"I Wanna Be Famous, huh. What. A. Joke."
It was clear with such bitter thoughts of even the theme song of the show, this former finalist wanted nothing to do with Total Drama, nor the fame and luggage that ever came with it. Even despite nearly a decade away from any Total Drama related things, bi-weekly, she either runs into a fan that wants her autograph, or one of her haters that just have to bring up the love triangle, and what happened with Trent. She gets it already! She made a giant mistake, but for goodness' sake she was a teenager! And not every teenager is a guru of relationships, though what she did was really, really stupid, and yes, she constantly admits that.
It's not like she was trying to run away from all of her problems either, she still keeps in contact with a few people she can call friends after the show, like Trent, Zoey, DJ, ex cetera, and she's even gone through the effort to try and mend past relationships that might've not been the best… to mixed results. But all of this doesn't even compare to the problem that she can barely hold a job now because of her supposed, "Famous" status. Finding one is an adventure in the first place, she's been turned down more times than she can count due to being a "Safety risk" whether it be from her fans or herself, she doesn't know, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't care, because she did. Even if it hasn't been explicitly said, she knows that is the reason why. It's been years since she's stopped with that goth aesthetic to try and distance herself from the past, she's no longer dyed her hair, opting to leave it a natural red. [1] In fact, her hair is longer now, reaching just past her shoulders. But all it takes is for someone to stare at her for more than a few seconds, and they realize who she is if they know the show. Her life was damn near ruined because of that show, and the worst part about all that? It's still going on even without her.
She's seen Pahkitew Island after her time on All-Stars, and after that she finally thought the show was gone for good, never having to see or fear a new season taking place that she'd be forced to partake in again. Then the Ridonculous Race happened, though since Chris wasn't the host, Gwen wasn't too peeved to see it go down, even if Don at points got under her skin even though she wasn't competing. She jokes sometimes she has PTSD from her time on the show, but something in the back of her mind was telling her maybe that was actually true. Then after the Ridonculous Race, it was radio silence for a while, and that's when Gwen had let her guard down when it finally seemed everything was good and done. Total Drama came back. Not only that, but she also wasn't even given any type of message that it was happening, or that she could be a cameo or anything. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She came to the show being lied to, used for drama, has her life nearly ruined afterwards despite getting fame, and tossed aside afterwards like a broken toy, never to be used again and discarded. It's not like... she would've been happy at joining another season, God no. In fact, she'd probably just flip off Chris and curse him out until she was voted off, probably first, since the last thing she'd ever do is give Chris more entertainment... Though, doing that is quite literally giving him what he wants, so not going back is her best play regardless.
Laying in her bed with all of these thoughts swirling around her head, Gwen grumbled and sighed to herself as she tossed and turned for the next few minutes, eventually resting onto her side with a scowl. She needed some sleep, she had a job interview tomorrow, and being kept up by her past mistakes wasn't going to help. No matter what she did, she'd never outrun the stigma gained from her time on Total Drama, and she had to accept that, it was only just incredibly hard to do so, no big problem. She has a long list of regrets from her time on the show, ranging from small things to huge problems such as… relationships. And though after her time on the show she's been able to repair a few torn ones, they clearly aren't the same, but the efforts have been appreciated by some, and isn't that what matters?
Sighing, she reached over to her nightlight and opted to turn it off, she was thinking too much about the past again, and she knows nothing can change what has already been done. She wishes she could, but it isn't like she can alter history or go back in time or something. She's made her mistakes, and she has to deal with them, that's karma... Finally getting it through to herself in another one of her monthly sessions of self-reflection, Gwen's eyelids felt extremely heavy as she slowly began to doze off. Maybe she'll get another job she can hold for longer than two weeks, she can only hope. Those would be her last thoughts as she eventually fell into a deep sleep.
.
.
.
