Author's Note: So after some time deciding on what to do (thanks to those who did answer my question BTW) I have decided to actually go through with making some small changes to the events of the season. Like I said in the last chapter however, this doesn't mean any of the major events like eliminations, challenges or relationships are changing, just things that would make sense with Ezekiel's and especially Lauren's inclusion on the island.
Tags on AO3 may be slightly adjusted for this, but ultimately the episodes won't change too much, so I'm not about to rewrite the entire rest of the season in order to compensate for this, only some of the stuff that Lauren directly changes.
There is also a scene in this chapter towards the end that may be a little… unsettling. So consider this the warning for the last section if you don't wanna see anything like that.
With that being said… on with the chapter! (AND SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG AGAIN!)
Reviews
Guest: Nichelle? Bitter? Nah… could never be her. It's not like Julia tricked her into believing that Hollywood wanted her back or anything? In fact, Nichelle's gonna be the first to welcome either one of MKulia to the resort with open arms…
Nah but seriously Nichelle will be furious with them, and I can't wait for the outburst she'll have at MK, Julia, and possibly even Lauren if she finds out what the original intention for the fake contract was for.
MatiasND: Thank you for answering the question! Honestly I wanted to stick to the original plan of keeping everything the same, but to be fair, I'm seeing the benefits of slightly altering events, but again, the order stays the same. And I'm glad you're enjoying Lauren's interference so far!
RFtheGreat: HE'S BACK! Nah but seriously happy to see you reviewing again. I'm glad you're still enjoying this, and thanks for answering the question! Yeah the fact that her revenge here parallels his own experience on the plane was the tipping point for Ezekiel going, the last thing he wanted was to leave her to it only for feral Scary Girl (Feral Girl?) to be what comes back home XD, and yes, emphasis on the 'varying' moral support given on one hand Millie and Emma are trying to help, and on the other Chase is Chase, Bowie is neutral and Nichelle is still bitter about her elimination…
As for Lauren, it really is going to get worse before she gets better, after all this isn't just a problem that spawned in the last week for her, 'Normal Girl's' failure was only the tipping point from months of slow build up. As for your feeling well… I can't spoil that now can I…
Chapter Seven
"Sorry in advance Damien…" Lauren cackled to herself as she watched him run through the forest, a creepy grin on her face as she slowly began to follow him from above the trees. "But it looks like I'm gonna have to spoil your luck…"
She had followed him from a distance until he had reached the clearing to the campgrounds. Lauren choosing to hang back for the moment within the relative safety of the trees as Damien quickly disappeared into the men's side of the former Ferocious Trout turned Rat Faces cabin.
When Damien ran out around 20 seconds later, he looked a lot less stressed compared to when he had taken off for the cabins only a few minutes prior. More importantly in the Scary Girl's eyes, was that he no longer had the idol stuffed in his jacket pocket.
"O-Okay… t-that should be good enough until the challenge is over…" Damien said nervously, looking around briefly around the campgrounds before sighing in relief, straightening himself up and trying to give off the impression that nothing was wrong.
"Okay… time to go and ace this challenge." He grinned, trying to psyche himself up for the challenge he was about to partake in, before taking off towards the beach where Lauren had previously seen housing both the cooking equipment and the wooden barge from her trek earlier that morning.
Lauren waited a few moments after Damien was out of sight, glancing around suspiciously just in case any of the others were running late, or for any interns or even Chef to be hanging around the cabins, before jumping off of the branch she was standing on, plummeting several feet to the ground.
She landed safely onto the ground, using another branch on the way down to slow her descent, and the moment her feet touched the grass below she started making her way towards the Rat Faces cabin, making sure to dodge any sight of the cameras…
She was confident when it came to the confessionals camera about altering the footage, and she'd probably be able to do the same thing when it came to the cabins, however she wasn't going to risk doing so out in the open.
The last thing Lauren needed was to be caught by one of the contestants, the interns or Chris and Chef whilst tampering with anything unnecessary…
Lauren started scaling the campgrounds until she was out of sight of any cameras, then rushed towards the Rat Faces cabin. She hugged the wall, before jumping up and grabbing a hold of the edge of the roof, pulling herself up until she was close enough to the cabin's window.
She giggled, pushing against the brittle wood surrounding the glass with one hand until a part of the frame snapped, she carefully pushed the window open once it was loose enough, and her slender figure slipped through the small gap she had created with little issues.
Once inside she briefly glanced around at the bunk beds in the cabin, noticing quite quickly that none of the three male Rat Face members shared a bunk, which made it slightly easier for her to deduce which bed belonged to who's.
The one closest to the door was completely empty, and the one opposite that one she almost immediately figured out belonged to Zee, due to the suitcase filled with various different flavours of soda sitting neatly on the top bunk. And right in the corner just next to Zee's bed was the camera for the cabin.
Lauren smirked slyly, climbing up onto the top bunk of Zee's bed, careful not to knock over the suitcase filled with soda cans, as she reached over towards the camera's wires. Thankfully for the Scary Girl, the cameras seemed to function in the same way as the confessionals camera did, so it didn't take her long at all in order to rig the recordings to her phone in the same way.
Unlike with the confessional, she didn't download any of the footage to her phone, she doubted that she would get too much from seeing their casual conversations anyway. Instead Lauren rewound the footage a few minutes to when Damien had run in with the immunity idol.
She watched with a dark glee as he kneeled under his bunk, being the one next to Zee's, and he spent a few moments placing the idol under the bed, before sighing happily.
