Author's Notes: Hello everyone! Now, I can already hear the tip tapping of computer keys, and my supernatural powers of clairvoyance tell me that several of you are going to leave comments like 'What the hell are you doing, man!? You've already got like six or seven stories started and now your adding on another one!?' or 'Are you mad? Have you been drinking tiger's blood or something!?'

Well, to those comments, I must say this…whatever I do with the delicious red life juice of large stripped Asian jungle predatory cats is my own damn business! ;)

But in all seriousness, your concerns are completely justified. To be perfectly honest, if I were a fan of an author and he did the same kind of stunt I'm pulling right now, I'd at least be worried about him not finishing some of his stories I really like and at worst be scared to death that he'd never finish ANY of the stories that he's started. I don't want to bog down the intro with this so I'll save the gist of it for the endnotes.

For now, its focus is solely on this story, and why the hell I have the balls to start it. Even with me saving that spiel about your likely fears for the end, this will be long!

Just so there is no confusion, this story will be rated M and will contain sexual material. I can't get into the natures of this material because that would be spoiling the story, but let's just say that there will be variety here, a LOT of variety. That being said, this story will have a great deal more to merit its M rating. I'm going be perfectly blunt here, this story is likely going to be my most realistically dark fic to date. While other stories of mine such as "Mad Mikey", "Total Drama Raptured", and "The Doctor Will See You Now" are unquestionably dark, they have fantastical elements to them. This story will not, but it will still rival those stories in darkness.

Those factors were part of the reason why I'm doing this story. Even though I don't think it has a name, this story will be my entry into a particular genre of Total Drama fan-fiction that I have noticed. Since it has no name, I shall make one. We'll call them…Dark Dramatic Dreadfuls! Or DDDs, if you're feeling naughty. ;) What constitutes a DDD to me? Several things, starting with they take place either after the show or where it never happened. Second, the characters are older than they are on the show. Third, they are generally speaking much darker and grittier in tone and subject matter than the series. Four, they have no supernatural or fantastical elements. Five, usually at the core of the story is some form of relationship trouble for one of the main characters. Six, one of the largest points of the story is the main character's emotional (and sometimes physical) turmoil and them finding some way to overcome that.

Despite the length of this opening author's note, I must say one last thing. There is one person who is responsible for this story's existence…Kenju! This guy is truly amazing. Seriously, of all of the amazing and intelligent people who I have talked to on this site, this guy is one of the best! It is through him alone that this whole story came into being. It's only because of his constant and insanely detailed pitch that I'm doing this one. I'll say more about this in the endnotes but Kenju has offered so much to this story.

Having said all of that, here is the first chapter of Unbreakable Red Silken Thread: Fate: The Unstoppable Force

There was not a cloud that could have darkened the lush, tropical sky as the massive cruise ship worked its way through the crystal clear sheet of glittering ocean waters. Despite having left them nearly an hour ago, it still indulged in all the wonders and splendor of the Hawaiian isles. The breeze was light and carried with it the natural perfumes of tropical flora, fully refreshing even the most weary in mind body or soul. The brilliance and clarity of the sea and sky were so extraordinary that the only way to tell where one ended and the other began was the cracking white foam and mottled emerald-green whirls of the water. So perfect was this day that even the currents of the mighty ocean were content to gently rock the ship with a tranquil rhythm. Along the sides of the ship several pods of dolphins leapt from the emerald waters into the great sapphire expense before returning to their watery playground in a joyful chorus of chirps and squeals. Not even the massive schools of jellyfish surrounding the ship detracted from the picture of natural beauty that all beheld, rather their red, green, purple, and rose tinted bodies appeared as a carpet of flowers waving and dancing to all who passed.

Not even any of the countless gods that mankind has believed in over the ages themselves could be immune to this grand display of earthly charms.

'Goddamn stupid nature! Why can't they just pollute this hellhole and get it over with!?'

That being said, there was at least one human that was.