The quiet buzzing of the night slowly turned into small physical rumbles and shakes, prompting Gwen to slightly stir in her peaceful sleep. While her body thinks it can just ignore these, it continued for far longer than it should, prompting Gwen to finally wake up prematurely, though her eyes would remain closed. Could it possibly be an earthquake? Of course, she'd rather have just slept through it. Still going through her groggy actions upon waking up, she realized something… She was sitting up, and not just that, she wasn't even wearing the pajamas she went to sleep with. Having woken up leaning against a window, Gwen's eyes narrowly opened as she squinted, trying her best to clear the cobwebs in her head as she shook it momentarily. She had woken up in a bus, and not just any bus, the same bus she had been in right before she arrived on the set of Total Drama Action...
"...Great, another dream of this hell, love it." Gwen thought. Dreams? More like nightmares of her time in Total Drama were fairly common whenever she did have one, as it was a big part of her life. Sometimes she could tell she was in a dream, sometimes she couldn't, but either way she did not enjoy them when she did realize. Hell, she usually just causes as much problems as she physically can upon figuring it out until she woke up. Today though, she didn't care, she just wanted to force herself awake to see if it's still the middle of the night or not, the last thing she wanted to be is dead tired during the interview. Looking down at herself, she realized yes, she is in fact back to how she used to be. Younger, her hair is back to being short and dyed, and still in a relationship with Trent most likely.
Audibly groaning out, Gwen hit the side of her head against the window she sat next to, and actually would wince a little, feeling a brief moment of pain as she'd bring a hand up to rub the irritated spot. Just perfect, she can feel a little bit of pain in this dream as well. Her actions were so apparently loud, that as she looked over to gaze at current friends, former enemies, ...current enemies and more, she had notice one making their way over to her down the middle of the aisle.
Trent.
Just what she needed, to be reminded nearly 1 to 1 about how hard she fumbled her relationship with Trent and threw it all away. And for what? A failed relationship with Duncan? Ruining a friendship with Courtney and having nearly the entire internet gossiping about the love triangle for years after the show ended? Sighing out, Gwen continued to rub the spot along the side of her head, now just rubbing it as a means to not seem so annoyed at her current situation. It's not like she hated Trent or anything, how could she? She was the one that made things worse, and they were still friends even after what had happened... but Gwen could never, ever see herself getting back with Trent for various reasons, and some didn't need an explanation. But she knew this was a time in which they were together, so she'll just go along with it until she woke up and faced reality.
As she thought all of these things, Trent had sat down next to her, giving her a warm smile as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Not too excited to be back, huh?"
Gwen would roll her eyes, crossing her arms as she sat back against the seat. "Who would be?" She'd bitterly respond, gazing out of the window. That never changed over the course of the years, she hated being in Total Drama back then, almost as much as she did now. Even with that snappy response, Trent's expression didn't change, his hand still on her shoulder as he leaned past her face to gaze out the window, noticing they were nearing their location.
"I agree, I'm not exactly excited to be back here either. But you know the one thing that makes it all worth staying here?" He'd ask, as Gwen's eyes shifted over to him now as she turned her head.
"The money." She responded flatly, to which Trent only chuckled.
"You, Gwen."
She nearly scoffed hearing that, a swift exhale leaving her.. but that did get her to smile. Dream as it may be, Trent always had a way to lift her spirits, and he was such a nice and respectful guy, always. She's basically forgotten why she went for Duncan back then in the first place, but there was a reason why she was with Trent, and then was with Duncan, even if it was a rash and frankly stupid decision. Either way, after letting out a quiet chuckle, she rolled her eyes, acting demure.
"Don't get me wrong, I would love to win that million, but you are also important to me." He'd say, with the bus coming to a complete stop a few seconds later, nearly causing the two of them to faceplant into the back of the seat in front of them, but with Trent acting fast, he would catch Gwen with his arm before that could occur. Taking a second to realize what happened, the two of them shared a brief laugh together as Trent held onto Gwen, eventually letting go a few seconds later as they both prepared to exit the vehicle.
"Thanks." Gwen said, giving a rather genuine smile to Trent, "And you are just as important to me as well."
Trent would grin back, before snickering. "Well, unlike you I didn't win the past season." And then his smile would falter just a little, "But it sucks man, that Chris stole the 100 grand from you just to make a new season." And with that being said, Gwen's smile was wiped clean from her face. Oh yeah, she did win Island. [2] It's just as he said, she never got the money for winning, and it's nearly been buried from her mind since then underneath all the stuff that happened in her relationships after the fact. She let out a heavy sigh, dropping her head before looking away from Trent. Nowhere, not even in her own dreams can she escape thinking about it.