"There we go… I'll hide it somewhere better later on…" Damien had muttered nervously as he got up from underneath his bunk bed, no longer holding the immunity idol.
Lauren smirked as she watched the footage, seeing him then walk out of the cabin, before finally pausing it.
"Good spot there Damien…" Lauren giggled creepily to herself as she went back to the live footage, pausing it and deleting the last couple of minutes from the moment where she'd been spotted breaking the window in order to get into the cabin.
"Too bad you didn't account for Scary Girl's watching you from the window… oh the poor guy never learns…" Lauren continued, smiling sinisterly as she repeated the same trick as she had done the previous night with the confessionals footage, altering the footage of the last several minutes to show a repeated loop of an empty cabin, before setting the 'live recording' to restart once the video ended in the next few minutes.
She would have around ten minutes this way to grab the idol and leave the cabin in the way she'd found it, which she was confident was more than enough time… if not, then she'd just need to do the trick again…
But she'd rather not risk being found if she somehow didn't find it the first time…
When she was done with hacking into the camera, she quickly reconnected everything, taking a couple of minutes to do so, before jumping off of Zee's top bunk, landing on the wooden floor with a slightly loud bang.
Thankfully no one was around to hear it, and Lauren darted straight for Damien's bunk, diving underneath the bed and attempting to grab a hold of the idol hidden underneath…
Only to not find anything there…
"Wait… what? W-Where is it?" Lauren blinked, looking slightly confused at first. She saw the footage, Damien had the immunity idol in his hands when he crawled under the bed, and didn't when he got up, so surely it had to have been here… right?
She growled for a moment, a small part of her wondering if Damien had been too paranoid to do something like this… or worse… he'd known he was being watched.
She punched the floor in annoyance, only to wince when the floorboard gave out under her hand, the other side of it hitting her in the knee.
"Ow! Hey… wait a minute…" She began to realise, shifting back slightly and pressing on the floorboard again, before smirking when it turned out that the wooden plank was loose.
When Lauren removed it, she found a couple of items, namely a chemistry book, some sweets, and to her amusement, Priya's 'Total Drama guidebook'. But more importantly to the Scary Girl, was the small golden Chris statue hidden in the corner.
She scooped it up with an evil smile, chuckling to herself as she cradled the immunity idol to her chest.
"I never thought I'd be glad to see Chris's smug face… but here we are…" Lauren giggled creepily to herself, stuffing the idol under her dress before gently placing the loose wooden board back where it originally was, before climbing out from under Damien's bunk with the idol in her possession.
"Ooh he's going to be so mad…" Lauren laughed, before pondering on him for a moment. "Hmm… I wonder if his screams are just as good when he's mad compared to when he's scared?"
She giggled madly again before shrugging it off, it didn't matter too much for her when she wasn't going to be sticking around the campgrounds for the inevitable fallout. All that she cared about was that the immunity idol was now in her possession, and no one was going to be allowed to use it…
She smirked at the thought of everyone running around like headless chickens looking for the idol, especially Damien since he would no doubt be on edge at the thought of someone else having stolen it. None of them ever realising that the person who had it wasn't even in the game, and had no intentions of playing it…
Lauren giggled one more time as she climbed on top of Damien's bunk, his bed being the closest to the window she'd partially broken in order to climb through, and she quickly climbed back through.
She landed back on the grass outside the cabin, only to immediately jump back up to grab a hold of the roof, using one hand to pull the window back closed. The cracks in the window frame didn't look too obvious, and for a moment she wondered if anyone would even notice that it was broken, before shrugging it off as she fell onto the grass once more.
Lauren pulled out the immunity idol from under her dress, smirking deviously at her new prize. A small part of her did want to watch the challenge, but a more sinister part of her wanted to hide her idol in a place that would genuinely be impossible for any of the contestants to find.
In the end she didn't feel too interested to try and sit through what she knew was a cooking challenge, and she needed to still figure out some plans for how she was going to execute her next sabotage…
It was that or let her thoughts trail off into places she didn't want to think about… like the reason she'd done all of this in the first place… or the thoughts of going back home to Ezekiel and forgetting about all of this…
So with her mind made up, she took off back into the forest once more, intent on hiding the immunity idol away. If she was quick she'd make it back for the end of the challenge anyway.
*Around the same time*
Unbeknownst to the Scary Girl, only a couple of miles away on one of the neighbouring islands was said Prairie Boy…
Ezekiel had taken off into the forests surrounding the Playa Des Losers soon after Owen had left the resort in order to assist with the current challenge on the main island. Ezekiel's eyes and mind were still somewhat sharpened from his days as a feral freakshow, and although the cure that Dakota had supplied to fix his mutation had restored his appearance and humanity, nothing could take away the skills he had learned during his time on the plane, in Wawanakwa's radioactive mines, and especially during his time living on Boney Island.
The resort had already been covered extensively by some of the others… mostly Millie and Emma… before Ezekiel had even made his return to the island. He wanted to trust their word that she wasn't hanging around the resort, and thus he had stuck to the surrounding areas first as he did a sweep of the island…
He hoped he would find her sooner rather than later, because Ezekiel really didn't want to think about having to retread ground on Boney Island… or worse… heading back to a copy of the island where his problems had begun over five years ago…
'I think I see a bird!'
Ezekiel's eyes narrowed at the mere memory as he stopped walking through the forest, grimacing at the naivety he remembered having when he first stepped onto the show.
'I know you don't get out much, been homeschooled your whole life, raised by freaky prairie people, just don't say much and try not to get kicked off too early, okay.'