Heather seethed as she glared out at the view from her seat on the side of the ship, equal parts bored and furious. The Queen Bee had been this way, marinating in her feelings of bitterness and wrath for the whole week since the end of Total Drama World Tour. While she had hated all of Total Drama with great conviction, this finale not only took the cake, but it took the plate and broke it over her (now thankfully) fully haired head! Every time the Asian beauty closed her steel grey eyes she would see the briefcase filled with her million dollar prize in her hand…her fighting with Ezekiel…her money and Ezekiel falling into the volcano…her fleeing for her life. As the sequence of events played itself out for what had to be the millionth time, her thoughts shifted to how badly she wanted to hurt Ezekiel for burning her money. In fact, if she didn't already know that he was being kept in intensive care because of his injuries, she'd probably be beating his feral, greenish tinted, backwards hick ass at this very moment…as well as slapping Alejandro around a bit for good measure!

In fact, she wouldn't mind slapping around pretty much everyone on the entire ship!

'Big surprise' Heather thought to herself as her eyes narrowed in irritation when a particularly cheerful dolphin squealed and laughed just out of sight. 'Then again, should I have expected anything else from this band of losers and freaks?'

As she continued to silently stew in her rage, Heather barely heard the light plop of a body sit next to her.

Shaken out of her angered trance by the sudden commotion, Heather turned towards the source of the sound. Upon doing so her submerged frustration rose to the surface as a scowl. "Oh, its you."

The intensity of the scowl and Heather's openly hostile tone caused the person sitting in the previous empty chair next to her to start fidgeting as he smiled uncomfortably.

When Cody didn't say anything for a solid minute due to fear, Heather added with a snappish tone, "What the hell do you want, Geek!?"

"W-well, I ju-just wanted to see how you were doing, since you were here by yourself," Cody managed to get out with some difficulty while looking away from Heather's withering glare.

"You were there, you saw what happened, and unless you've suddenly become even dumber than Owen I think you know exactly how I am doing, Geek!"

"N-no reason to celebrate since you didn't get the prize money?" Cody asked, his voice now (slightly) calmer. While his answer was obvious, his tone was genuinely sympathetic.

After stagnating in a mire of negativity that had gone uninterrupted ever since the finale, Heather found the simple yet sincere sympathy to be oddly comforting. It was the only reason she hadn't demanded Cody to leave her alone or throw him overboard.

Yet.

Instead, she merely huffed in anger, confirming Cody's suspicions.

Realizing this he nodded his head. "Well, I can understand that, I mean, after all the pain and humiliation I went through just to get third place, it must have been worse for you to make it to the finale and actually win. I don't think anyone could blame you for being pissed off."

Silence filled the air as his words sunk in and Heather found that she couldn't stop staring at the geek. It took her normally very capable brain a few moments to fully understand what she had just heard. After all, it had been years since she heard someone speak to her with such a level of understanding. Most people, even those who (eventually) agreed with her offered some kind of resistance. Because of this, she reacted to this the only way she knew how.

"Ok twerp, what's your angle?"

"Wh-what?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Heather snapped. "Are you planning on pulling some kind of prank on me to try and pry Weird Goth Girl from the Gutter Punk?"

"Wh-wha…n-no, no I'm not, honest!" Cody said with alarm and panic. "I'd never use someone like that!"

Heather was silent for a few moments, her eyes boring into what Cody felt like was his very soul. After a heavy sigh, Heather spoke, "No, I guess not. You're too spineless to try anything like that. And you're not dumb enough to prank me when I'm already pissed."

"Yup, and yup again!" Cody said, oddly cheerful and showing his gap-toothed smile proudly.

"Really?" Heather asked, truly confused. "I just insulted you and you're not even fazed?"

"Not really, no," Cody replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I guess I've just been insulted so many times that it doesn't bother me anymore. What doesn't kill you and all that."

'I know the feeling,' Heather thought to herself before saying, "So, why are you here then?"

"Well, I was worried about how you were doing because I was sure you'd be pretty mad, uh, understandably so!" Cody added, slightly panicked. But then as he looked away from her his voice softened. "An-and, because I really wanted to talk to someone."

