting in the slightest, before it eventually started to click. "That's Zeke?" She asked, pointing at him.

"I don't believe it… what happened to you?" Ezekiel's mother asked him, finally letting go of him. "Where have you been for the last four years?"

"I'll t-tell you all i-in a moment, b-but…" Ezekiel looked around for a moment, having realised that someone was missing. "W-Where's d-dad eh?"

"Oh…" Sadness fell on his mothers face as she looked at him, barely even noticing Lauren stepping up to grip Ezekiel's hand once more. "H-He's upstairs but, something happened to him whilst you were gone…" She winced slightly, looking away for a moment.

"C-Can we see him?" Ezekiel asked softly.

"I suppose I can't stop you…" She sighed, before gesturing to the pair. "Follow me upstairs then, you can come too…" She said to them, gesturing towards Lauren for her last words, unfamiliar with the girl.

"H-Her name's Lauren… She's t-the one w-who found me…" Ezekiel explained, Lauren nodding along in agreement, her 'normal' smile back in place.

"Ok, my name's Elizabeth by the way" She nodded, introducing herself to the Scary Girl, before gesturing once more to them to follow her. "You can come see him as well Lauren…"

"Okay!" Lauren grinned, following the reunited family up the stairs, passing by several small rooms, one in particular having looked untouched in years before stopping in front of what was most likely his parents room.

"Shaun…" She said softly as she opened the door, peering the head through the door to look at him. "Someone's here to see you…"

She opened the door fully, allowing Ezekiel and Lauren to enter the room. Ezekiel's eyes widening in horror at the sight of his father laying still on the bed, IV's strapped to his arms and chest, only barely being hidden by the blanket covering his body. His grey eyes stared at him blankly, however a faint smile could be seen underneath the oxygen mask strapped around his face. Most horrifyingly of all, and something that Lauren tried her best to suppress a small smile at, was that Shaun Miller was missing his legs, both having been amputated at the knee.

"S-Son…" Shaun muttered weakly, his voice barely heard over the sounds of the oxygen mask. "I-Is t-that r-really y-you?"

"Dad?" Ezekiel whispered in shock, before turning to a saddened Elizabeth. "M-Mom, w-what happened to him?" He asked her.

Elizabeth sighed weakly, sitting on the side of the bed that wasn't occupied. "It happened two years ago, we tried looking for you for ages, but no lead's ever came up, and that show you were on wouldn't give us any indication as to what happened to you…"

"Didn't you watch the older seasons?" Lauren questioned.

"No, we could never afford to, and no one would ever tell us what happened to him, only that he was a freak or a sexist. But nothing about well… this!" She gestured to Ezekiel's battered appearance, the cure having begun to work in several areas, but still having a long way to go before he was fully cured of his mutation.

"Trust me, he looked a lot worse when I found him…" Lauren smiled, dropping the 'normal' smile now that their objective was complete.

"T-That doesn't e-explain what happened to d-dad?" Ezekiel pressed, still in shock at his father's broken appearance.

"Well, we couldn't keep looking forever, and when Eliza was born we had to stop…" She began once more, only to be interrupted.

"H-How long?" Ezekiel asked, looking between his mother and his new sister.

"Eight months…" Elizabeth sighed. "It was eight months after you disappeared…"

"So what happened next?" Lauren smiled, wanting to get to the good part of the story.

"Right? So when we couldn't look anymore, we… just tried to move on like before, when Ezekiel was gone for the first two seasons… but Shaun, he couldn't, he blamed himself for what happened to you Zeke." She stopped, choking back a sob.

"W-What do you m-mean?" Ezekiel asked her.

"H-He… couldn't take it anymore, he began drinking, and when he wasn't drinking he'd work himself down to the bone in the fields… about a year ago he had an accident…" Elizabeth explained.

"Is that why there's a huge dent in that silo outside?" Lauren said, pointing outside of the window towards where the barn was.

"Yes…" Elizabeth nodded. "He said it wasn't intentional but he ended up crashing into it, his legs crushed under the weight of the tractor, his lungs pierced clean through…" She sighed before continuing. "Doc thought he wouldn't make it, but he's still here, although he can't walk again, and he needs that mask to breathe…"

"I-I'm sorry…" Ezekiel muttered softly, Lauren rubbing his back in comfort, even as her thoughts trailed to darker thoughts of glee seeing the injuries inflicted to his father.