He grumbled as the memories kept pouring in, even as a stranger Chris had hated him… he'd made it known from day one, masking it behind a false sense of concern. He'd watched every greeting after in person, and the ones before his on the TV numerous times both before World Tour, and after Lauren had saved him years later, and Chris had only shown hidden animosity towards HIM.
Why…? Why only him and not any of the other twenty-one contestants that season? What about the two who joined them on the plane?
Sure he had heard about the other two generations between his and Lauren's seasons, that kind but mysterious girl Dawn had been in the second generation, the same one as Dakota had been and his one-time crush Anne-Maria.
No one in that season seemed to be outright despised by Chris either, even as he had slowly gotten more and more outwardly sadistic…
It was only the third generation, the one that he'd never seen before that seemed to have some of the only other people Chris hated. He'd never watched the season, but Priya and Lauren had both filled him in on some of the 'oddballs' that had apparently pissed Chris off during the apparently controversial 'Pahkitew Island'...
'Well, I just don't get why we lost eh, they're the ones that have six girls.'
Ezekiel growled softly, a hint of his former feral state resurfacing as he continued searching the island for the missing Scary Girl. His second biggest mistake after stowing away on the plane coming back into his mind.
'Well, guys are much stronger and better at sports than girls are.'
He tried to block it all out of his mind as he searched every bush, every tree, just anywhere big enough for Lauren to be hiding in…
It was somewhat stupid, he knows it, if she was actually around here he would've heard her by now. It's not like he was going to stumble upon a body, besides she was the opposite of those beliefs that his father had told him years ago. Lauren was strong and capable, she wouldn't let a couple days hiding in the woods take her out.
'My dad told me to look out for the girls here eh, and help them in case they can't keep up.'
Ezekiel shook his head wildly, trying to forget about every damned thought from that island, he couldn't allow himself to be dragged back into the past, especially when it considered his stupid mistake that led to his humiliation and isolation, his mistake that led to the series of events that had made him desperate enough in the first place to want to cling onto the plane, to what had made him into a monster for years.
Besides… He had a job to do and right now, he needed to focus on finding Scary Girl, and he couldn't let the past distract him.
He came across a small cave, one that he faintly recognised as the same one that he had hidden in several months ago. Alone and afraid, trying to hide away from the people who had a hand in his loss of humanity…
The Prairie Boy remembered sitting there for what had felt like hours, trying to come to terms with the fact that two of the people who had effectively condemned him to his fate as a feral ghoul had returned. He remembered the blonde moonchild who had come not to judge him, but to reassure him and even apologise for her accidental involvement in The Fun Zone's creation.
He remembered how Dawn and Lauren had sat with him once they had found him hiding away, trying to help him come to terms with the fact that those same people who had cast him aside were now wanting to make amends, something that he had ultimately been able to do even with a couple of bumps along the way…
"It feels so long ago…" Ezekiel muttered softly to himself, taking a moment to sit in the small, dark cave. "What happened to change everything so badly…"
He sighed quietly, thinking about everywhere he'd looked, he'd seen no sign of anything in the forest that gave any indication of someone living out here, and he was beginning to doubt that Lauren was even on the same island as him.
Which left either Boney Island or the new 'Wawanakwa'...
Neither of which Ezekiel really wanted to return to…
He was still going to check the rest of the forest just in case, Lauren was pretty good at covering her tracks after all. But he'd also lived with this girl for six months at this point, he had gotten pretty good at finding her.
Even if that hadn't stopped her from stalking the others without his knowledge…
Ezekiel shook his head once more, standing up with a soft groan, dusting himself off before stepping out of the cave. He knew it very well could be a fruitless endeavour to keep searching the resort's surroundings, but until he searched every last corner, he'd do the same with the other islands if he had to.
Even if it meant that it ruined him to do so…
He just couldn't stop until Lauren was found… even if it was to save the Scary Girl from herself…
*After the challenge*
Lauren was giggling to herself quietly as she hid in the trees near the campgrounds, having missed most of the challenge due to hiding the immunity idol she had stolen from Damien.
She had gotten close to the beach when she'd seen everyone walking away from the challenge area, which whilst Lauren was disappointed about missing yet another challenge, mostly because of the potential to sabotage people from behind the scenes, she knew she had arrived just in time for the main event in her eyes.
She was going to get to see Damien's reaction to his idol being missing, and Lauren was going to enjoy the screams that followed…
Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of the Scary Girl currently stalking them all from within the trees, the remaining ten contestants all in varying states of mood after the challenge. Most notably Priya, who was glaring in annoyance at Ripper and Axel, with Caleb trying to reassure her that things would be fine.
Julia however looked smug as she hung back with MK, still fresh off her victory after single-handedly carrying the Hockey Bros throughout the challenge. It also helped that Ripper's big mouth had for once been useful rather than a detriment, seeing as his reveal of being involved in the finishing touches for Priya's cake in such a disgusting way had cost her team the challenge.
"Hey… wanna pull a prank on the rest of these losers?" Julia whispered with a sly smile.
MK took one look at everyone ahead of them in order to ensure that they weren't listening in, then smirked in response.
"You bet I do." MK replied, showing her own sly smile back to her partner in crime as they both whispered to one another. "So uh… what're we doing?"
"I was thinking… maybe we could put some fear into some of them? Use some of that paper we had left over from the whole 'Nichelle contract' thing…" Julia explained, hiding the fact that the contract hadn't been intended for Nichelle, and that someone had tried to target her.