"What about all the losers you've been hanging out with? Harold? Noah? Owen? Trent?"

Cody sagged into his seat at hearing their names.

"Harold is still trying to court Leshawna. Owen is trying to eat the entire buffet, or court Izzy, or both, I can't really tell to be honest. Noah is, well, Noah. I haven't talked to Trent since Total Drama Action and I'm honestly not sure what to say around him anymore. And everyone else is busy/" Cody replied counting off on his fingers with each name. Heather noticed his teal eyes occasionally flashing hints of something deeper with several of them.

"That's not the only reason is it?" she asked, sensing that he was hiding something.

"Well…no, its not," Cody answered as he rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort. "I-I really don't want to say wh-"

"Tell me!" Heather snapped, startling the boy almost enough to make him jump from his seat. "If you get to pry into my business, I get to pry into yours. Now spill it before I throw your hypocritical ass overboard!"

It took Cody a few seconds to recover enough from the threat to answer her. Closing his eyes and sagging deeper into his seat he spoke.

"I'm...well...I'm kind of mad at them." When Cody opened his eyes and saw Heather looking at him in confusion, he continue. "Sierra made this entire season a living hell for me but none of them did anything about it. I know most of them were on other teams, but she didn't exactly limit herself to when the teams were in different parts of the plane. Its petty and its childish, but I'm still angry at them. All I know is that if Noah or Harold were being stalked I'd have helped them if I could!"

"I didn't help you either, you know," Heather thought out loud without meaning to.

"Yeah, but we weren't friends before this season. Even then, out of everyone in Team Amazon, you were the one who treated me the best."

Cody saw that Heather had raised one of her eyebrows at his remark, not even bothering to point out that she and Cody were not friends even after this season.

"Think about it. Sierra spent the entire season playing 'My Little Stalker', Courtney was just as violent and bossy to everyone as always, and Gwen was…" Cody said before stopping, finding the territory to painful to trek through. He shook his head as the bad thoughts started to anchor themselves. "Sure, you weren't really all that nice to me, but you never did anything to make things worse either. You were pretty fair with me overall, better than a lot of girls I've known."

"You've never actually had a girlfriend before, have you?" Heather asked bluntly at his last remark.

Cody started fidgeting before replying. "N-na-no…I haven't, but I'm sure I'll have one in no time now! I mean, I made it to third place on a hit reality game show, that's got to count for something, right?"

Normally Heather would have shot a painful quip about that being stupid and an unlikely dream at best, but she found her mouth rooted shut at the hollow expression he wore.

Wanting to move on to another topic, Cody asked, "So, what exactly is bothering you? You never actually told me, and I want to help you if I can."

On any other day, Heather would have told the geek to get lost. But, after what Cody just told her, and realizing that talking to someone did seem to help, she decided to go against her common sense. After a deep breath, the Queen Bee spoke.

"I...I just feel so angry right now...and...so...defeated. Even after all the hell the first two seasons of Total Drama put me through, this one was by far the worst because I won and still ended up with nothing! After all the crap, all the singing, and all the torment at the hands of Chris…I have nothing to show for it! I put everything I had into this season and even played it straight, for the most part, but even then all I got for my troubles was my money set on fire by a psycho. The only reward I got for this entire season was kicking Alejandro in the family jewels before sending him on a frozen ride down an erupting volcano into a sea of hot lava." She finished with a huff.

"Hey, don't knock that. You did kick him in the groin on international television after all," Cody said with a smirk. "Doing that would have been reward enough for me."

Heather, despite herself, laughed at Cody's quip. After catching herself a blush of embarrassment spread across her face. "Uh…yeah, I-I guess that is one good thing." Her face then returned to its previous bitter expression, though it was a little softer now. "Despite that, it's not enough to make up for this season because…" She started laughing again, but unlike the feathery bells and pearls from before, this laugher was bitter, painful almost.

"What is it?" Cody asked, recognizing her expression all to well as one he saw every morning in the mirror.

