Chapter 1

Once again, Duncan was experiencing the familiar feeling of being barely conscious on the prison yard and spitting blood. Other prisoners were watching from the sidelines, cheering. "Ughhh..." It took some strength, but Duncan mannaged to stand up, albeit wobbling. "That all you got big man?"

Duncan's bald opponent smiled as he blocked a punch thrown by Duncan. He was far taller than Duncan, with a 5'o clock shadow. "You never learn cellie." He punched Duncan in the stomach, causing him to nearly gag. "I know you wanna look tough by beating up somebody in the yard, but maybe you should wait a few years before tangling with the big boys."

There's no way Duncan could blow this. This was his last chance to gain any form of respect in prison. "Yeah? Why wait a few years when I can take you down now Drew?!" Duncan immediately lifted his leg, striking his cell mate in a place Duncan himself has been hit far too many times.

"Ooooohhhhh!" All the observing prisoners sympathized with the man's pain.

"Not cool..." Duncan's opponent, Drew, weakly said.

Duncan immediately headbutted him in the nose before hammering him to the ground. "Oh yeah! Whose bad?! I'm bad!" Duncan stomped on Drew's head several times. Duncan took a few deep breaths before turning to the other prisoners and triumphantly raising his fist in the air.

"You think you're a big shot?" Drew slowly rose up and grabbed Duncan by the shoulder. "You fight dirty, game show boy." He turned Duncan around. What Duncan saw wasn't a face of anger, but pride. "We did a good job raising ya!"

All the prisoners who were watching the fight gathered around Duncan, patting him on the back, ruffling his hair, or giving him high-fives. "You sure grew up over the months Duncan." A tall, black prisoner with an afro said.

"Congrats on your first prison fight win! Great going away gift huh?!" A short man with spiky brown hair said.

Drew laughed. "Man, I remember early on when you were my cell mate, you were pretty much begging me not to shiv ya."

Duncan laughed as well. "Yeah, well, looks like I'm top dog now!"

"Don't give yourself too much credit kid. You got 1 win. I got 54."

From the other side of the bars outside the prison, four people were watching, three clapping for Duncan's victory while one just looked annoyed. "I'm really happy for Duncan." Zoey said. "I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of stuff like this of course, but it's nice to see that he's been doing good in prison."

"Yeah. 'Nice.'" Gwen replied.

Mike, Cameron, and Zoey stopped clapping and turned to Gwen. "Umm...is everything fine? You wanted us to pay his bail you know." Mike said.

"No. You guys just decided that when somebody at a nature rally says she can 'read my aura', it means that she can speak for me."

"Look, I know that she can be a little weird, but she knows what she's talking about." Zoey insisted.

Gwen sighed. "Fine, whatever. She charges little, and it's going to the environment. That's the only reason I'm going along with this."

"I'm gonan miss all of you guys. " Duncan turned to his cell mate. "Drew. You taught me what it truly means to be a bad dude. Compared to the stuff you pulled, me blowing up McLean's mansion is child's play. You're my role model man."

Drew smiled. "Duncan, you're like the son I never sold."

Duncan turned to the prisoner with an afro. "Antoine. You bring a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Smooth Criminal.' You're the kind of guy who could be staring down about a hundred cops on a heist, and ask to send more to make things more fun."

Antoine chuckled. "Funny story. I actually did ask that back in '97. They should have listened too. Otherwise they'd have caught me way sooner than 2005."

Duncan turned to the dwarf prisoner. "And Tommy, from all the explosions you caused that you walked out from despite being caught in the middle of them, I'm pretty sure you're indestructible at this point. If you were ganged up on by 5 dudes, I know for a fact they'd pass out before they could make you give."

The dwarf smiled as he fist bumped Duncan. "You're alright kid. When I get outta here, I'll blow up any building you want, free of charge."

Duncan then turned to the rest of the prisoners. "I'm gonna miss you psycopaths!" Duncan and all the prisoners gathered for a group hug.

Cameron sniffled. "When you ignore the atrocities half of these guys committed, this is pretty touching."

A few moments later, Duncan broke off from his prison buddies and walked towards the fence that Zoey, Gwen, Mike, and Cameron were at the other side on. "So, I take it you guys really missed me, eh?"

"I mean, we weren't that close, but kinda." Zoey said.

"Welllll...I guess...?" Mike replied.

"Not to be rude, but we don't really know each other that well." Cameron stated.

"Not in the slightest." Gwen answered. These were all said simultaneously.

"But...you guys were willing to pay a ton of money to bail me out."

"Actually, your bail wasn't that big." Cameron said. "A lot of people don't like Chris, and you got a lot of pity after you nearly flew to the sun in the All-Stars finale, so your bail money was only about four or five hundred dollars."

"Not even a tenth of the reward money that Zoey and Mike got after All-Stars." Gwen added.

"...Oh. Ok then. I...guess I'll change out of these prison clothes and meet you out here with the guard then." Duncan awkwardly said. He walked away, beginning to wonder if he'd be happier in prison. At least people respected him here.

"So, if you guys weren't that upset about me being in prison, why'd you decide to bail me out?" Duncan asked. He was wearing his usual skull-shirt and blue shorts. The five of them were inside Mike's car. Mike was driving, Zoey was in the shotgun seat, while Duncan, Gwen, and Cameron were in the back, the latter being in the middle.

"Well, one reason is to thank you. If it weren't for you and Alejandro, I probably wouldn't have known about Mal." Zoey replied.

Duncan raised an eyebrow. "One reason? What's the other one?"

Gwen sighed. "Because apparently, these guys think I want group therapy."

"...Yeaaahhhh, you guys can drop me off. My folks tried a ton of therapy on me to try to trick me into thinking it wasn't cool to do crime. Spoilers. Never worked."

"Come on, we're already almost there. You might as well give it a shot." Mike said.

"Besides, I can guarantee she won't be like other therapists you went to." Cameron added.

A few minutes later, Mike stopped the car. "Alright, we're here." Zoey said. The car was parked nearby a nature trail.

Duncan and Gwen got out of the car. "So, where's this special girl who does group counseling that you guys were talking about." Duncan asked.

"She's down the nature trail. We'll wait for you guys here. Gwen, text us when you're done."

Gwen walked down the path. The sooner she'd get this over with, the better. 'The money's going to the environment Gwen. You can stomach Duncan for a few lousy hours if it goes to a better cause.'

"Hey Gwen, wait up!" Duncan quickly caught up with her. "Soooo...how was the season after I was gone?"

"Well, I got eliminated in a scavener hunt challenge that I couldn't complete because YOU blew up Chris's mansion. So, thanks."

"Oh. Well...sorry."

"Look, save the talking for when we meet the girl Zoey was talking about."

A few minutes of walking later, they saw a circle of stumps. On one of those stumps was girl with long blonde hair and a green sweater meditating. Around her were several candles, many tea cups, and a tea kettle. A butterfly flew towards her, and landed on her hand. She held the butterfly up to her ear. "Yes? Oh, that's good to know." She let the butterfly fly away before she turned around. "Hello Gwen. I'm glad you decided to take up my offer."

"Yeah yeah."

"Umm...who are you?" Duncan asked.

"I am Dawn. I've been informed that you requested my aura reading abilities to help mend your broken bonds."

"...Yeah. Sure." Gwen said.

Dawn reached into her pocket and got out a clay bowl. "Please, donate your money to help Mother Earth."

"Yeah, I'd LOVE to do that sweetheart, but I'm kinda empty at the moment so I'll just be..." Duncan began to say

"I'll donate for the both of us." Gwen said. She walked up towards Dawn and put two 100 dollar bills inside the clay bowl.

"Mother Earth thanks you for your generosity." Dawn said.

"Great...our therapist is a hippy." Duncan sat down on one of the stumps.

"Oh, I'm not technically a therapist. But I can read your auras to know how you feel, and read the tea leaves to predict the future. With my abilities, I foresaw that you two needed my help, and with them, I shall have you two mend your bonds, just as your auras scream out." Dawn turned to Duncan. "In your case, you have two bonds you wish to reforge."

"Annnnndddd we're done here." Gwen turned around. "You can keep the money, but it's pretty clear this is just a bunch of spiritual nonsense."

Duncan stood up. "Yeah, sorry granola girl, but I don't think this is gonna do anything." He wouldn't deny that it would be cool for him and Gwen to be on good terms again, but 'hearing his aura scream out?' Let alone suggesting he actually wanted to make up with his other ex? This girl was obviously full of crap.

"Duncan, as a child you felt inferior to several of your relatives who were police officers, including your mom and dad, and part of the reason you became a delinquent was as a cry for attention. Another part of it is that you worry about disappointing people as an adult, so being a delinquent in the present will cause people to have low expectations of you, so you won't have to worry as much about disappointing them. Gwen, your desire to study art history in college isn't only out of interest, but also fear that you'll fail most other majors you have interest in, and you believe art school is eaiser to pass."

Duncan's eyes widened. Gwen stopped walking and turned around. "What the-?"

"Apologies if I delved too deep, but I suspected that if I mentioned anything involved with the show, you'd accuse me of only knowing about you two because of it. A person's aura can sometimes reveal information that even they don't know about, which explains why you didn't believe me in regards to you two desiring to mend your bonds. But fortelling parts about yourself that you two already know but haven't revealed in the show will hopefully serve as proof to you two."

Duncan and Gwen didn't really know what to do. It was clear to both of them that Dawn wasn't ENTIRELY full of crap. But if they decided to go through Dawn's therapy session, they'd basically be admitting their insecurities. "I...I mean you're wrong but..." Duncan slowly began to sit down on the stump. "I guess this might not be a total waste of time."

Gwen spent several seconds contemplating before she walked back, and sat on one of the stumps. She then took a deep breath. "Alright Dawn. Let's see what you can do."