The ground below him wasn't his bed, Cody knew that for sure. As purposefully uncomfortable as the beds of Wawankwa were, the hard floor below him was far too solid to be his bed. Not to mention just how sticky it was, as Cody felt the ground clinging to him as he slowly pushed himself up. Indeed, when Cody's eyes finally adjusted to the light, he saw not Wawanakwa but an ecosystem made entirely of candy. Candy cane trees, gumdrop bushes, a chocolate milk river, everything Cody and his sweet tooth could have ever dreamed of.
Unlike plenty of other parts of his body and personality, Cody's sweet tooth remained intact, ready to enjoy the field of candy in front of him. The geek ran excitedly towards the lollipop forest in the distance, his feet grazing across the jello grass.
Suddenly, the sky grew dark as clouds swarmed around him. Cody stuck his hand out in anticipation. "What, is it gonna rain soda?" he said both sarcastically, though the thought of soda rain made him shake in anticipation.
Instead, normal rain began to pour down, drenching the geek. Cody cried out in light shock as one specific cloud began to lower down and grow even darker. Electricity swirled around the cloud as it descended, before suddenly shooting out a bolt straight at Cody. He barely had time to react before the bolt landed next to him, knocking him to the ground.
Cody stared up at the cloud, which had stopped descending, and began to make out a figure on top of it. "A-Alejandro?!" he yelled in surprise, as the Latin teen emerged from the darkness.
"Hello, amigo." The Total Drama archvillain stood atop the cloud, clad in his usual attire. A dark, confident look sat on his face, with his arms crossed. Cody's heart began to pound, memories of his final time competing racing back to him.
Cody had never forgiven Alejandro for what he had done. Ruthlessly casting him into the ocean leaving him to be nearly killed by a shark was too much to ignore, even for the kind-hearted nerd. He had been so close to victory, just one challenge away, and yet he was embarrassed yet again.
"Don't you dare call me that," Cody growled, picking himself up. "I don't know if you've realized this, but this is a dream. My dream. So I suggest you back down before I do something."
Alejandro stared at his enemy blankly, before bursting out into uncontrollable laughter. Cody's face turned a bright shade of red as the Latin continued to laugh without a comment. It took Alejandro long enough to stop laughing for Cody to be thoroughly embarrassed, though still determined. Cody then jumped, prepared to fly at Alejandro and take him off guard. But when he tried, it was just a short hop.
He tried again and again, but he couldn't get himself off the ground. "Oh please, don't make me laugh again." Alejandro taunted, still wiping tears from his eyes. "You've no power here. You think of me as so powerful that I've got that power in your mind. You are nothing compared to me, even in a world of your own design. How pitiful."
The ground beneath Cody began to shake before turning into a quicksand-like substance. Cody began to slowly sink into the candy ground before it suddenly turned back into a solid. His feet were completely encased, unable to be moved. Cody looked up fearfully at his mental tormentor, who only continued to smile.
"Asshole! Get out of my mind! Can't I get a moment's peace from the embarrassment you put me through?" the geek yelled. "You've done enough, now just leave me alone!"
Alejandro only shook his head at the offer, instead summoning another bolt of lightning. "Say adios, amigo. It's about time I put you in your place." He raised the bolt above his head as Cody trembled.
"Oh, would you give it a rest already?"
It took Cody a moment to fully comprehend the third voice that rang out. Both he and Alejandro look around, confused. When they returned their eyesight to each other, someone now stood between them.
Heather, sporting her ponytail from the third season, guarded Cody from his attacker. Cody gasped in surprise, while Alejandro only clenched his teeth and growled.
"What are you doing protecting someone like him?" he asked.
Heather scoffed in response. "Please, it's not like I'd protect you. You'd sell me out in a heartbeat."
"Only if it meant the million dollars, chica." Cody watched as his two rivals bickered in his mind. His two biggest enemies were in front of him, fighting just like they always did. If he weren't trapped in his dream, he'd think it was a World Tour reunion.