"Still trying to get over it." She grumbled, and still to this day she never really gotten over being robbed like that, though with everything else she went through it wasn't the most concerning issue she had. But before she could get all moody again, Trent would lightly elbow Gwen on her arm, nudging them.
"Though hey, who's to say you can't win again?" He tried to assure. He was in right a way, she could've just won again, but saying that is much easier than doing it. Nobody had ever won Total Drama twice, though a few have come within a couple positions of doing that, her included. She'd just shrug the suggestion off but would answer.
"You're right... but I doubt it.. What about you, you could also win." She turned the question onto him instead, though she doesn't understand why she's really sticking around for this, it's not real anyway. Regardless, Trent would give a tiny shrug, chuckling.
"True, but I think your chances are better. If you can win once, you can win twice." Wow, he was really trying to prop her up like she actually played the game well last time. She couldn't help but snicker, shaking her head, smiling all the while.
"I'll try my best." She said, prompting an excited nod from Trent.
"That's what I like to hear." Being so caught up in their conversation, the both of them failed to realize everyone else had already left the bus, and these two were the only ones remaining. It wasn't until the driver, a male who surprisingly wasn't Chef, had turned to them and pointed to the door with his thumb.
"We're here you know." They said in a gruff voice, knocking Gwen and Trent out of their small conversation bubble. Perking up as a result, Gwen stood from her seat, watching as Trent would also stand to give her space to move past.
"Sorry." She'd apologize, walking down the aisle of the bus, and just before she turned to exit out the door, she heard her name being called again.
"Gwen! Forgetting something?" Trent asked. Looking back to him, she noticed he was carrying both his, and her own luggage. Oh yeah, she hadn't done that in such a long time, and sort of forgot in this moment she even had any. Letting out a rather embarrassed chuckle, Gwen scratched the back of her neck as she bashfully went back to grab her suitcase from Trent, showing them a small grin and giving a tiny kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you." She'd say, as Trent gave a thumbs up as a response, clearly accepting the kiss as a trophy.
"No problem." And with that, these two finally would make their way off the bus, and thankfully nobody was actually waiting on them, since she could at least remember when they first arrived, Chris was nowhere to be found. Thing is, she doesn't know if this dream is going to stay relatively normal, or go off the rails into some wacky stuff, so for all she knows anything could happen. As the bus behind them took off, leaving Gwen to place her suitcase down and sit on it, it barely took ten seconds being around the cast again for something to annoy her.
"And what were you two doing, making out on the bus?" Heather would sneer. Great... You know what, no, she wasn't going to let it get to her. While Heather became only, slightly more bearable after their time on the show finally ended, she wasn't really close enough to care about her much. Back then? Not a chance either. She had a lot of problems with Action, but dealing with Heather was basically a footnote to what else she did. So, rolling her eyes, Gwen basically ignored Heather as she instead acted as if she was looking around for someone.
"Where's Chris?" She'd ask.
It would be Beth who would answer, "That's what we've been asking too." Still hasn't seemed much has changed, though as she remembered more and more about her past here, she did realize she didn't bump into Heather as they were trying to leave the bus, and gazing over to Harold, noticed that he was nearly complete with that Rubik's cube he had been working on since she didn't collide into him after the encounter with Heather. He'd show the completed project to Leshawna, who didn't seem all too impressed. Okay so, that didn't occur.. But wait, with them taking more time on the bus, does that mean Trent-
"Beth! You've got your braces off. Nice!" Trent would say, causing a slightly bashful smile from the nerdy gal. Alright, a small change didn't cause an entire chain reaction, the world hasn't stopped spinning, and a meteor doesn't seem to be looming over the Earth just yet. It's just that Harold didn't get hurt. Not that she wants him to or has a vendetta with him or anything... though with the way she'd hit him over the top of his head with a shovel later on in the season would make a lot of people think otherwise. Still sitting on her own luggage, Gwen opted not to say anything as she listened to the conversation continue, including Justin, Leshawna, and Lindsay complimenting her about it as well. She does remember that she was also one to compliment her, but she didn't see a point since she'll be waking up soon, and didn't care to say anything as she waited for Chris's possible arrival.
