A story guestsurprise, who owns Salwa, asked for. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy!
Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man of Action. I only own Rachel. Also, part of this story was inspired by the scene in Walt Disney's "Dumbo" where Dumbo and Timothy meet for the first time.
Never Hide From Family
"Uncle Four Arms, are you sure I won't be in the way?" Salwa asked meekly.
The Tetramand smiled at his niece. "You won't be in the way, kiddo," he said reassuringly as he used both his right arms to pull her into a reassuring hug. She returned the hug and felt her uncle ruffle her hair. "Don't worry, it'll be fine."
"Okay," she said as they soon made it to their destination, which was Eye Guy's homeworld. Salwa stayed by Four Arms as they exited the ship and were met by some of the curious inhabitants. Salwa made sure to stay behind Four Arms, but heard some of the inhabitants whispering about her.
"She's only got two eyes," said one of them.
"Guess that means she can't see anything," said another one.
"Only two eyes? Man, she's blind, unlike us," said a third.
An older one of the inhabitants shushed them. "Four Arms is very protective of her," he said. "Show him and the girl some respect."
"We respect Four Arms," said the first one. "He's got more eyes like us."
"But the girl only has two," said the second one. "Four Arms and us are better than her."
Those words hurt Salwa, making her angry and while Four Arms was meeting with some of the other inhabitants, she slipped away, deciding that she should go back home so she didn't ruin Four Arms' mission trip. She then saw a Plumber ship and quickly headed over to it, surprised to see Magister Patelliday, but also glad too. She had met him some time back when he and Magister Tennyson had come to the Mansion to alert Rachel about the Forever Knights and Magister Patelliday had been a bit curious about her and Rachel had introduced them. Salwa quickly learned that Patelliday sometimes rambled a bit, but he was very kind, even complimenting Salwa on getting away from the Knights. He had even asked if she wanted the Plumbers to use their technology and reverse what the Knights had done to her. She had been surprised that the Plumbers had the technology to do that, but had asked if she could think about it and give him an answer later. Both Magisters had agreed and Salwa had later asked Rachel what to do, and her aunt had gently told her that it was her choice to make and her family was always there for her.
Now, she ran up to Magister Patelliday. "Magister Patelliday?" She asked.
He turned to her. "Why, hello there, Salwa," he said pleasantly. "What brings you here?"
"Well, I need to get back to Earth and was hoping…um, when you get ready to go, would you be willing to give me a ride back to Earth?" She asked hopefully.
"Sure thing, kiddo. I'm just about to take off too and I'm headed for Earth," he said. "Climb aboard. I'll drop you off at your home."
"Thank you, Magister," she said gratefully and climbed aboard.
It wasn't long before they made it to Earth and she was at the Grant Mansion. Thanking the kind Magister again for the ride, she headed inside, the hurtful words she had heard still spinning around in her head. She walked down one of the many hallways and sighed. "Well, at least I'm alone here," she said to herself. She didn't mind being alone, but little did she know that she wasn't alone.
Eye Guy was in his room, planning a romantic trip for his fiancée and himself to his homeworld when he heard someone speak and turned to see a young girl with beautiful wings go by his door. Curious, he came out of his room and saw her walking slowly down the hall. "Hello, little one," he said pleasantly.
Salwa gasped as she turned to see one of the very alien she didn't want to think about behind her and she quickly moved back, scared of him and afraid he'd make fun of her just like the others of his kind had done. Stumbling a bit to the floor, she backed up against the wall and used her wings to act as a shield. They were large enough that she could easily hide behind them.
"Oh, you're not afraid of me, are you?" She heard the alien ask, but she didn't dare move. "Come out, little one. I mean you no harm."
Salwa stayed where she was, but then felt someone gently stroking the feathers on her wings. She gasped in shock and moved slightly, but the gentle touch on her feathers returned. "Your wings are very soft," the alien said to her. "And quite beautiful too."
Salwa didn't know what to do as she had never let the others touch her wings and the others hadn't asked as they knew how delicate her wings were, but this alien was being very gentle, she noticed. And, she had to admit it was similar to someone rubbing her back.
She began relaxing and suddenly felt him gently move her wings back to look at her, she gasped, but was too scared to try and pull her wings away from his grasp. "It's alright. I won't hurt you," Eye Guy said soothingly to her as he gently let go of her wings. "You're very lucky to have such beautiful wings."