She still didn't know who had done it, and considering how no other attempts at sabotaging her hadn't been made since that night, Julia just assumed that her hunch on it being Bowie was correct, blissfully unaware of the real culprit's identity.
"Uh huh… and what exactly are you scheming Julia?" MK looked at her with slight confusion, but was otherwise down for mischief with her only friend… not that MK would ever admit that they were friends of course…
"Let's see if we can trick some of them into turning on each other over the idol." Julia grinned. "We'll write anonymous notes to everyone saying something like, 'I know you have the immunity idol.', then we'll watch as everyone gets getting paranoid over who has it." Julia explained her plan, thinking it as being flawless.
MK however looked a little more skeptical. "Okay, as much as I love seeing you trying to be all schemy and mean to people, don't you think everyone's just gonna see right through it."
"I mean…" Julia trailed off, would they see through it, or would they be gullible enough to do so. Julia smirked as she looked around briefly at the others ahead of them, all of them none the wiser as she pointed to them one by one.
"The Hockey losers and Zee are idiots, the kissing idiots over there are gullible, and while this ones a stretch, I can see Damien being paranoid enough to take the bait." Julia explained, smirking as she noticed MK's expression sour when she had pointed at Ripper and Axel.
"Ugh, hopefully one of them will be voted off tonight… I'm getting sick of seeing them making out all day, especially after they sabotaged the challenge for me." MK muttered in annoyance, her usual snark disappearing as she remembered being dragged down during the challenge.
"Ugh, don't remind me… those Hockey Losers slowed me down so much… they're so lucky I had experience with baking." Julia grumbled, muttering under her breath about wishing for their eliminations.
"And don't even get me started on Owen trying to eat our cakes throughout the challenge!" MK snarked a little loudly, causing not only some of the other contestants to momentarily turn back to look at them, but unbeknownst to everyone else Scary Girl as well.
Lauren blinked in shock, almost losing her footing on the branch she was crouched on. Owen was here? One of the old contestants was on the island?
The Scary Girl stopped for a moment as everyone else carried on towards the cabins without ever noticing her presence, she needed a moment anyway to process the information.
The thought kept gnawing at her stomach as she gradually started to follow the others from within the trees again. It didn't sound like much to Lauren, and yet she got the feeling that there was more to this…
Lauren's thoughts were racing for the rest of the trip back, those feelings of longing and guilt crashing into her full force. She forced herself to push those feelings down, her revenge had to come first!
She made a mental note to check the confessionals recordings thoroughly tonight… just in case Owen had confessed anything during his brief return to the island. She knew she was being overly paranoid about the prospect of this, but she had to know if more was happening behind the scenes.
It was silly to even consider, he couldn't possibly know after all, and yet… the thought never left Lauren's mind, the thought that Ezekiel somehow knew more about her revenge than she previously thought…
She had already known from before that he was at least a little concerned about her, the numerous calls and texts that she had ignored springing to mind immediately, but until now she had put the thoughts to one side.
Now however, was there more to this? Did Ezekiel know what she was doing? Was he…
Her thoughts were completely halted when she began to notice Damien splitting off from the other contestants, a creepy grin forming on her face as she began to make her way to the Rat Face cabin's window, her darker thoughts put to one side for the moment to focus on her plan once more.
Zee noticed Damien began to walk to the cabin instead of the Mess Hall like everyone else, and called out to him.
"Damien! You coming or what man?" Zee asked curiously, watching as Damien turned with a somewhat nervous smile, but considering how jittery Damien had been this season he thought little of it.
"Y-You go on ahead Zee… I've just gotta grab something from the cabin quickly." Damien responded, trying to hold his nerves so no one would follow and discover the idol he'd hidden away.
"Want me to come with you?" Zee asked innocently, drinking from his soda.
"No no It's cool! Couldn't you uh… go talk to Priya and Caleb or something while I'm gone?" Damien suggested nervously, in his own panic he didn't notice Zee's own expression tense up slightly, Zee's growing concerns about the pair's relationship continuing to fester as he kept the secret about Caleb's original intentions to himself.
"I… I dunno man…" Zee hid his nervous smile behind his soda can, drinking large gulps from it to mask his unease. "I guess I could try to catch up with Ripper? Although I think him and Axel are still playing tonsil hockey?"
Damien and unbeknownst to the pair Lauren both shuddered upon hearing that, Damien in particular getting horrid flashbacks to their earlier scene on the beach during the challenge.
"Please don't remind me… I think I'm scarred for life after that image…" Damien replied, shuddering nervously. "B-But uh… good luck with that I guess."
Zee drank his soda and waved him off, neither Damien nor Lauren noticing his expression dropping as he walked off towards the mess hall.
Damien sighed, before turning and running into his cabin, unaware that his idol had already been taken.
Lauren smirked from her hiding spot, grabbing a hold of the window ledge and peeking in just in time to see Damien peeking under his bed.
"Okay… time to go find another spot for this idol…" Damien muttered nervously, not noticing the pale blue eyes gazing down at him unnervingly. He removed the loose floorboard and reached in to grab the idol… only to grab thin air.
"Huh?" Damien blinked, before looking under the board, noticing the severe lack of an immunity idol. "W-What!"
He shot up from under the bed, the blood draining from his face as he darted around the room in a panic.
"WHERE IS IT? WHO TOOK IT? OH I KNEW I SHOULD'VE KEPT IT ON ME!" He shouted in despair as he searched under every bed, checking every corner of the room, not once noticing the Scary Girl watching from the window, said Scary Girl trying to suppress her laughter at the scene in front of her.