It wouldn't be long either, as nearly a minute later a horn could be heard, along with the sound of an approaching vehicle. Chris in a golf cart, what a sight. Before he had even came to a complete stop, Gwen had stood up and grabbed her luggage, huffing out as she threw it into the back of the moving cart. "It's about time." She stated, acting as if she was a little annoyed about it while crossing her arms.
"Exactly. What, were you waiting until the bus was gone to make a dramatic entrance?" Duncan added, throwing his own luggage into the cart.
"Perhaps. But hop on and make it snappy people! This cart is rented by the hour!" Chris exclaimed, ushering everyone to get on quickly. So, another barely noticeable change. Sighing out, Gwen would reluctantly board the cart, and after waiting for a few, along with Chris continuing to rush everybody, finally got a move on as he started driving through the area. So, it does look like things are continuing as normal as if she was spending her time all over again in Action, besides of course a few nearly non-noticeable changes in conversation. Honestly, she does wonder what would happen if she just flashed out now on Chris, or on Heather, either one could get the full brunt of her anger to be fair, even if it isn't real, might make her feel good.
While thinking all of this, she glances over to the film lot, having the tiniest jolt as Chris came to a stop to explain that they will be staying at this abandoned one.
Gasping, Lindsay would ask, "Does this mean we're going to be in the movies?"
To which Chris replied, "No, it means you're going to be on TV. And don't interrupt me. Ever." And then promptly flicked Lindsay's nose as the cart continued on its path. Yep, same old there. Unfortunate that this dream didn't make Lindsay any smarter, or Chris being any less of a jerk. Oh well.
"You'll be spending the next six weeks here, competing against each other in challenges, and for rewards. All for the chance to win some monster cash."
Hearing that again, Gwen audibly scoffed out, turning some of the attention over towards her. "You mean the cash that I won? That I earned?" It was clear in her tone that she was bitter about it, and even if her real feelings on the matter is nowhere near as fresh as it would be competing immediately on the next show, it was easy to feel this way in the moment.
Chris, just looked back at her with a smug smile. Oh, how she wanted to punch him so hard in the face. She could, nothing is stopping her from walking up and doing it. But just like with Heather, there is no point, there really is none besides a fake sense of satisfaction. "Yes, actually." He responded, while that grin turned into a frown of annoyance. "And didn't I say not to interrupt me?"
Gwen scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Tch, like I give-" Before she was even allowed to finish her sentence, or start some sort of rant, Chris put the pedal against the floor, accelerating fast enough to cause a great shift in momentum, enough for Gwen to fall backwards as a result. Unable to regain balance, she thought she was just going to hit the floor, but instead, once again it was Trent saving her from that pain, hands on her shoulder as he propped them up back onto their feet.
"Ghh. Jerk." She grumbled, mumbling curses under her breath. But before forgetting about it, she turned to Trent, sighing out. "Thank you, again..." Her annoyance shifted a little bit as she lightly chuckled. That's like the third time Trent has helped her out with something already.
"That win wasn't real anyway." Leave it to Heather to interject herself into something that had nothing to involve her. While yes, technically she did since Gwen won the season in which Heather was big part of, if you said that to her face, she'd probably tell you off for taking her side in the matter anyhow. Gwen opened her mouth to retort this time around, but instead, someone else got to it faster.
"And who are you to talk? Last I remember you weren't the one to win the season, she was." Standing up for her would be Leshawna, and that got a big smile out of Gwen. They were still great friends after the show, and it's nice to see anybody calling out Heather, no matter what it is.
"I played the best, I'd know." Heather would scoff, crossing her arms as she turned her head away.. That wig looks like it can fly off at any second, and Gwen is really thinking about just yanking it off and throwing it away.
"Last I checked, gold is better than bronze." Even Harold was getting in on this. "And-"
"Last I checked, you weren't even close!" Heather rudely interrupted, promptly making Harold shut his mouth and fade away into the small crowd of people.