"Are you listening, dweeb? Get out of here!" Heather yelled.
"W-why are you protecting me?" he asked, suddenly snapping back to attention.
Heather sneered and rolled her eyes. "Would you just listen to me?"
Cody nodded and began to run before turning around. "Uh, I don't really know why you're helping me, but, uh, t-thank you, Heather."
"Whatever. If you cared about me you'd understand that I am capable of good, you know."
The words rang in Cody's ear, echoing around his mind as he pondered over the words. That was until the ground shook once more, but this time began to split in two. Cody turned back around to see that there was now a large hole in front of him, black as the void. Seeing no other option, Cody jumped.
It was remarkably silent as Cody landed. The loud storm wreaking havoc on his candy land was now nothing but a faint echo in his mind. The light above him ceased as soon as he landed, leaving him stranded in nothingness, only an invisible ground underneath him.
"Hello?" he called out to no response. "Is anyone there? Gwen? Zeke?"
"...Heather?"
His voice went to no one as he looked around. Complete darkness, yet he could see himself as if he were in perfect light.
"I guess that sounds about right for a dream, huh? You might be your own worst critic, but judging your brain for its lighting techniques is a bit much."
Cody half expected his monologue to reach someone, for anyone to respond in confusion. And yet the silence persisted.
He blew out a breath and sat down. The world around him continued to remain static as if the dream around him had yet to load in.
"Why are you sitting on the ground?"
Cody jumped suddenly at the voice, spinning around to see his crush looking down at him.
"Gah! Gwen?!" he yelled. The goth, looking the same as ever, stood with her arms crossed above Cody, who quickly scrambled to his feet. Straightening out his wrinkled sweater, Cody asked Gwen, "How did you manage to find yourself in my void?"
"Oh, well, finding you in your mind isn't so hard. Especially since you keep thinking about me," she said softly. Cody's face went completely red thinking about all the times he proved her right.
When Cody couldn't find the right words to say, Gwen continued. "I thought you were over me? You had that crush all those years ago, and yet still your heart skips a beat when I talk to you? Isn't that childish?"
"I-I…" Cody didn't know what to say. He was at a loss for words trying to defend himself.
"Don't worry, Cody. I understand. I like you too."
Cody was dumbstruck as he stared at the figment of his imagination. "W-what?! You don't get to say that. You're just some version of Gwen in my mind somewhere!"
"But, isn't that what you always wanted to hear?"
"Of course! God, I was obsessed with you for years! I would have given just about anything to hear you say those four words. But you… you aren't Gwen, are you? You're my mind, just trying to give me what I want. Or, wanted."
His crush looked at him with a questioning face, silently asking him to go on. "I don't know if I like you or not. My crush on you wasn't born out of good faith, I just thought you were hot. Sure, I learned that you were a good person, but still, obsessing over you wasn't right. And despite there being years between our last encounter, seeing you again just naturally brought back those feelings. But it's time I moved on."
"Aww, so soon?" Gwen teased. "But there's so much we could be. Just give it another chance or fifty."
Cody rolled his eyes. "You've been a great friend to me Gwen, both now and before. And you don't deserve to live under my, unintentionally or not, creepy gaze. Consider yourself freed from this curse of a crush I've kept you under," Cody finished, taking a deep breath afterward. Gwen only stared at him in silence before slowly fading away into a blurry mess. Gwen wasn't gone from his mind. That Gwen, the one that he'd held on to for years without even realizing, was.
In an instant, Cody was back in bed, waking up with drool hanging from his mouth. Wiping his face, he took notice of the fact that it was still dark outside and that Trent was still asleep. Cody slipped into his usual outfit before taking a step outside. He took a stretch on the porch before noticing his former crush sitting on the stairs below him.
"Gwen?" The goth girl flinched before turning around to face her friend. Her hair was disheveled and she had bags under her eyes. "What, you couldn't sleep?"