Lauren smirked as she quietly fell to the ground once more, hearing his screaming and shouting as he frantically looked for the idol, unaware of who had actually taken it.
"Okay… okay… i-it's fine… I can find it…" Damien tried to calm himself down, although he was clearly still in shock that someone had taken it. "Think Damien, think… Who left during the challenge? Priya, Caleb and Zee were with me the whole time. Julia and MK were both stuck carrying their respective teams… and… ugh… Axel and Ripper were making out the whole time."
His eyes then widened in shock, a small amount of realisation creeping into his expression, albeit with a fair amount of doubt.
"Wait… Could Wayne and Raj have taken it? They were the only two to go missing after the raft during the challenge?" He reasoned to himself, unaware that the real culprit was still listening in on him. "Surely not… would they?"
He frowned to himself and began muttering under his breath, the words unable to be heard by his one audience member. But it didn't matter as Damien walked off towards the Mess Hall, wanting to try and confirm his suspicions about whether or not the Hockey Bros had stolen the immunity idol.
Lauren giggled quietly, careful not to be heard, only allowing herself to laugh normally once she was at a safe distance in the forest. Her plan was working… The idol was hers and she was spreading some level of discourse between Damien and the others.
She disappeared into the depths of the woods once more, her work was done for the day after all, and she couldn't grab the footage for the confessional until after the elimination ceremony, so there was little point in sticking around.
Maybe once she gets a hold of it then she would be able to confirm her own suspicions about her strange feelings regarding Owen's surprise appearance, and what it means about Ezekiel...
*Later that night*
The day had soon turned to night, and things were getting the smallest bit more tense when it came to the whole 'Scary Girl' situation as the usual time approached for the next eliminated contestant to arrive at the resort.
As expected Ezekiel hadn't seen any signs of the ever elusive Lauren, and the moment he had returned to the resort he had closed himself off once more. Owen had returned soon after from the main island after completing his role in the challenge, but unfortunately aside from bringing a life sized cake version of Chef Hatchet with him he also had nothing to show.
But unlike the resort's island they couldn't rule out the Wawanakwa replica, Owen had explained to the others over pieces of the Chef cake that he had basically only stayed for the challenge before being escorted back to the boat to come back to the resort. Basically meaning that he had been unable to check any part of the island for Lauren's whereabouts.
The only thing that Owen had been allowed to do was access the confessional on the way back to the boat, where he admitted that he had dropped in a small message for Lauren in the unlikely event that she was able to listen in.
Ezekiel was currently sitting on the docks at the front of the resort, staring off in the direction of where the other two islands were, his eye bags slightly bigger than before and his face frozen in worry.
All of the eliminated contestants were currently sitting in the lobby, most of them talking just to pass the time whilst they waited to see who would be eliminated next, with some of the more empathetic contestants like Owen or Emma occasionally glancing out of the window down towards where Ezekiel was sitting, concern for him etched onto their faces.
After several minutes of this however, Emma couldn't take anymore, proceeding to stand up and move for the front door.
"Hey? Where are you going?" Nichelle called over as Emma grabbed the handle for the door, a slightly confused look on her face.
Emma looked back at the others, a mixture of concern and frustration on her face.
"To go check on Ezekiel..." She responded simply as she opened the door. "Even if it doesn't help much... someone needs to be there for him."
"Since when did you get so worried about him?" Chase scoffed, a slightly annoyed look on his face. "Do you like him now or something?"
"Are you kidding me Chase!" Emma groaned as she turned around, her face flushed bright red, whether it was from embarrassment or anger no one knew. "Just because I feel sympathy for someone clearly going through a lot doesn't mean I like them!"
"Besides..." Bowie smirked, looking at Chase with a mixture of amusement and mockery. "Do you really think she'd want to risk something like that knowing he's dating Scary Girl of all people?"
"It'd probably be the worst relationship mistake she'd ever make!" Millie added, looking flabbergasted at his comment, causing Nichelle to scoff in amusement.
"Yeah, apart from the fact that she dated Chase in the first place." Nichelle smirked, with everyone else bursting into laughter, the aforementioned YouTube Prankster being the sole exception.
"Hey! I wasn't that bad... right?" Chase responded nervously, looking around at the others. "Right? Emma...?"
He turned to try and seek approval from his ex-girlfriend, thinking that she would back him up, only for said influencer to have already left for the docks.
"Stupid Chase... thinking I'm crushing on Lauren's man..." Emma grumbled as she stomped down the steps leading to the docks, her face reddening further. "I know he was stupid... but I didn't think he was THAT stupid..."
She fanned her face slightly, trying and succeeding in cooling her flushed face down as she approached Ezekiel, the Prairie Boy not having noticed her approaching until she stood right behind him.
"Hey... mind if I sit here?" Emma asked him gently, smiling softly down at him as he looked up at her with a blank expression.
"Yeah... sure eh..." Ezekiel muttered in response, sighing slightly as he looked back in the direction of the other islands.
"What's wrong Zeke?" Emma asked softly as she sat down with him at the edge of the dock, looking at him with concern.
Ezekiel looked at her for a moment, then straight ahead once more, as if debating for a moment whether he should open up to her or not.
"I... I don't know if I can go over there eh..." Ezekiel admitted softly. "Both places hold so many bad memories for me..."
Emma winced slightly, knowing about what he had been through on the original Wawanakwa and Boney Island, even if the island she'd competed on wasn't quite the same as the one Ezekiel had, there were probably enough similarities that it would still trigger some kind of bad memories for him.
Especially if he had to go back to the island he'd been forced to live on for around three years...
"Like... I know Lauren is gonna be on one of them..." He continued, his expression darkening slightly. "And I know she needs me... I have this feeling that she's really not doing okay at all eh..."
She looked at him with clear worry in her eyes, seeing the dim look in his grey eyes, his spirit clearly beginning to falter slightly. She gently took one of his hands in hers, causing him to glance at her once more.
"Look... I get it..." Emma began, smiling reassuringly, giving his hand a soft squeeze. "It must be so hard having to go back there."
"It's not just that..." Ezekiel muttered softly, looking into her eyes with a tearful gaze, one that made Emma's heart ache slightly at the sight of.
"Then what is it?" She responded just as softly, still trying to reassure him.
He looked away for a couple moments, back towards where the islands would be, sighing softly before turning back to Emma, looking down towards their held hands.
"Promise you won't laugh at me..." He asked her gently, almost desperately.
Emma's eyes softened even more, her heart aching more as she noticed his tears beginning to run down his face.
"I won't... I promise." She responded, her thumb beginning to run over his fingers gently, trying to soothe his worries even the slightest amount.
Ezekiel looked up at Emma, who smiled reassuringly back at him, before sighing and nodding slowly.
"Okay... I'll tell you..." Ezekiel sighed once more before beginning to explain. "I'm just... worried that... if I find her... she'll be just like what I was..."
He sobbed slightly, his body beginning to shake slightly as he voiced the concerns he had the whole day to someone else. Emma's heart broke completely, pulling him into a tight hug, letting the Prairie Boy cry into her orange sweater as she rubbed his back gently.
"It's gonna be okay Zeke... she won't become feral..." Emma whispered to him softly, pushing him away from her for a moment so she could look him in the eyes, the Tik Tok star noticing for the first time just how exhausted he was getting over the whole situation.
"B-But... h-how do you k-know?" Ezekiel muttered weakly, neither of them noticing the bubbles forming in the water nearby, coming closer to the beach next to the docks.
"Because Scary Girl is the strongest, scariest and most adaptable girl I know!" Emma exclaimed, grinning softly at him. "If there's one person I can see surviving out there its Lauren!"
She then faltered slightly, smiling sheepishly as one of her hands went behind her head.
"Um... other than Axel of course, she is a survivalist after all" Emma chuckled awkwardly.
Ezekiel smiled faintly for a moment, before his expression darkened again slightly.
"W-Well... t-that's not the..." He began to explain, only for a loud splash of water to catch both Ezekiel and Emma's attention, their heads both whipping in the direction of the beach where to their surprise, both Axel and Ripper emerged from the water.
Or rather... Axel was dragging an unconscious Ripper onto the shore with the Drone of Despair in her other hand. The survivalist looked slightly strained from having swam to the resort with the 'Alpha Male' in tow, her expression extremely concerned as she tossed the Drone to the side, before flipping Ripper onto his back and beginning to perform CPR on him.
"Come on you damn idiot... wake up!" She shouted in her panic, pressing several strong compressions into his chest before pressing her lips against his, trying to force air into his water clogged lungs.
Emma and Ezekiel watched with concern, and Emma was even about to rush over to help Axel after the second set of compressions before Ripper suddenly began to stir, sitting up as he started coughing up water.
For a moment Axel looked relieved as Ripper kept coughing up water, before her face hardened into a more serious expression, looking more and more pissed off. The moment Ripper stopped coughing she slapped him hard across the face, sending him into the sand.
"Ow! What gives babe?" Ripper complained as he sat back up, groaning softly.
"Don't give me that you idiot!" Axel almost snarled as she grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him close until they were nose to nose, her fiery glare gazing into his terrified eyes. "What the fuck were you thinking Ripper!"
"Me! What the heck was that!" Ripper exclaimed, looking shocked and hurt by her angry words. "'Yeah it's been fun, see you around maybe'. Is that really all you think of me?"
This actually took Axel off guard, the survivalist realising for the first time how bad her words must've sounded to him.
"O-Oh... um..." She stuttered out, flushing slightly from embarrassment.
"Was I really just a fling to you Axel?" Ripper asked her, looking like he was about to burst into tears. "Or do I actually mean something to you?"
Axel was at a loss for words, her angry expression slowly softening.
"Of course you mean something... I... I guess I just didn't want to admit it out loud..." She admitted to him, her usual gruff tone sounding soft as she spoke to him. "But that doesn't excuse jumping after me Ripper."
It was Ripper's turn this time to look sheepish, the 'Alpha Male' blushing from slight embarrassment as he realised his mistake.
"Yeah... in hindsight I guess I shouldn't have done that..." He grumbled out, looking at the ground as the ramifications hit him, his eyes widening as he clutched at his face. "Oh crap... Does that mean I owe Chris a million dollars?"
"Actually..." Emma called out as she walked over, dragging a reluctant Ezekiel along with her as both Axel and Ripper noticed them for the first time. "Nichelle told us that it wasn't an actual rule. Apparently Chris made it up in order to scare Damien into not quitting last season."
Ripper audibly sighed in relief, whilst Axel just nodded in agreement.
"I remember, I was there when Chris said it..." Axel muttered, her usual tone back in place now that she knew there were others around. "But that doesn't excuse Ripper for quitting the game!"
"Wait, you actually quit!" Emma and Ezekiel both exclaimed, looking at Ripper in shock, the latter hanging his head in shame upon feeling the duos gazes on him.