"It's not your fault…" Elizabeth responded quietly. "Now, about what happened to you?"

"Ah… r-right…" Ezekiel stuttered, unsure of where to begin. "W-What would y-you like to h-hear first eh?"

"Start from the beginning, when you left for that awards show and never returned…" She replied.

"O-Okay… It a-all started w-when Chris t-tricked us i-into thinking t-that we were getting r-replaced…" Ezekiel began.

For the next couple of hours, Ezekiel explained exactly what happened to him over the last four years leading up to the moment where Lauren had found him on Boney Island. From his elimination in Egypt during World Tour, to his descent into madness on the plane, to his unlikely survival being submerged in the lava in Hawaii, to being trapped within the radioactive mines on Camp Wawanakwa, to his final revenge on Chris after being mutated, and finally to his three years stuck on Boney Island, scrounging for survival amongst the other wildlife on the island before the latest season had begun airing.

Lauren had chipped in with small amounts when Ezekiel couldn't clearly remember some of the events that were aired, but once it got to her involvement in Ezekiel's life, having found and recovered him from the island, she completely took over the conversation. Recalling their bonding moments with the nightmares and taking on Fang in the Fun Zone, being captured and taken back to the Playa Des Losers, how Ezekiel had begun to be cured of his mutation, the fight with Axel and how the pair had gotten a lot closer in the days that followed, ending it with how they ended up together in the end.

"Wait, so you're his girlfriend then?" Elizabeth asked warily, not sure about the Scary Girl, even if she was at least grateful to her for finding her son.

"Yep! As of about…" Lauren paused for a moment, before turning to Ezekiel. "Zekey, when did that Chase guy get eliminated?"

"U-Uh… a-about…" Ezekiel began counting on his fingers. "F-Five days a-ago…"

"Five days ago!" Lauren grinned eerily, holding up five fingers, two on one hand and three on another.

"Oh! Well… I hope you two take good care of each other…" She smiled.

"By t-the way mom…" Ezekiel called over to her. "Can L-Lauren stay f-for a few d-days?"

"W-Why's that?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Because I'm in the process of moving and I don't have anywhere to go for the moment…" Lauren responded, grinning slightly. "My 'father's' taking care of sorting everything out, but I just need somewhere quiet for the moment."

"I-It's true…" Ezekiel added, "I-I was there when t-this was brought up…"

"Well…" Elizabeth sighed, not wanting to cause an argument when she'd only just gotten her son back after being missing for years. "Okay she can stay, but only until this house is ready for her…"

Lauren grinned slyly, clinging onto a blushing Ezekiel, happy that they would be stuck with each other for the foreseeable future…

Now she just had to make it through the six month wait for season two so she could see her 'friends' again…

End Chapter

Author's Note: First of all, look at me somehow pulling out around 8k words out of nowhere when I said that this chapter would be a lot shorter than the last few, I guess I underestimated how much I could actually do… XD

Secondly, this was also probably my first ever attempt at doing OC's, and we get four of them… I tried to make them have some personality considering they're one and done characters. I hope you guys liked them. (or at least tolerated them, I just needed family members for Ezekiel and Laurens caretaker, and we don't know much about either of their home lives so…)

UPDATE 3 (4/12/23): And because I took so long writing this, at least three more episodes got released before I posted this, so I'll give my thoughts on the season so far.

The season is looking great, I'm really liking the character arcs for a lot of the characters that didn't get much time to shine in the first season. Caleb's been a personal highlight so far although I haven't really found myself disliking anyone for the most part (Chase aside…), even Ripper's had some great moments. If there's a downside to it so far it's that the eliminations have been kinda predictable, fair enough episode 1's was easy to guess because of the leak months ago but even the three that followed were contestants that a lot of people were predicting to leave early, and some of them were really done dirty in the process.

As for how the season pans out so far when it comes to this fic… yeah I've got to say I'm getting some things horribly wrong so far XD, some things thankfully I'm getting spot on however… yeah both this and the next chapter have had some slight revision because of the information we got.