Only realizing now that she was laughing again, Heather turned away from him, "Nothing, its nothing!"

"It doesn't sound like nothing," he replied with a frown.

"Well it is, so drop it, Loser!"

For a few seconds Cody didn't say anything; merely looking at Heather's turned face. "Its about Alejandro, isn't?"

Heather's face whipped around to face him, her eyes staring directly at Cody's with a look of sheer horror. "How di-uh, I mean, no…no its not! Why would you think that, you pathetic runt!?"

His expression morphed from one of sympathy to completely deadpan. "Heather, I might not know nearly as much about girls as I claim to, but I'm still observant enough to know when one is not feeling okay about something. The only possible thing that you'd feel uneasy about is having feelings for Al and…" Cody explained before…

"I don't have feelings for Alejandro, Loser!" Heather shouted, causing Cody to stop and flinch.

Even so, Cody noticed a new detail about Heather expression. "Then why are you blushing?"

The warmth on the Queen Bee's face increased ten fold, spurring her to anger. "Ugh! Fine, its true, I still have some feelings for him, okay, are you happy now!?"

Cody nodded his head. "Okay, okay. So what's the problem then?"

"That is the problem," Heather replied, hoping to drop the conversation at that. But seeing Cody's confusion she knew she would have to explain it to him. Sighing, the Queen Bee spoke in obvious annoyance as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you everything are you?" Cody nodded. Scoffing and shaking her head dismissively she started. "Fine, I'll talk, Geek. Ever since Total Drama Island, I haven't been getting action, like, at all. In the downtime between seasons of this idiotic show, I haven't been able to get a single date, or so much as have had a conversation with someone that could lead to one. Alejandro was the first person to express any interest in me that I felt any attraction for. But the more I look at it, I can't help but ask myself if he is actually attracted to me, or if he was just trying to get into my pants. Hell, a good part of me thinks he was just playing me to win this stupid show! It would be so simple if it weren't for those few moments where I think he was being sincere. Despite my hormones wanting to trust him, my gut and brain say that it's a bad idea."

"Hmmm, I see," Cody answered while rubbing his chin in thought. "Normally, I'd advise you to take a chance on it, but given who it is we're talking about, I think your brain and gut are right."

"Yeah, I know…I-I just…" Heather said softly before she mumbled something to herself.

"What was that?" Cody asked.

Sighing, Heather angrily mumbled to herself again, slightly louder this time.

"Heather, I won't stop asking until you-"

"I SAID I DON'T THINK I'LL EVER BE ABLE TO DO ANY BETTER OKAY!?" Heather shouted as loudly as she could, not giving a damn about who might have heard her. Cody was rendered totally speechless by the display of wrath and hatred as Heather continued. "Despite how likely someone like Al would be to stab me in the back, he might be the best I could hope for now! I was my school's Queen Bee! I've still got a body to kill for! Before Total Drama I'd had plenty of sex! I'm financially set for life! I have the skills and experience to get any person I want! And yet despite all that, I don't think I could do any better than a relationship where I get betrayed in the end!"

After her shouting, Heather turned her head towards the ocean, staring at it with lifeless grey eyes. Actually hearing her concerns being voiced added even more crushing weight to them. Were she any less experienced in dealing with emotional pain she would have broken down and cried, and Cody could see it plain as day. Hers was not the expression of one angry over a defeat, but rather one that had long ago become accustom to it.

"Um…there, there, Heather." Cody said unsure of himself as he tried to pat her on the back. As his handling of Sierra in Paris showed, he wasn't very experienced when it came to comforting girls. At any moment he expected her to snap at him for touching her and maybe break his wrist, but to his surprise it never came. Instead, Heather allowed Cody's hand to remain perched just below her shoulder.

"I'm really sorry to hear you feel that way," Cody said sympathetically as he continued to pat her back. He wished that he had known exactly what to say, but he didn't. Instead, he just had to say what he was thinking and hope for the best. "I know that you've done some bad things, but I don't think you deserve that kind of fate. No one does. I know it probably doesn't mean anything to you or make you feel any better, but I think you'll get better than that." Pausing a moment to bite his lip, he nodded to himself before continuing. "I'm sure you're going to say no, but would you like to keep talking? I mean, it doesn't have to be about, well, this, but, just to, you know, talk?"