"So what if you 'Played better.' like you say." Gwen finally spoke up, "With what you pulled last season, what makes you think you'll get anywhere near the million now knowing nobody is going to trust you?" Heather opened her mouth, like she had an immediate retort for that, but after a few seconds of struggling, groaned out and instead put her hands on her hips. She either genuinely had no response for that, or knew herself being openly cocky about it was stupid and would put an even bigger target on her. "That's what I thought." Smirking, Gwen knew she had her, turning away as she looked over to Trent, who was grinning, also find the dogpiling on Heather to be funny, and deserved.
So caught in that, before more could be said everyone would be interrupted by dust and exhaust fumes being kicked into their faces, causing everyone but Chris of course, who had rolled his windows up beforehand to begin coughing and waving it out of their faces. Gwen had forgot about that, she was busy laughing at Heather's misfortune, and who wouldn't?
"What is that supposed to be?" Trent would ask in between his coughing, trying to get the fumes out of his lungs as he continued waving the rest of it away.
Rolling his windows down, Chris seemed to have been annoyed at first, but of course after watching everyone's discomfort with the Lame-o-sine, had a smirk on his face as he answered. "That my friends, if you would stop all of the chatter and let me explain, is the Lame-o-sine, which you guys will take the Walk of Shame for upon elimination. And since we don't have the outhouse to dump your deepest darkest secrets in, you'll dish the dirt in our new make-up confessional." Ah yes, all the memories are just flooding back to her piece by piece. While her stay on this season wasn't the longest, there was a lot to unpack from it.
"And to your left, is the craft services tent, catered by Chef." Stopping in front of the tent, a loud ruckus could be heard coming from inside, right before a racoon was seen to be chased out by Chef wielding a machete. Yeah, she'd be running too if that was behind her. But she remembered this, so she didn't look at all surprised compared to everyone else next to her, except for Lindsay, who had pulled a camera out from... somewhere. Honestly, she didn't even know Lindsay knew how they worked besides the ones on her phone. But just like with her, before Lindsay could snap a picture Chris made the cart take off at full speed, causing Lindsay to stumble into a seat.
"If you survive Chef, you'll have to make it through our dramatic award ceremony, where all but one loser will receive a Gilded Chris Award!" No matter how grand Chris tried to make it appear, barely anyone was impressed by the giant display of narcissism, as Geoff would vocalize what everyone is pretty much thinking.
"Are we done now dude?" He questioned.
"I have an eject button, and I'll use it." Chris threatened, putting a finger up as if he was going to push it right this second. Naturally, knowing Chris, Geoff immediately changed his tune.
"Please, continue." That was the right choice, and with Geoff quieting down, they had just started driving through a more space themed set, much to the amazement of Harold.
"Whoa, cool! Is this a dream?" He said in amazement. That almost made Gwen laugh out from how self-aware that was, even if he said it in the actual show, it just fit so well with her situation right now. She just felt inclined to respond to that.
"No Harold, this is a nightmare." And was she so far off? And it seemed Chris also agreed with her, as they moved on from the space background to an entire city one.
"Right you are. A few months ago, this lot was home to a high budget monster movie, until the star began to experience some, ah... err... Difficulties?" She knew know it was just Chef controlling that monster, and it was honestly pretty high tech once you begin to think about it. That is probably the closest things to giving props that she will ever give Chris, and that's only if Chris was the one to actually put it together, which she doubts. Her thoughts were taken away by hearing Lindsay's loud gasp.
"Oh no, did she have like, a mental breakdown?" Lindsay pondered. Honestly, if she was back on this show, she probably would have a few.
"Actually, the star wasn't a her. It was an animatronic monster!" Seconds later, a loud, kaiju-esc screech would shake the surrounding area, causing everybody to cover their ears due to how loud it actually was.
"Come on dudes, he's yanking our chains." Duncan stated, not buying it and to his credit, he was correct in a way. After large metallic steps could be heard, in which a cell tower would be knocked over in front of the cart, causing Chris to hit the brakes hard, prompting a long yell from DJ, the cart came to a complete stop in front of the damage done.
