I just want to assure everyone, without giving anything away, that this is still a Duncney story. I don't ship Gwuncan and will never make them endgame. However, there will be quite a bit of Gwuncan within the story, since I'm still following canon, and you all know how that goes. I put this under the category "angst" for a reason, so there will be quite a bit of it before you get your happy ending. I hope that doesn't put you off, and I hope you still continue to enjoy this story :)

Trent wasn't sure of the exact moment it all went wrong. Was it when he started throwing challenges? Was it when Gwen had found out about his lucky number nine? Was it when Owen had pointed out to him in a rare moment of insight that neither Gwen or Duncan had their lines coloured in? Was it when they'd been separated onto different teams? But maybe things had started to go wrong long before that. When his lines had coloured but hers hadn't. When he'd been tricked into kissing Heather. When he'd accidentally left her buried in the sand.

Maybe he'd become a little paranoid since coming onto Total Drama Action. But who could blame him? Owen was right, it was obvious Gwen and Duncan must be soulmates, and no matter how many times Gwen tried to assure him she didn't care about soulmates, he couldn't ignore the little voice in his head that said, but she won't deny it. So she knew. She must know that she and Duncan were soulmates. And really, when he looked back now the only objection she seemed to have about Duncan was that he was into Courtney. Which, in Trent's mind, was nothing to rely on. After all, Gwen had been into him once, and then she was standing in front of him, trying not to look at the midnight blue swirls that adorned his chest, telling him it was over. It had to be the worst moment of his life. It hadn't mattered that he loved her and couldn't live without her.

Then again, he had seen it coming from a mile away. He could feel her slipping away from him as the competition went on and some days he found himself wondering if she was even the same person he'd fallen in love with. Or maybe it was that he hadn't even really known who she was to begin with. Regardless, he had been willing to do anything to fix whatever was wrong. He truly believed if he just did everything right, he could make Gwen love him and they could be happy together.

He knew he hadn't been the perfect boyfriend, but he'd tried really hard. He didn't want anything more than to be with his soulmate, and he'd been waiting to meet her his whole life. How was it fair that in the end he didn't get to be with her? But maybe it was selfish of him to try and hold on to her when she was destined to be with someone else.

He didn't even get to say goodbye properly before he was rudely ejected from the competition. And now he was sitting on a couch in the green room, waiting to be called on stage for the aftermath show. He was nervous of course, he knew they were going to ask him about Gwen.

He had been separated from all the other contestants except for Izzy for the one night he'd been staying in the same hotel as them, so he'd spent the whole night crying and writing songs. He wasn't even allowed to see Geoff and Bridgette, because apparently they were the hosts of this new aftermath show. He wondered how they'd got that gig.

They were talking to Izzy now, and Trent watched her interview on the television screen. His stomach dropped as Geoff mentioned his name, and he knew he was next. Be cool, he told himself. He knew the camera in the green room was on, filming his reactions, but he tried to ignore it.

"Trent is such a stand up guy," Bridgette was saying. "He did not deserve what happened, right?"

"Oh totally not!" Sadie agreed.

"And all because of Gwen," Bridgette said sadly. Well, at least someone was on his side.

"Whoa! Back up, Bridge," Geoff countered. "Couples break up. Wasn't Gwen's fault." That was true too, Trent supposed.

"Trent lost out on a million bucks because of Gwen," Bridgette pointed out. But Trent wasn't really worried about that. He cared way more about losing Gwen.

"So? Gwen went behind Trent's back and told his team to vote him off!" Geoff said. Wait, what? Trent was stunned.

"Aw man, what? Are you kidding?" he choked out. "Gwen did what? This is a joke, right? " he hoped. So much for being cool. Deep down he knew it must be true, or why would Geoff say it? Thankfully the camera on him was switched off as Geoff and Bridgette continued to argue over whether he or Gwen was the better person, because he couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Maybe he'd stupidly held n to some kind of hope that he and Gwen could work it out after the show. But if she'd done something so callous as to convince his team to vote him off… he wondered how he'd ever loved someone so heartless to begin with.