For the first time since her rant started, Heather's grey eyes returned to the Tech Geek's teal orbs. Once again she seemed to be peering into him as if she were looking for any hint of ulterior motives, but this time it wasn't nearly as angrily. Rather the look that she was sending his way was one of confusion. Why was he so nice to her?

For once, that question, and the fears of being manipulated, weren't most important. What Heather cared about most of all right now was feeling better, and talking to Cody had offered the first taste of that since the finale of Total Drama World Tour.

"O-okay...let's talk...Cody." Heather said softly.

Cody and Heather had talked to each other long enough that the formerly rising sun was just beginning to settle for its evening nap.

As one could have imagined, conversation did not come easily for them at first. Their personalities and interests were so different that basic conversation was nearly two different languages. But eventually, through a combination of sheer effort and literally having nothing else to do, the Tech Geek and Queen Bee had entered a sincere and self-sustaining dialogue. Much of their discussion had been devoted to Total Drama, and the many, many burdens it carried. But then Cody, finding that he was running out of things to talk about related to Total Drama, changed the subject.

"So…uh, what do you think school's going to be like once summer's done?"

"It's going to suck," Heather said flatly before adding "Total Drama ruined my popularity! I went from ruling the school with an iron fist to a near social outcast! I'll have to devote all my free time and energy just to repair the damage it did to my reputation. Not to mention I'll have to reclaim my crown from whatever pathetic pretender has taken my place at the top of the totem pole!"

Cody nodded his head. "Yeah, well, I can easily understand that. If I had to guess, I'd say that if anyone has taken your place it's gotta be that hot, rich, blonde Dakota Milton."

"Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if she does, that little daddy's girl has always been the biggest thorn in my a-!" Heather started to rant before stopping dead in her tracks. After a brief pause, during which Heather's face remained unchanged, Cody was starting to feel oddly uncomfortable. Little did he know that he had just raised Heather's suspicions. After all, he had just named someone from Heather's school, and that triggered some very loud warning bells. "What makes you think that Dakota Milton is the one that took my place?" She asked coolly and evenly.

"Well…you two have always been at each other's throats, from what I hear, that is," Cody said worried, feeling like Heather was silently judging him as he spoke, which she was. "She's always been your biggest rival, her family being even wealthier than yours, thanks to her dad. Let's see…uh, she came in second place for freshman prom queen, and, oh, you and her have competed for the same guys a couple of times, uh…right?"

As Cody spoke Heather's face had remained unchanged, fully focused on the now slightly squirming geek. Taking a few moments to go over what she just heard, Heather reached her conclusion about just how it was that Cody knew all of this.

Heather looked at Cody, her grey gaze the hardest that Cody had ever seen since he first met her. "How the hell did you know all of that Loser!?" Without waiting for an answer, Heather's mind went to the most logical answer it could come up with, the only one that made any sense.

"You've been stalking me since Total Drama Island haven't you!?"

"Wh-what!? No…no I haven't! I-!" Cody attempted to speak up amid his growing fear.

"Save it you lying, perverted, underhanded little sack of crap! All of this was just some ploy to get into my pants wasn't it? WASN'T IT!? You're not concerned about me getting used by Alejandro because you're being nice…you just want to use me instead! You just want to use me for… for, you pathetic little bastard!" Heather roared with every drop of malice and venom she had stored up. In addition to all of her previously established concerns and despairs, this recent development had added a new one to the list, her single greatest personal fear: the mere thought of someone using her, of not being in control.

With that idea compelling her, Heather leapt from her chair and grabbed Cody by the collar of his shirt. Now, Cody had been through a lot during his time on Total Drama. A bear had mauled him; a surely mentally unstable fan had stalked him at every turn; a pack of hungry dingoes had attempted to eat him; and a shark had swallowed him whole. But even after all that Cody had never once felt a fear as overwhelming as the one gripping him now. None of those pervious factors had terrified him as much as Heather's glaring grey eyes that burned like the rising smoke of hell. His short legs kicked wildly at the air, but he wasn't any further from the wrathful girl as she lifted him with ease.

"So, let me guess. You thought I'd be easy prey, even for a hopeless loser like you!? You thought that I'd leap at someone being nice to me and I'd just start tearing my clothes off? You wanted to get your pathetic cherry popped by the hottest piece of ass you'll ever see! Hell, I'll bet you were just hoping…" again Heather's voice roared like a savage force of nature, before she briefly paused and found her tone abruptly sunny, the gears turning in her head, "…to get me, and you…wet?"

All Cody could muster was an incoherent sputter.

Then, Heather did something that made the Tech Geek even more frightened than before. Instead of looking royally pissed, she looked happy, cheerful even. "Well, I'm not really in the mood for getting wet right now, but if you want to, who am I to stop you?" The Queen Bee asked the short geek trapped in her iron like grip with sudden perkiness.

Not knowing how to process this change, Cody raised an eyebrow with bated breath.

"In fact," Heather said in a tone and smile more fitting for Lindsay than herself, "I'm going to help you get wet."

Without any further warning or change in her demeanor, Heather started to move towards the railing of the ship. "Oh yes Cody, I'm going to get you sooooo wet, in fact, " she said just as bubbly as before. Finding it easier than she would have expected, Heather lifted Cody over the rail so he was now dangling over the open ocean. His sudden flails of protest didn't help him any. Seeing Cody flailing, Heather's face suddenly became just as wrathful as it had been previously. "I'M GOING TO GET YOU DRENCHED TO THE GODDAMN BONE!"

The Tech Geek continued to flail helplessly over the cerulean crests of the waves below. Seeing his struggle and his helplessness made Heather feel surprisingly good. So good, in fact, that Heather wanted to extract one last bit of pleasure from the experience.

"Any last words before I throw your sorry ass back to your shark friend from Hawaii? Any final pathetic lies about how you know that little slut Dakota Milton…pervert?" Heather asked as coldly and harshly as possible.

Cody's mind was firing a million thoughts a second. He wasn't sure what to do, so instead of thinking it through he just went with the first thing that popped into his scared head.

"WE GO TO THE SAME SCHOOL!"

For a length of time that neither could determine, though to Cody it felt like an eternity as he was being held over the boat's side in Heather's unbreakable grip, neither teen moved nor spoke.

If Cody hadn't been so worried for his life, he quite likely would have noticed the previously unseen look of shock on the Queen Bee's normally confident face that came from the curveball he'd just nailed her with. Finally though, Heather found her powers of speech return to her, "You're lying!"

Again, Cody found himself panicking and fearing for his life. "I'm not lying Heather I swear! My student ID is in my wallet! Put me down, on the boat! On the boat not the water! I'll prove it I promise!" Cody all but screamed when he noticed that true to her word, the same shark from Hawaii was somehow indeed waiting for him below with a fork and knife somehow held in its fins. Though if it was fear of the shark or being rescued by Sierra again that was making him scream he couldn't tell.

"Why should I even give you the benefit of the doubt, Loser!?"

The shark snapping its jaws and grinning a toothy smile was all the help he needed to figure out which of the two he feared most.

It was still Sierra.

"CAN YOU EVEN NAME FOUR PEOPLE FROM OUR SCHOOL WHO AREN'T POPULAR!?"

This caused another, much longer spell of silence and stillness from Heather, which horrified Cody to no end as the shark had put away its fork and knife and was now putting on a surprisingly menacing bib that read 'I'm on a see food diet, I see it I eat it'.

As Heather remained unchanged on the outside, on the inside was a different story. The Queen Bee was trying her damnedest to name four losers from her school so she could just be rid of this pest already. But, to her frustration, she couldn't think of any such names. Not one. Unless they were popular they weren't worth knowing or acknowledging in her book.