"Since we're on a film lot, this season's challenges will be based on movie genres! Today's genre? The monster movie! Hehe, duh." With that being explained, the monster of today's challenge could indeed be seen roaming right past the cart on the fake beach, it's giant earthquaking steps making it all seem way too real, so real in fact DJ would stammer right before falling over and seeming to pass out because of it, right over and out of the cart. Taking a second to walk over, Chris would prod at DJ's chest with a stick. Since that wasn't enough, Chris just moved on.
"Down for the count! For your first challenge, everyone must get from here to the cast trailers while our state-of-the-art monster prevents your every move, as Chef has kindly offered to control the beast." Spinning the wand in his hand, Chris held it up, "Aaaaaaaaand. Action!"
With all this explanation being given to her that she already knows, Gwen was all too happy to finally hop the railing of the cart to land on solid ground. Stretching her arms, she had barely any care in the world as she started to walk off. She remembered this challenge, in fact she probably remembered all of them, and since this one was at the start of the season, it had basically zero worth since it was just to decide who gets which cabin, and in the end, both of them end up being destroyed and repaired later, so it didn't matter. Besides, maybe Chef will accidentally drop her on solid ground, and she wakes up instead finally.
Noticing she didn't hear the sound of any running; she looked back to notice that she was the only one to have moved. Right, nobody else knew that meant go at this point yet, her mistake. Placing her hands on her hips, Gwen paused to turn back, waiting for them.
"Uh, that means go." Chris said, causing hell to momentarily break lose as everyone started to fight to get towards the front of the cart... even if they could easily just jump off the side like she did, but oh well. Finally, after all the pushing and shoving, the challenge had officially begun, with Gwen standing off to the side and watching the entire cast run off ahead, but instead of following them, she'd call out for one.
"Trent!" She shouted, prompting him to skid to a stop to turn back to her.
"Huh?" He seemed a tad confused, but when Gwen motioned for him to follow her instead to another section of this makeshift city, he decided to oblige, running back to her as Gwen would run left of the cart down another road. She only did this just so she wouldn't be walking in silence for the remainder, and it appeared to have worked out in their favor anyway, as she can only faintly hear stomping, along with the sounds of scared shouting. Trent would actually assume the latter of things.
"Oh, nice idea, splitting off from the main group." He said, prompting an eye-roll from Gwen, though it was one he could not see since she was running ahead of him.
"Yeah, I had a feeling." She replied cooly, continuing to jog for a short while, and then gradually cooling down into a walk... It was from fatigue, but why was she feeling a little winded in a dream of all places? That's bunk. Still not thinking much of it, Gwen crossed her arms as she now walked through the lot, honestly not having much to say. She was just bored of this really, as this just seemed to be a dream rehashing her time on Action, though now spending a little more time with Trent during this challenge instead. Speaking of, she had just barely noticed her name having been called by him before she was too roped up in her own thoughts, looking back.
"I bet once we get to the horror movie one, you'll crush it no problem." He stated, causing Gwen to scoff, but nod her head in agreement.
"Totally." She responded. The ironic thing is, she actually was eliminated before the horror flick challenge of this season, isn't that something? Though she does truly believe if she had reached it, yes, she would've won it for the team. "Hey, think we're heading the right way?" She asked, actually not knowing the direction where the cabins were since she was grabbed instead of actually finding it herself. And also because her memory isn't literally photographic.
"I hope so, and... Hey wait." Pausing his sentence, that's when the two of them would notice a third pair of shoes running towards them, and looking back, it would be DJ. Oh DJ... what a gentle soul, gosh she sounded like Dawn there didn't she? DJ was another one of her friends she was all too happy to keep in contact with, and if asked who she wanted to see win the most, DJ would've probably been the second on that list. "DJ! My man."
"Hey guys, y'all mind if I tag along with you?" He seemed pretty spooked, still looking around constantly for any sign of the monster, even if he was told that Chef was the one piloting it. That one just the one issue with DJ she felt, if he was less afraid of everything, he'd honestly be the strongest one in the game most likely, course that is only for when they're competing.
"Course not." Gwen would be the one saying, prompting a very relieved exhale from DJ, his shoulders noticeably relaxing.
"Thanks-" Just then, those faint steps had turned into booming thunderous ones, and all it took was a glance back to see that the 'monster' was now heading in their direction.
"Yeah, time to move." Gwen said, but mostly more in deadpan as she sprinted ahead, with Trent and DJ in tow. It thankfully seemed that it didn't notice the trio in the distance, because after running, and then promptly ducking behind a fake building that only had two walls, the monster would walk right past the building, in fact chasing after another group of people that weren't so lucky. Standing just behind cover, they'd peak past the wall to watch it go down, with Trent letting out a whistle of relief, looking towards Gwen.
"Good looking out." He said, and then he noticed someone was missing beside her, DJ. Running back to the spot where they hid, it appears DJ apparently thought it was so good he didn't want to move from said location. With a small sigh, Trent crouched down to rest a hand on his shoulder. "Come on big guy, we've got a challenge to complete, we gotta move!" Being both reassuring and commanding, DJ gave a tiny nod as Trent then grabbed his elbow, pulling him up with a bit of assistance as the three would start to run off the other direction. This was quite a change of pace from her actual time on the show.. but one thing was becoming a problem, and she was honestly getting just a tad bit worried about her tiredness issue. Since when were you supposed to get tired in your dreams? This all felt pretty real physically, but no-... She couldn't start thinking such things, it's just not possible. Right? That's how you go insane, thinking about that stuff. With everything that happened to her in the show to be fair, who wouldn't go insane?
All this sprinting around was really getting to her, and to make things worse, those steps had already started getting closer to them after dealing with some of the others. She doesn't know how many have been caught, but at this rate, they could be next. Rounding a corner in front of them, these three continued to run away, even coming across Beth who was running towards them.
"Going the wrong way, Beth!" Gwen shouted as they each passed each other, hearing her skid to a stop before gasping, and most likely being swiped up by the monster as a result. How do you miss something like that? Were the glasses just for show or something? Either way, she remembers when she was taken out of this challenge, and this specific group was the same as before...
"Incoming!" Trent yelled, and with Gwen looking back, watched a giant open green hand closing in fast on the rest of them. She doesn't know why, perhaps in the midst of the chaos she had seemingly forgotten this wasn't real, and she did not want to be caught the same way as before. In her panic, Gwen would dive to the side, crashing into various stage lights, cameras, and chairs, grunting in pain as she landed hard onto her left shoulder, rolling onto her back as she winced. Looking ahead, she no longer saw DJ or Trent, her eyes flicking up and watching as they were carried high into the sky, with Trent cupping his hands to yell.
"Gwen! I think I see the trailers from here!" Trent shouted, pointing in the distance before he got too far away. Gwen took in a few deep breaths; she was tired but tilted her head to look in the direction he was pointing. If he can see it from here, that means it is a few blocks away. "Good luck babe!" That's when his voice was lost in the wind, with Trent, DJ, and Beth being carried away. She should be running immediately but, rubbing her shoulder with widened surprised eyes, Gwen could only think of one thing... This pain, this tiredness, everything nearly being the same as if she was back on the show for real... Bringing a hand up, she's shocked she didn't try this already, and with one good wind up, would slap herself hard across the right side of her face, wincing even further at the stinging pain that was left behind, swearing she just left a faint red mark.
It's like her heart dropped, with Gwen almost hyperventilating as she sat up, and if anybody could see her right now, she would've had the most fearful look ever.
"This... this isn't a dream..."
Writer Commentary.
Back in time fics are a bit interesting, and I don't think it's common in Total Drama, so I went with Gwen. I'm not sure if someone has done this one specifically, but I won't check for it, so I'll just have to be told or something. The beginning was sort of exposition heavy, and while only some dialogue and actions have been shifted for now, naturally as the story progresses much larger changes will occur, throwing a lot of things off.
[1] - Referencing her beta design, and I decided to alter it just a tiny bit.
[2] - For this story, Gwen had won Total Drama Island, and of course was robbed and forced to battle for a million dollars instead afterwards.