This was requested by Mrbznarutofan, whom I want to thank very much for this idea! Hope you like it!
Please enjoy!
Gwen rifled around through the large box, her hands brushing against all sorts of objects.
"Find it?" Grandpa Max asked her from outside the Rust Bucket, cooking something disgusting for sure.
"No," Gwen called back, not taking her eyes off all of the full of junk, "I don't know where I left that stupid spellbook…"
Pushing a couple more things around, she suddenly stumbled upon a miniature box. It was about the size of the palm of her hand, and since she was about to give up looking for her book anyway, she pulled it out. Holding it, she curiously opened the lid of the box to see what was inside.
Immediately recognizing it, she gasped, almost dropping the box itself. Gwen quickly slammed the top down.
"Everything okay in there?" Grandpa Max hollered to her.
"Not exactly…" she muttered to herself.
"What?" Grandpa asked her.
Gwen shook her head, deciding to place the smaller box into one of the nearby cabinets. She'd come back for it later. Even though no one had tried to steal the object from Grandpa Max all these years, she still didn't trust that no one could come for it, even now. Besides, there was no way she was letting Kevin or Ben anywhere near it.
Taking one last skeptical glance behind her, she walked out of the Rust Bucket, suddenly becoming overwhelmed by the smell of roasted eyeballs.
After Grandpa Max had long since gone to sleep, the trio still remained by the campfire.
"That is not how it happened," Gwen argued, rolling her eyes at her cousin.
"Yes it is!" he responded, tossing his hands up in the air.
"For some strange reason, I don't believe you," Kevin told him sarcastically.
Ben sighed. "When we were kids, I hypnotized Gwen, and she had to do all this stuff I asked her to do! She even fed me grapes and stuff!"
"Sublimino hypnotized you. You had to do what I said until the sound of the Omnitrix timing out made you snap out of it," Gwen replied.
"Not uh!"
"Ben, I have it on videotape," she responded.
"Hahaha, busted," Kevin said, snickering.
Ben, shooting a look at his cousin and pouting, shot up from his seat at the campfire. "Whatever, I'm going to sleep," he declared dramatically, striding into the Rust Bucket.
Gwen rolled her eyes after he departed.
"Did you really get it on videotape?" Kevin smirked.
She shrugged. "I was a kid. I wanted blackmail."
"That's my girl," he told her with a smile. Standing up, he asked, "I'm going to get water, you want anything?"
She shook her head.
"Alright, I'll be back," he said, walking back into the mobile home.
Gwen then bent down to tend to the fire, gathering small sticks from her left side. She cautiously dropped them into the orange flames, igniting the heat even more.
"Hey, Gwen, what's in this box?" Kevin suddenly asked, appearing from the doorway and stepping towards her.
She looked up, noticing he possessed the item she earlier attempted to hide.
"It's nothing," she immediately lied, "just put it back where you found it."
Kevin quirked his eyebrow. "You know I'm going to open this, right?"
Gwen sighed, standing up and taking a step towards him. "All you need to know is that it's dangerous, okay?"
He glanced at her, seeing that she obviously had no desire for him to open the box. He contemplated for a short moment, then his curiosity won out, as it did in most cases.
Kevin opened the lid right as Gwen reached her arm out to snatch it, but he managed to get the upper hand. Literally.
Gwen pulled away and sighed, giving up on trying to take it from him. "Kevin it's…"
"A pocket watch," he stated, dangling it in front of his face by the chain, eying it inquisitively, "You were trying to stop me from getting a pocket watch?"
Sighing, she said, "Look, it caused Ben and I plenty of trouble when we were younger, and I don't need you causing anything else with it. Would you just put it back?"
As if a lightbulb went off in his head, his pupils suddenly expanded enormously. "This is the watch that that guy...Sublimino used on Ben when you kids. That's why you don't want me to have it, isn't it?"
She pursed her lips. "Even if I did use it against Ben, that kind of power still scared me as a kid. Seeing his mind totally warped like that was just…" she shook her head slowly, "nevermind. Just go put it back where you found it. I'll properly dispose of it later."
Gwen spun on her heel and began heading back towards the fire, to tend to the dying flames.
She could hear Kevin messing with the watch behind her, the sound of the chain jingling ringing in her ears.
"You did a terrible job hiding it, Gwen," Kevin informed her, still playing with the weapon of hypnosis behind her back.
"It wasn't a permanent place," she replied, dropping a smaller stick into the fire.
The watch continued to jingle. "Oooo look I'm Sublimino and I'm going to make you steal ridiculous stuff for me," Kevin said mockingly.
"Cut it out," Gwen told him harshly, brushing the dirt off her by running her palms along her thighs.
"Gwendolyn, I command you to stand still and stop talking!" he declared in a fake villainous voice.
She stood up and violently turned around, "Kevin I told you not to-"
And abruptly, stopped talking. Stopped moving, stopped fighting, stopped arguing.
Kevin was looking down, and laughed as he drew his gaze back to her. "What, Gwen?"
He suddenly noticed his girlfriend standing there, blank as a statue. As he peered closer, he could see spirals moving back and forth in her pupils. They were mixed in enough with the brilliant green to not be noticeable upon first glance.
Stepping closer, he snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. "Gwen? Hello? Gwen?"
It didn't work.
She still had no emotions appearing anywhere on her face, appearing as though she was like a robot fresh out of the factory.
Kevin snapped his fingers again, then a third time, but neither attempt was successful. She remained motionless.
A bit of panic blossomed in his chest, but then he came to a quick realization. "You can do whatever I want, and you can't do anything about it…" he muttered slowly. His mind was swamped with possibilities.
The Osmosian glanced at the watch, then held it up to her face and said, "Don't move. I'll be right back."
She obeyed, standing like a lifeless corpse until he returned.
He was careful not to wake Ben or Grandpa Max whilst he searched for a video camera inside the Rust Bucket. Grinning triumphantly once he located one, he opened it up and jogged back outside. Hitting the play button, it began rolling. He placed the camera on one of the plastic seats that had been set up around the campfire, and aimed it perfectly so it captured both him and Gwen in the shot.
"Uh…Gwen...I command you to go fetch me some water!" he said, winking at the video camera.
She silently complied, walking towards the door, opening it, and wandering inside. He could hear her fumbling around for a glass, but fortunately she didn't make enough noise as to wake up either of the males sleeping. She returned quickly, her fingers wrapped around an ice cold glass. She outstretched her arm and held it like that until he took the water from her.
Smiling, he took a sip, then placed it on one of the other unoccupied chairs. "Now that we've tested that," Kevin replied, "let's try something else."
Gwen said nothing.
"Hmmmm," he muttered, looking around for any sort of inspiration. In all honesty, he wasn't quite sure what exactly to do with her. There were so many things he could ask, so many commands he could give. He wasn't even sure where to begin.
Her blank expression and unmoving body did not give him any sort of guidance.
After a moment's pause, he then smiled, blurting out, "Tell me something only you know about Ben."
Gwen didn't even hesitate, "He didn't start puberty until he was fourteen, but as you can see he's barely even hit it now."
Kevin instantly cackled with laughter, then remembered Ben and Grandpa Max still inside, so he tried to quiet himself down. He waited a second to confirm that they were still sleeping.
"What should I ask…" he mumbled to himself.
"You can ask me anything," Gwen claimed robotically.
Kevin blinked. "Um….What's something you want to know about me that you don't?"
Okay, that was stupid, he thought to himself, Why did I even ask that?
"I want to know why you haven't admitted to being in love with me yet," she responded immediately.
Now it was Kevin's turn to stand still as a statue. Something unidentifiable filled his chest, but he quickly waved away the question, brushing it off and trying to think of something else to ask.
Although, the realization then dawned upon him that he could get any sort of information about himself out of her that he wanted to. Everything he's ever wanted to know, anything he's ever doubted, he could figure it all out right now.
Then again, he could also make do something stupid and ridiculous.
But stupid and ridiculous was never quite his style.
"Uh, Gwen," he began, "what's your deepest fear?"
He felt weird asking her such personal questions, even though they'd been dating for quite some time. But still, it wasn't exactly her he was asking. More like...a shell of her.
Though, he was genuinely curious, and wondered these sorts things about her all the time. If he didn't ask now, he might never work up the nerve to ask later.
"Losing you."
Kevin almost choked, even though the only thing to swallow was air. "What?"
"Losing you," she immediately repeated.
He blinked. As he did with the earlier question, he managed to neglect the answer and continued on with his inquiry.
This time though, he changed to a much less personal topic, and gave her a command. "Go run around near those trees and yell, 'Kevin Levin is all powerful."
Of course, she instantly obeyed, sprinting towards the edge of the treeline. She began hollering "KEVIN LEVIN IS ALL POWERFUL!" at the top of her lungs. Picking up the video camera, he aimed it towards her.
After about a minute of this, he was prepared to call her back, but then Ben himself emerged from the mobile home. Dressed in a black t-shirt and pajama pants that had both his floating head and his name decorated all around them, he stretched his arms out and yawned. "Seriously guys? Universe saving hero trying to sleep in here."
Kevin rolled his eyes. "Shut it, Tennyson."
Ben squinted towards his cousin prancing around the grass. "Why is Gwen galloping around all the way over there?"
Kevin held up the pocket watch, still pointing the video camera towards his girlfriend. "Remember this?"
"You hypnotized her?!" Ben exclaimed in shock.
"It was an accident," Kevin claimed, putting the watch back in his pocket.
"Kevin!" the younger boy yelled at his best friend. Pausing for a moment, he then had a realization, "...I need to get back at her! Gimme the watch!" Ben exclaimed, launching himself towards Kevin.
"No!" he replied, leaning away from him.
"Why not?! You had your turn! Lemme try!" Ben complained, reaching out and trying to snatch the watch out of Kevin's pocket. The Osmosian pushed him away with his free arm, still trying to video Gwen. The two boys began wrestling for the watch, forcing Kevin to drop the camera off to the side.
Meanwhile, Gwen was still two dozen yards away, still running, still screaming.
After several moments, and different limbs entangled between each other, Kevin and Ben looked up from their odd position.
"Uhhhh, Kev…." Ben said, nodding towards his cousin.
Kevin detached himself from his best friend, and said, "Oh, right."
Standing up, he quickly yelled "Gwen! You can come back now!"
She glanced at them, then began slowly heading in their direction. Upon arriving, she stood straight in front of Kevin, panting heavily.
"Whoaaaa," Ben muttered in bewilderment, snapping his fingers in front of his cousin's face. She didn't blink. "You've really got her under your control."
Kevin nodded.
"Lemme see the watch now!"
"Seriously, Tennyson?"
He looked innocently at the Osmosian, "Pleaseeeeeee?" he whined with an enormous pout.
Kevin crossed his arms over his chest before mumbling, "Fine," and forking over the watch.
Ben smiled giddily, dazzled by the power he now has over his cousin. "Grab the video camera," he instructed his friend.
Kevin reluctantly picked up the piece of technology and directed the lense towards his girlfriend. "Gwen," Ben began dramatically, dangling the watch back and forth between her eyes, "I command you to hop on one foot, rub your head, and pat your stomach." As she began doing so, he scratched his temple, "Er, wait, pat your head and rub your stomach."
The Osmosian rolled his eyes, but was still amused nonetheless.
Eventually, Ben was still cracking out in hysterics, even after Kevin wasn't finding it funny anymore. "Alright, Tennyson, cough it up. You've had your turn," the older boy said.
Ben looked flabbergasted. "No way! I'm having way too much fun. Gwen, go get me some chips."
As expected, the redhead stopped her silly antics, and silently put one foot in front of the other as she headed back towards the mobile home.
Ben laughed. "This is great!" he exclaimed. He pointed towards the camera, "Kev, you getting all this?"
"Yeah, uh, Ben, okay, maybe we should let this go now, she's been doing this for long enough," Kevin informed him.
Ben blinked. "Are you kidding? Think of all the stuff we can do with her! I can totally get back at her for doing this to me in our childhood!"
"Ben, I'm starting to think this isn't such-"
"Here you go," Gwen stated robotically, letting the bag of chips fall into her cousin's lap.
"Awesome!" Ben shouted, pumping his fist in the air while shoving a handful of potato chips in his mouth.
Kevin reached out, desiring to snatch the watch out from the younger hero's grip. Ben pushed his hand away and opened his food-filled mouth to release another task for his cousin to complete.
"Ben, let's just let her go now."
"You're the one that hypnotized her in the first place! I'm not giving up control now!" he argued, chomping on more chips.
"Ben."
"Gwen I command you-"
"BEN!"
Ben gave his best friend a dirty look. They held their fierce glares at one another until Kevin finally won out, and Ben sighed. "Fine. One last thing first."
"What is it?"
Instead of responding to Kevin, Ben focused his attention on Gwen. He waved his hands dramatically. "Gwendolyn," he began slowly, "...I command you to tell me your deepest, darkest secret." He waggled his eyebrows.
Ben ripped the video camera out of Kevin's hands and held it up in front of his eyes for full evidence of Gwen's confession.
Gwen said it immediately, of course. But for Kevin, everything seemed to be going in slow motion.
"I'm in love with Kevin," she began, "and I'm scared that he doesn't love me back, that he's going to move on with his life eventually, and I won't be a part of it. But I know that I'm going to be in love with him for the rest of mine, so I'm worried that if he finds something, or someone better, I'll be in pain forever."
Both boys had their jaws slackened as robotic Gwen finished. Ben slowly pulled the camera away from him, shutting it off in the process. "I think that's my cue to leave..."
Ben started raising himself up, and he had almost full straightened his body when Kevin grabbed his wrist. "Not yet, Tennyson. How do we change her back?" His voice was hoarse, obviously stunned by what had just come out of his girlfriend's mouth, but also clearly going to neglect it.
Ben gave him an extremely concerned look, furrowing his eyebrows and forging his mouth into a grim line. He let out a barely audible sigh, placing the pocket watch in his palm once more. He'd suddenly lost his playful moxie, becoming terribly worried about what his robotic cousin's words were doing to his best friend. "Gwen come here," he instructed, the Anodite taking several strides towards him before coming to a somewhat abrupt stop. He waved the object in front of her eyeballs, and once he started talking, her green pupils began to follow it. As they went back and forth, Ben calmly said, "When I snap my fingers you're going to revert to the way you were before, not under any sort of hypnosis. Got it?"
She nodded.
Ben turned back and glanced at his best friend, whose line of sight was focused on the grass below whilst he clenched his jaw. "You sure you want me to do this?"
"We don't want to invade her privacy anymore than we already have," he mumbled.
The changeling sighed, and faced his cousin once more. He raised his fingers, snapping them suddenly.
Gwen instantly began to blink rapidly, the first couple times only seeming to bat away her grogginess. Then, she came to, and shook her head. She pinched her fingers on the bridge of her nose while making several groaning noises.
"You okay?" Ben asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
She opened her eyelids and let out a breath of exhaustion. "What...what happened?"
Avoiding the fact that he had just relinquished her from his control, Kevin simply replied, "It's a long story."
Gwen was looking around at that point, glancing at her surroundings, beginning to remember things that occurred before she had previously blacked out. Once taking a glimpse at the watch she had earlier tried to hide swaying underneath Ben's grip, she jerked her head up towards her boyfriend, "You hypnotized me?!"
Kevin babbled out multiple words at once, fumbling for a response, while Ben blurted, "Uh, gotta go!" He dashed back inside, shutting the door somewhat quietly behind him.
Gwen spun on her heel towards him furiously. "How long was I under your control?"
Kevin shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know," he mumbled all in one breath.
She clenched her jaw. "You wanna tell me what you made me do?"
"Rather not," he admitted, biting his inner lip.
The redhead angrily grunted, but ceased when her eyes fell upon the fallen video camera. "...You video taped it?"
He grinned sheepishly. "...Blackmail…?" he managed, intimidated by her glare.
His enraged girlfriend gritted her teeth, but then made a run for the camera. He took off seconds after her, darting for the same object. Unfortunately for him, she reached for it first, and got her hands on it milliseconds before he tried to snatch it. She stood up and took a few steps away from him, using her Anodite powers, she built a shield in between her and her boyfriend.
Hitting play, she began watching as her blankslate self delivered her boyfriend a glass of water. Then, proceeded to share information about her cousin, which she scoffed at.
Kevin shattered her energy shield by smashing through it while powered up, then diminished his armor once he came to a stop beside her. He held his breath as he watched himself ask the redheaded beauty the first of several personal questions. After her response came on the tape, Gwen cleared her throat awkwardly, but didn't say anything. She instead continued viewing wordlessly as her hypnotized self answered another question.
She could feel Kevin breathing on her neck. But they were both uncomfortably looking at themselves deal with Gwen's responses to those questions.
When on camera Kevin made another request of her, she turned to face him and said, "Kevin Levin is all powerful?"
Kevin shrugged, mumbling, "It was all I could think of on short notice."
She turned back to the screen, both teenagers deliberately ignoring what they were really thinking about.
Eventually, they came to the last question, and Gwen's reply immediately followed. The camera was then shut off, leaving the Anodite on a complete cliffhanger as to what the boys had done next.
Gwen slowly moved away from him, not completely knowing how to handle the situation. "Well, I guess we should be heading to bed then," she muttered, snatching the glass of water off one of the chairs.
She didn't say goodnight to him, just walked relatively quickly towards the door of the mobile home.
Kevin sighed, the logical side of his brain taking over. "Wait."
The Anodite shifted towards him, raising her eyebrows in question. "Yeah?"
"Uh, Gwen, come back," he replied, knowing they couldn't avoid the topic of conversation they both wanted to on some level.
She silently obliged, moving back to him.
"I think...I think maybe we should talk about…"
She shook her head. "It's okay. You don't have to say anything."
"No, Gwen, I uh, I do," he told her, closing his eyes and slowly opening them back up again, "Look, I uh, I know I made you say some stuff in that video, and I-I'm sorry. I'm...I'm also sorry for you know, never telling you things I should've. But Gwen, I uh, I am in love with you. I do love you, I kinda always have. And you...you don't have to worry about me leaving. I can't imagine not being with you. ...So, uh, yeah." he stated both awkwardly and uncomfortably.
Immediately smiling, she leaned in close towards him. He instantly wrapped his arms around her, encasing her in his loving embrace.
They stood there like that, for several moments, before Kevin mumbled into her hair, "So, you're not still mad about the whole watch thing?"
She then pulled away, looking up at him with somewhat playful eyes and cocking her eyebrow. "You really think you're getting out of it that easily?"
He chuckled, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.