Finally, with a loud groan of annoyance, Heather nearly threw Cody back onto the boat.

Briefly overjoyed with simply touching solid matter again, he cheered and kissed the deck several times before turning to the open waters and sticking his tongue out at the shark below. But that joy withered away when he was once again picked up and pulled up to Heather's seething glare.

"Show me your ID before I throw you overboard for real this time!" Heather demanded.

"OH NO! AAAUUUUUUUUGH!" Cody screamed hearing the unseen shark below snap its jaws for emphasis. Quickly he fished out his wallet fumbled through the many cards within.

Finally, Cody found the card he was looking for, which he removed from the wallet with his hands still shaking. Without warning or taking her eyes off of him, Heather swiped the card out of his hands startling him.

With eyes narrowed as a hungry hawk's, Heather studied the card intently. Despite not showing it, she was surprised by how real it appeared to be. Every minor detail was matching up, from the ugly green and yellow border to the oddly center placed student photo to the schools laughable mascot on each side of the photo. Still staring at the card Heather was deep in thought as she tried to place seeing Cody at her school. But try as she might, as she sifted through her memories all she could come up with were memories of the other popular kids, from cheerleading practice to parties, even her classes, Heather couldn't turn up a single memory of Cody...or anyone else that wasn't popular for that matter.

Then, with her face still unchanged Heather considered the possibility that the ID was a forgery. The idea was tempting, and it would be the only explanation that wasn't Cody telling the truth. But for all of its allure Heather's rational side argued that the odds of the ID being a fake were near zero. After all, why would Cody just so happen to have a fake ID for her school on him this season? How could he have known that everything would have played out exactly this way, or happened at all? On top tot that Heather just couldn't believe that Cody would have had the time or the resources to make such a convincing fake student ID.

Heather returned her gaze to Cody, who flinched when he realized she was looking at him. Still not taking her eyes from the boy, the Queen Bee flicked his student ID back to him before walking away, her head buzzing with thoughts and realizations. She had spent three seasons on this show with someone from her school, and she had never noticed? For some reason that just grated on Heather's nerves. Sure, Cody wasn't important and obviously wasn't part of the cool crowd (otherwise she would have remembered him). But the knowledge that they had likely been going to the same school together for years bothered her.

Well, actually, that's not really accurate. This revelation didn't quite bother Heather.

It annoyed her.

For the remainder of the trip back to Canada Heather had remained isolated in her cabin. Thanks to the free room service offered she didn't need to leave her room unless she desired to. Currently however she did not, not until the day came she felt the huge cruise ship had docked with the port, with Canada, her homeland.

Even after the boat had docked Heather was in no rush to leave. She knew what would be out there after all, her family's limo, family not included. Out of sheer curiosity however she went out to the deck of the ship to watch the others leave.

Many of the contestants were saying their farewells and exchanging contact information with those they had befriended, drawing one last final bit of good cheer for surviving their time on Total Drama and hoping to keep the friendships formed amid the chaos and pain alive after it. None of them, Heather included, were sure if Total Drama would continue for another season, but they knew if it did none of them would be returning. Their contracts had been for three seasons, no more, no less.

They were finally free from Chris MacLean.

Even though Heather knew that was a good thing and was pleased about it, she wasn't really...happy. But that was nothing new, in fact, that's what had been the norm for years. Regardless, she looked out over the losers who were saying their farewells to each other and leaving. Of the many tiny scenes playing out all at once a few were more eye-catching than others.

As she had expected, the various couples were stealing the last few moments together that they could for now. From the chaste, almost Disney princess-like parting between Lindsay and Tyler, complete with the klutz kneeling and kissing her small hand and the warm smiles between them, to the passionate snogging of Bridgette and Geoff who were just half a step shy of having sex right there on the dock in front of everybody.

Alejandro and Ezekiel's stretchers were being loaded into an ambulance, no doubt taking them for further treatment of their injuries. The Queen Bee felt the dark shiver of pleasurable schadenfreude at seeing the two people she currently hated more than anyone being in such pain and suffering.