He grabbed his guitar and started strumming, what he always did when he was feeling upset.

"You were everything to me, I just wanted you to see, you were my best friend! We were cool but then…you went behind my back, in the worst kind of attack. Now you're finally gone! I'm no longer your pawn!" he sang through his tears, not realising the camera was back on until he had finished singing. Great, now they knew he cried.

"Our next guest was unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend and cheated out of a million bucks!" Bridgette announced as Trent got up, ready to go on stage. "Please welcome; Trent!"

Trent ran on stage, bringing his guitar with him, and sat beside Izzy on the couch. As the interview progressed he began to blame Duncan more and more for what happened between him and Gwen. He couldn't believe Duncan told Gwen his lucky number nine was because of her, and he thought there were probably other conversations between the two of them that Trent hadn't heard. As far as Trent was concerned, Duncan had been trying to break him and Gwen up so he could have Gwen for himself. It was easier for him to blame Duncan than Gwen anyway.

"Do you guys think I could sing a song?" Trent asked. "It's something I wrote after Gwen and I broke up."

"Oh, for sure, Trent," Bridgette agreed. He began to strum a simple chord progression.

"You ripped my heart out of my soul. You never text me back, anymore. Now I remember the nights we stared into the sky, but now you make me feel like dirt. And though I never told you that summer girl, you were my entire world. But now you're gone…" he strummed the last chord and hung his head. The audience cheered, and somehow it made the pain bearable and he managed to smile.

The song also served to help Geoff and Bridgette make up after their fight. Trent was glad. Those two didn't know how lucky they had it to be each other's soulmate.

Courtney stormed off set as soon as filming was done. Whoever had come up with this dumb idea for an aftershow deserved to be shot. It was bad enough having to watch every episode of Total Drama Action with the others who hadn't made it on the show, let alone having to then sit through Bridgette and Geoff's incessant rambling once a fortnight. Courtney felt that she should be on the show, and since she wasn't they could have at least made her the host of the dumb aftermath. Which was why she had been speaking to her lawyers as often as possible. They may have lost her case last time, but there was no way she was going to lose against Chris and Total Drama again. She was getting on that show, no matter what it took.

And no, it wasn't entirely because of Duncan, although that was part of the reason. She hated that he was friends with Gwen now, and although she'd yet to see any signs of treachery on his behalf, she didn't trust Gwen at all, and rightly so if what she'd done to Trent was any indication. At first she'd been on Gwen's side, if only because she thought Trent was a total loser for purposely throwing challenges for his gross girlfriend.

But now she saw that Gwen had manipulated Trent, dumped him and then stabbed him in the back. And that was her boyfriend. Courtney knew the goth would have no qualms about stealing Duncan from her, and it seemed like she'd already started.

Courtney trusted Duncan, as much as anyone could trust a juvenile delinquent. She'd watched all the episodes of Total Drama Island now, plus all of Total Drama Action so far (they weren't allowed to watch anything else), and she knew he liked her, and only her. But somehow even knowing that he had a picture of her underneath his pillow and that he was still torturing Harold for her, she was worried Gwen was more calculating than anyone gave her credit for.

Courtney cursed Duncan for being so stupid as to team up with Gwen. But she also cursed herself for not leaving things on better terms with Duncan. She still hadn't had a chance to talk to him, and make things right with him. She hadn't even seen him since they'd arrived back in Toronto and the contestants of Total Drama Action had been whisked off to the film lot, while the rest of them checked into their hotel. They'd been able to call their parents and friends, and some people had even had visitors. Not Courtney, of course. Her mother was far too busy. She'd even sounded distracted during their brief phone call, when she wasn't letting Courtney know how disappointed she was that she hadn't made it further.

Back in her hotel room she turned on the television and watched the most recent episode again. She smiled to herself when she heard Duncan say her name. She was still mad at him, of course, for the whole teaming up with Gwen thing. He was going to get an earful when she finally saw him again. But for now, she was reassured that it was all one sided, and Gwen was fighting a losing battle.

Still, she called up her lawyers again just to make sure they knew how imperative it was that she get back on the show. For the million dollars, of course.