"Yeah, this idiot decided on a whim that he'd rather chase after me when he thought I was dumping him, then to stay in the game and try to win it for both of us!" Axel explained, glaring slightly at Ripper once more, although compared to her earlier anger this one was a lot softer.
"B-But babe..." Ripper tried to weakly defend himself.
"But nothing Ripper, we both know full well that I would've been the first to meet you here, whether you were the next person voted out or as the winner of the whole damn thing!" Axel responded, before hugging him tightly. "Oh well... what's done is done... Chris has probably officially eliminated you anyway..."
"Look, I'm sorry Axel..." Ripper muttered quietly, gently hugging her back, for once not caring about his image as both Ezekiel and Emma watched on in shock. "I uh... probably should've thought about the game first huh..."
"I said it's fine Ripper..." Axel responded gruffly, before smirking as she pulled away to look him in the eyes. "Besides... remember what I said before?"
"W-What?" Ripper asked nervously, a small blush creeping onto his face as Axel's grin widened.
"When couples fight... they make up..." Axel almost purred out, before pushing Ripper to the ground, beginning to make out with him passionately much to Ezekiel and Emma's disgust.
"Um... ew!" Emma almost gagged upon seeing it, backing away slowly alongside Ezekiel.
"I think I finally see what Nichelle and Bowie meant eh..." Ezekiel agreed, his earlier melancholy replaced by horror at the sight in front of them. "D-Do we just... leave them here?"
"Yeah... I uh... think we should..." Emma nodded, the pair turning to head back into the resort to tell the others the news, leaving the couple to make out on the beach, knowing that they were fine for the moment.
*?*
"Hey! Pass the ball over here!" A boy called out to his friend.
It was a small park, filled with children of varying ages all going about their business, playing games, hanging out with other kids their age. In the trees at the corner of the park, a small figure was watching two boys and a girl playing soccer, using a makeshift net as the goal, all three looked around five years old.
"No David, just shoot, or are you afraid of losing to a girl." The girl grinned mockingly, her hands covered up by brown goalkeeper gloves that looked way too big for her, her long brown hair swaying in the wind alongside the large red ribbon in her hair as cool brown eyes gleamed at both of her opponents, she was otherwise dressed in a small red sweater and blue pants.
The boy, a blonde now known as David, glared at the girl with piercing green eyes as he prepared to kick the ball. He was dressed in a simple white shirt and black shorts.
"Oh it is on Gabby!" David smirked arrogantly as his foot reared back, ready to kick the soccer ball at full force.
"Dave don't! It's what she wants!" The other boy shouted, a black haired boy dressed in a Manchester United kit and white shorts, his brown eyes glaring back at him.
"Shut it Marcus, I know what I'm doing!" David responded, glaring at him as he booted the ball towards the top corner of the goal, only for Gabby to just about smack the ball away with her fingertips.
The ball ended up smacking the post and back towards the now fuming David, who in his anger booted the ball once again, this time missing it entirely and sending it sailing straight towards the small figure.
"Ahh!" They screamed, falling to the ground clutching their face.
"What the!" Marcus gasped, as both he and Gabby quickly noticed the small figure rolling around clutching their face in pain.
"David you moron!" Gabby scolded as she smacked David on the top of his head. "You've hurt someone."
"Oh shut it nature lover..." David mumbled angrily in response, although his temper was being curbed slightly at the sight of the injured person. "They shouldn't have gotten in the way..."
Despite his words, he joined the other two kids in walking towards the injured figure, partially to check on them and partially to get their ball back.
"Hey... are you okay?" Gabby asked gently as she reached them, crouching down and finally getting a good look at them.
It was a little girl around a year younger than the trio, with long brown hair going past her shoulders, wearing a worn purple long sleeved shirt, a black skirt and black leggings. Her eyes were scrunched up in pain, with her pale hands covering her right eye.
"Oww..." She groaned softly, her uncovered eye opening, showing her pale blue iris. "That hurt..."
"Hey, we're sorry... our friend just got angry and didn't think about where he was shooting..." Marcus tried to explain, as Gabby stuck her tongue out childishly at David, who turned his head away and scoffed.
The girl sat up, glaring angrily at David. Her hands slowly clenching into fists as she removed them from her other eye, revealing a bruised eye shoddily covered in makeup, makeup that was rubbed off slightly after being struck by the soccer ball, also leaving a small red welt on the edges of where the make up would've met pale skin.
"That really hurt!" The girl seethed, a slightly scary expression on her face as she got up.
"Hey! You shouldn't have been watching us from the bushes like a weirdo then!" David replied, glaring daggers back at the girl.
"Dude calm down." Marcus held him back from advancing towards the girl, shooting panicked looks at both of them. "It was just an accident, okay?."
"No..." The girl flashed a wide smile at them, a slightly terrifying wide smile. "Let him come..."
"See!" David smirked, still glaring daggers at the girl. "She even knows it herself!"
"David... you should stop... Now!" Gabby held his other arm, glaring at him, although she seemed to be avoiding the younger girl's gaze. "She did nothing wrong... just let her go and we'll go back to our game."
The girl just advanced closer, her expression unflinching, almost challenging the arrogant boy in front of her to strike first.
"What's the matter? Too scared of a little girl?" She giggled, her laughter sounding like a mixture of childish curiosity with a hint of a more menacing undertone. "Or are you just weak?"
"Oh that's it..." David growled, trying his hardest to break free from the grip of the other two children. "Let me at her!"
The three children descended into arguing as the unnamed girl stood in front of them smirking, her smile becoming a little creepier, only for that smile to vanish when she heard someone shouting.