Salwa didn't think so and she quickly scooted away from him and jumped up, running down the hall fast. He was curious and saw her hiding her face from him as she ran. "She's still a bit shy," he said to himself and then smiled. "Well, I better go find her."
Just then, his Plumber badge rang and he answered it. "Eye Guy here," he said.
"Eye Guy, it's Four Arms," came a familiar voice. "Is Salwa there?"
"Salwa?" Eye Guy asked in confusion.
"A young girl with wings," Four Arms explained. "She was with me when we came to your planet, but some of the inhabitants made fun of her having only two eyes. Magister Patelliday called me a moment ago and told me he brought Salwa back to Earth after she asked him to take her with him, since he was headed back to Earth."
"Hmm, that would explain why she's hiding from me then," said Eye Guy. "She's here at the Mansion, but she's running away from me right now."
Four Arms was relieved that Salwa was okay. "Can you help her, old friend?" He asked.
"Don't worry, Four Arms, I will," Eye Guy promised as he signed off and took off searching for Salwa.
Salwa didn't make it easy for him and she kept running, trying to keep him from looking at her, but Eye Guy didn't give up. "Come, Salwa," he called encouragingly to her. "Let me meet you properly, honey. After all, you are my niece."
The young girl listened to his kind words, but was still ashamed of her appearance and hid in one of the rooms until he came in and almost found her hiding place, but she quickly took off and he chased after her. It was probably a good hour later before Salwa grew tired and Eye Guy finally caught her, but she turned away from him. "Hey, sweetheart," he cooed softly. "Don't hide, little one."
She sniffled a little and felt him hold her in a comforting hug. "Salwa, don't cry," he said softly, wiping away her tears, gently tilting her chin up to look at him. "Four Arms told me what happened."
"He did?" She asked. "But…how did he know?"
"Magister Patelliday called him and some of the others told him that a few of the younger ones were making fun of you," he said. "Which was wrong of them. Just because my kind has more eyes than you doesn't mean we're better. We're actually at a disadvantage at having so many eyes and having them all over our bodies."
Salwa gave him a curious look. "What do you mean?" She asked.
"Well, if someone punches my shoulder, they punch my eye too, so I can easily be blinded in a fight, despite having the ability to shoot energy rays from my eyes," Eye Guy explained. "More eyes on my body means more weak spots if I'm not careful."
Salwa understood what he meant and reached up towards his face where he had what looked like eyes, but were unusual. "What are these?" She asked curiously, very gently tracing the outer edge of it.
Eye Guy chuckled as her light tracing was tickling him. "Those are my ears," he said. "And you're tickling them."
"Sorry," she said, removing her hands from his ears, but he placed his hands on her sides, grinning at her.
"In fact, that's exactly what you need right now," he said as he picked her up and took her into his room. She didn't dare struggle, but then felt him gently pin her to the bed and his fingers began wiggling into her stomach, making her giggle a little. "Ah, you are ticklish," he said with another grin. "I'm going to get you, little Salwa," he teased her in a singsong voice before tickling her stomach faster now.
Salwa squealed and tried to escape, but Eye Guy didn't let up on tickling her, getting her stomach and sides good, and he even tickled her belly button, making her laugh a bit harder. "Here comes some big tickles!" Eye Guy said teasingly as he then blew a raspberry into the ticklish stomach.
Salwa squealed so loudly the windows rattled. "NOHOHOHOHO! THAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAT TIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHICKLES! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She laughed out.
"Oh?" Eye Guy asked with a smile. "Then, how about this?"
He sat on the bed and pulled her to him with her back to his chest and pulled out a long feather that he had out from doing a project a few days ago and ran the feather over her stomach and belly button. Salwa jumped and laughed even more, making him laugh before he gently pounced on her feet and began tickling her feet to pieces.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Salwa laughed, trying to escape, but then felt Eye Guy blow large raspberries into her stomach again, making her squeal once more before he decided to let her up. As she rolled over to protect her stomach from another tickle torture, Eye Guy chuckled and began stroking her wings again and rubbing her back.
"I've never seen such beautiful wings before," he said with a smile.
She turned her head to look at him. "Are they…really beautiful?" She asked.
He nodded. "Yes, they are," he said. "And they make you very special."
"How?" She asked.
Eye Guy smiled. "They make you unique," he said. "Everyone has qualities that make them unique, like my many eyes, