Chapter 1

Charmcaster attempted to steady herself to her feet, despite the searing pain in her back. She couldn't believe what was happening. Darkstar, the insane energy zombie, had somehow managed to kill her boyfriend Ben Tennyson. Even if somehow an enemy turned out to be more powerful than him and his Omnitrix, she had assumed she could take care of him with her increasingly powerful magic.

No... I failed... I failed you...

She was interrupted from her reverie by Darkstar, who grabbed her by the neck and held her up in the air. She tried to break herself free by using some of her more powerful magic spells, but it wasn't working. What's going on? I should be able to overpower him! She thought to herself, but she actually found herself losing energy due to Darkstar's powers.

"Not so powerful now, huh?" Darkstar sneered. "You... bastard..." Charmcaster spat in his face. "Still not without charm, though," Darkstar mused. Then he unexpectedly let her go by throwing her into the ground. Charmcaster laid there for a moment, devoid of energy, but then she managed to yank herself to her feet, and conjured a fireball to hurl at Darkstar, but it was unexpectedly weak, and barely singed Darkstar.

Darkstar stared, seemingly in thought. "Interesting," he commented, "Part of your magic seems to have died with the boy. Well, you are no longer a major threat to me. I might as well as let you live for now, until I unleash my final punishment on the Earth. Have fun crying over your friend's body!"

He began to walk away. Charmcaster, enraged, charged him from behind, trying to attack him in normal combat; she jumped him from behind. Darkstar, with little effort, knocked her off. He glared at her, and snarled, "Don't waste my generosity, bitch! You should be thankful I've given your worthless existence more time. Never say I am devoid of mercy! But don't waste it."

Charmcaster prepared to get up again, but then she thought to herself for a moment. She couldn't defeat him now, so maybe she needed to regroup with her remaining allies and figure out a way to defeat him and perhaps regain her strength. She didn't think her back injury was helping with her sudden loss of magical ability either.

She hardly noticed as Darkstar glided away into the sky, headed off for God knows where. She crawled over to Ben's lifeless body. There didn't seem to be a particular injury that would've ended his life, but he was rather scorched from the inferno that they had crashed in. She checked his pulse and heartbeat, and they were both indeed silent.

She had hoped that somehow Darkstar was wrong or lying, but now she was faced with the terrible truth herself. And she couldn't bear it. She broke down sobbing over his body. "Why?" she cried, "Why did I fail you? How will I bear life now without you?" She just laid there, sobbing, for a while. She lost track of how much time had passed.

After a moment, she then rose to her feet. She then materialized an energy ball in her hand, and murmured, "If I can't be with you, then I'll join you. Wherever you are now."

She closed her eyes and prepared to send the lethal energy crashing into her heart, but she was interrupted by a monotone voice: "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

She turned around, and saw a few yards away from her, Julie. The half-human, half-robot figure who had once been Ben's girlfriend in the world where he originally came from. And somehow she knew about that. She didn't trust her for that reason; but she had never let Ben know that. And she had reminded herself often that Julie had still been a valuable ally in their various battles.

"Why wouldn't I want to do that?" Charmcaster said bitterly to Julie, "Ben's dead. There's nothing left for me here." Julie's eyes widened and she gasped, "So Ben *is* dead? How did it happen?" "Darkstar happened," Charmcaster replied. "Darkstar...?" Julie asked, confused. "The energy zombie maniac," Charmcaster reminded her. "Almost forgot about that guy," Julie rolled her eyes. "So did we," Charmcaster groaned. She turned her eyes back to the energy ball still in her hand, ready to send it directly at herself.

"No," Julie told her firmly, "You can't do that now. We've got enough problems right now. Nelson is no longer a threat, but the Plumbers are still at large, and Kevin and Gwen have been captured and are being transferred to a prison with Nelson." Charmcaster stared at her, trying to process what she was being told, and then growled coldly, "Why should I care about your battle now? It's none of my concern any longer."

Julie stared at her incredulously, and retorted, "So you would let yourself and humanity be exterminated just because we lost a man?" "Why not?" Charmcaster snarled, "They'd be doing me a favor if they killed me anyway." Julie lost her patience and snapped, "Get it together and stop whining like a bitch!" Charmcaster then lost her patience as well, and disintegrating the energy ball, she charged at Julie, getting ready to swing a fist at her, but Julie reacted with quick reflexes, grabbing her arm, raising her up, and throwing her into the ground.

Charmcaster looked up at the now incensed Julie, and smirked, "Maybe you could be the one to finish me off instead. Do it." Julie appeared furious, but she took a deep breath, and with a great effort, began to calm herself down. "Charmcaster," she began, "Do you want to let Ben die for nothing?" Charmcaster hesitated, and Julie continued, "If you let the Plumbers and/or Darkstar win, then that's exactly what you've let happen. Remember that if you continue fighting, you could even get revenge against the guy who killed Ben."

The idea actually gave Charmcaster a little bit of hope, but she then sighed, "How's that? I couldn't do anything against him a minute ago. My magic seems to be weakened badly right now." Julie remained silent for a moment, and then she replied, "We'll figure out something. It could just be temporary." Charmcaster thought for a moment, and then she growled, "Fine, I'll continue fighting the war."

Julie backed away with a sigh of relief, and then asked, "Are you hurt?" "Yeah, my back's pretty bad," Charmcaster winced, having almost forgotten about her injury for a moment. "Well, you're not paralyzed, so you'll probably heal up alright," Julie replied dismissively. Charmcaster sighed and glanced over at Ben's body again. Julie walked over to her again, and told her "I'm sorry he's dead too. But we've gotta move on. We have more pressing problems to worry about."

"Can we take him home, at least?" Charmcaster asked, appearing on the verge of crying again. Julie nodded, and added, "The Plumbers haven't made a move since capturing Nelson; they're probably just celebrating right now before getting on with their Replacement Project. We have a little time. With any luck, Darkstar might take care of them for us, and then we'll just have to worry about him then."

Charmcaster shrugged, and turned to teleport herself and Ben's body back to Bellwood; she still had the ability to do that and simple stuff, at least. Julie turned around and swore to herself. Ben was dead, and Charmcaster seemed to have lost some of her powers in the process, and Darkstar had become an unexpected new threat alongside the Plumbers. I may have to bust Kevin and Gwen out after all, she thought to herself. She hadn't planned on it originally, but with them now being a little crippled offensively, she needed all the help she could get.

In the meantime, I have other business to take care of, she decided, as she launched herself off the ground and flew away. Another idea had come to mind for an ally, but she didn't know if it would work. She just knew she had to move fast.