"LAUREN! GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!" An older female voice shouted over, all four kids looking over to see a woman in her late twenties approaching. None of the other kids noticed what little colour in Lauren's face was draining at the mere sight of her.
"B-But Mom..." Lauren replied meekly, the complete opposite of her earlier self. "I-I..."
"No buts young lady!" The woman approached Lauren, grabbing her small arm tightly as she stormed away from the other kids with her daughter in tow, almost dragging her along the grass. "I told you not to be going around scaring the other children!"
"B-But they hit me with t-their b-ball..." Lauren protested weakly, knowing that not even the truth was going to help her.
"Oh please, you're just trying to excuse your demonic actions..." The woman sneered down at Lauren, the scary look on her face contrasting the bright sunflower dress she was wearing.
"I... I'm not lying!" Lauren shouted desperately, her free hand gripping her mothers dress in fright. "I p-promise! T-They hit me s-straight in the eye!"
She pointed at her swollen eye, at which the mother only sneered more at.
"They probably only did it because you frightened them so much..." Her mother responded, dragging Lauren to the car, almost throwing her into the back seat.
Lauren quickly realised that there was no escaping this, and just quietly strapped herself into the back seat, staring despondently out of the window as they left the park...
She never saw those kids again... nor was Lauren ever allowed back anywhere near there again...
The moment the car parked up at her house, Lauren was dragged into the living room, being thrown harshly onto the couch.
"Ow!" Lauren yelped, banging her bruised face against the armrest, but she was quickly grabbed by her long brown hair and forced to look at her mother's angry expression.
"You do NOT talk back to me like that!" She practically snarled, using one hand to hold Lauren by her hair as she started smacking her with the other hand. "You think you can just go around scaring and hurting people you demon child!"
Lauren screamed out in pain and fright, her tears washing away the makeup on her face to reveal the purple bruise around her right eye.
"M-Mom s-stop it... p-please..." Lauren begged weakly, only to get smacked hard on her bad eye, causing her to scream louder.
"SHUT UP!" Her mother screamed back at her. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop talking back! Ugh! If it isn't acting psychotic it's talking back with you!"
Lauren couldn't stop quivering in pain, her tears freely falling down her cheeks, too scared to respond any further.
After a few more hard smacks her mother yanked at her hair even more as she pulled Lauren off the couch, dragging her kicking and screaming through the house until they reached Lauren's bedroom.
Or... at least what was supposed to be a bedroom, only consisting of a single dirty mattress with an old pillow and a small blanket, and only a small school uniform and another change of clothes slung in the corner.
"Now you are going to stay locked in here and think about what you've done you psychotic demon!" Her mother screamed once more. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!"
Lauren at this point could only nod weakly, afraid of being struck once more. "Y-Yes m-mother..."
She grunted at her daughter's submission, before glaring down even more harshly at her.
"And you can forget about going outside for the foreseeable future! From now on you're NOT leaving the house unless its for school or appointments!" Lauren's mother continued almost mockingly.
"W-What?" Lauren's eyes widened in shock and fear, her young mind unable to comprehend what was happening to her. "Y-You can't do that!"
Her response was met with another hard smack to her cheek, sending the young girl crying and stumbling onto her dirty mattress.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO TALK BACK TO ME!" Her mother growled at her, almost looking tempted to walk into the room to strike her again, but thankfully she relented, standing behind the door's frame.
Unfortunately for the young girl, her mothers next words were just as bad, if not worse...
"Just you wait until your father gets home from work and hears about this young lady..." Her mother threatened, before slamming the door closed, locking her inside the empty room.
"He's not gonna like hearing how rotten and vile you've been to other people today!" She threatened loudly as she walked away from the now locked bedroom door, uncaring of the growing panic in her young daughter's voice.
"N-No... no please!" Lauren screamed, getting off the mattress and running to the door, scratching and clawing at it desperately, tears running down her bruised face. "A-Anything but him... please! PLEASE!"
Lauren kept screaming and pleading, until eventually succumbing to exhaustion, slumping to the floor. She gathered up all the energy she could muster, and let out a loud scream of horror.
Lauren woke up, shooting up from the cold ground of the small cave she was hiding in, screaming in terror as she recoiled from the nightmare of one of her many traumatic memories. Tears began to stream down her pale cheeks, landing on the dark fabric of her skirt as she struggled to regain her bearings.
"No more... no more... please..." Lauren sobbed quietly, curling up into a ball and crying her eyes out, unseen and unheard from anyone, with not even a flicker of moonlight hitting her from the outside of the cave.
She hated nights like these... nights where her trauma came back to bite her with nightmares of one of the many times one of her parents abused her. The worst part for the Scary Girl was... she knew that this was one of the tamer memories.
She just wished it could all go away, but no matter what she did it just wouldn't, and they only increased in frequency ever since that night her parents had found her circus home, that night she had begun trying to force herself to conform into normality…
Ezekiel being there for her had helped with the worst nightmares, his presence a soothing contrast to the years of bitter loneliness that her childhood had been. But even having a caring boyfriend like him to hold her through the night didn't make the nightmares go away.
And now... with her all alone again... she felt like she was mentally falling apart…
Lauren could only hope that things would get better, but as she cried herself back to sleep, she knew that things were only going to get worse before they got any better.
End Chapter
Author's Note: Well then… um… sorry bout that.
It was not a fun part to write, and honestly it just makes me hate the fact that I've done this to my favourite reboot character…
Um… I'd say the next chapter wouldn't be as eventful… but given we're heading into episode eight next that's not really an option given what happens during that challenge…