She sighed as she positioned herself on the stairs so that they could face each other. "Not really. I mean I slept, but it's way too early for me."
"Yeah, this seems mighty early for a vampire to be waking up." Cody jabbed, sitting down.
Gwen shot him a deadpan look. "Yeah, real funny.", she said, blowing hair out of her face. "I'm just not feeling good right now. Not after Trent."
Cody nodded solemnly as he looked out into the darkness. The sun was just beginning to rise, the faintest orange peeking over the horizon. "I… get that. I'm sorry."
"Ugh, stop saying that. You didn't do anything wrong, so stop apologizing. I'm… well, no, I'm not fine. But neither of us can afford to wallow around camp, hoping that he gets hit with a big dose of justice. As long as we focus, we can get rid of Trent and Heather."
"Yeah, you're right. Hopefully Trent'll be gone soon," Cody said enthusiastically.
Gwen's eyebrow shot up as she stared at Cody, the boy seemingly unaware of his slip up. "Cody? Heather too, right?"
Cody's mouth tried to form an answer but couldn't. "...Have you ever wondered why Heather's the way that she is? Like, there's probably a reason she's so mean, right?"
Gwen's eyes shot open as she stood up. "Oh my god, she got to another one of us," she complained, burying her face into her hands.
"Wait, wait, wait! It's not like that, I swear!" Cody waved his hands around. "It's just… I had this dream about her-"
"You dreamt about her?" Gwen cried as she looked at her friend in horror.
"Please, just let me explain. Yes, she's been awful. And yes, I think she'll continue to be awful! But you have to wonder, right? People aren't just born that way. They aren't born nasty to their core. So surely something must have happened to her."
"Cody, you're just being too much of an optimist. Heather's mean, and there's no excuse for the stunts she's pulled. And I don't think finding the origin of her personality is going to help anyone. So just promise me you won't obsess over her, okay?" she pleaded.
Cody put his arms up defensively. "I promise, I promise. I don't think I could ever like Heather. Let alone like her the way Trent likes her."
Gwen's fear placated, the two calmed down and talked until the sun fully visible above the horizon. The pair's conversation slowly died out as they heard a loud noise coming from above. They both recognize the sound: Chris' airplane.
Looking up, Chris' rickety plane indeed was flying overhead, a cruel wakeup call for the next challenge.
"Oh, this challenge is gonna be a blast." Gwen dryly remarked, stepping down the stairs.
"I couldn't agree more." Cody agreed, staring at the plane's retreating figure.
A/N: Ah, our final dream sequence(s). Did you enjoy them? Cody's lingering crush on Gwen was a bit of a last minute addition, hence why it was only brought up significantly in the last chapter, but it was something I thought I could touch on. Instead of having Gwen be a pretty static character past her makeup with Cody in "The Sucky Outdoors", I wanted to have Cody's crush on her take some sort of effect on her. Of course, having him outright admit to her that he previously had a crush on her would screw with things a bit. Mostly because there's no time to make that crush seem significant to her without revealing the whole time travel business, something I obviously can't do. And without that time from the other timeline, the crush would seem very shallow and short-lived, which would make his confession and moving on seem really weird to her. So I instead had the whole scene take place in his mind, which I think still worked.
The other dream kind of sets into motion the rest of the story. With no World Tour story, Alejandro being a looming threat doesn't work all too well since the only way he can ever interact with the story is through Cody's dreams. So I decided to phase him out to give more attention to Heather and a possible redemption. I want it in Cody's mind that there is a chance she can be at least somewhat nice. It also proves to be a nice ending to Alejandro's 'story', since Heather's redemption makes Alejandro's defeat more likely, therefore still accomplishing what Cody wanted to do in the first place. Of course, Cody actually has to try to redeem Heather in the first place, which who knows if he can even do. Well, I do, since I'm writing this, but we can ignore that.