Leshawna was looking miffed, but also oddly interested in Harold's final attempt to woo her before they each left with their families. The nerd was serenading her whilst performing an interpretative dance to express his feelings of love and devotion to her. As much as Heather hated to admit it, he wasn't half bad when it came to song and dance. The 'single' sided part of her would even admit his personality wasn't bad either. He had good points in all the right places save one. Body, of which he scored a resounding zero.

Noah was conversing with Owen and Eva; the oddball trio had their cellphones out, likely exchanging numbers, at least until Izzy arrived. The blur of red and green took no time to grab Owen with a bone crushing hug and leaving him with a kiss on the cheek that left him blushing bright red. This was followed by her nearly tackling Eva with the same frightening strength before she whispered something into her ear. She took two steps from Eva before turning back and pulling her by the arm into a short but passionate kiss that left more than just the receiver stunned. Finally she made her way to Noah, hips in full sway and eyes full of mischief, the Book Worm simply smirked and shook his head before holding his arms wide. Unlike with the others, the hug Izzy left him was softer, more gentle, for all of three seconds before she clamped down on him like a vice. This was followed by a full dip and the longest kiss she had given yet. Parting from her friends Izzy waved farewell, shouting something about missing her Scarecrow, Lion and Tin man, but she had to go home to her aunt and uncle.

That was when the familiar whirl of the RCMP chopper could be heard and Izzy vanished in a plume of smoke and fireworks, only a crazed laugh being heard above the din.

Heather then saw Gwen and Duncan, getting in one last make out session in before parting ways. Heather couldn't help but make a face when she noticed Duncan groping his girlfriend hard enough for her to push back against him. She also spied Gwen's mother showing a brief but familiar look of disapproval before switching to a warm smile as she hugged her Gothic daughter as they departed.

Then her grey eyes fell onto Cody, whose parents were there but had yet to say a word to their son. The both of them on their cellphones the entire time. She could see the downtrodden but almost bored expression of sadness on the Tech Geek's face. This was far from an unusual occurrence it told her.

That look changed to one of sheer horror when out of nowhere Sierra shot off the boat in her wheelchair, coming at Cody as if he were a bucket of chum and she was a hungry shark. Finding his stalker to still be more terrifying than any shark, Cody rushed into the car and his parents followed. Their car bolting off with Sierra attempting to catch up in her wheelchair as the two forms vanished into the distance.

Finally, Heather's eyes fell to her family's limo…with only the driver standing beside it.

The Queen Bee stared out for a few more seconds before starting the descent off the boat.

Her expression was neutral and unknowable. A perfect mask of deception.

Okay, so, that was the first chapter of my newest story. As always, I hope you liked it.

Now, let me get into why I'm starting this story even when I have so much already to do. Currently, thanks to the boon that is Kenju, I have a Word document that is over NINETY pages long made up of the general plot with some flushed out details for just the FIRST ACT of this story! Well, most likely what we have charted out will make up roughly half of the total story but you get the point. Aside from loving what is planned, the reason why I'm adding this story is because this story was already started long before today. True, it has to be written out in story form and that adds a lot to it but so much of the ground work has already been laid out already that not starting it would be wasteful.

But, as much as I love what we have planned, I must warn my readers about the future of this story. This story is going to be LONG! I'm only using the barest of hyperbolic-ness when I say that, if finished, this might be the single longest Total Drama fan-fic ever written. Also, this fic is going to move at a pace that some readers might find to be 'slow'. For example, as its planned out now, despite being the other main character listed, Gwen will not appear in any truly meaningful way until at least the fifth, sixth, or even seventh chapter. What Kenju and me have planned is great but I get that some might not like that. You'll just have to trust us when we say we have our reasons.

It is my sincere hope that if you enjoyed this opening chapter and that you will stick with us to see the goodies that we have waiting down the road. They will be WELL worth it! ;)

Until the next chapter, please: read, review, alert, favor, and spread the word!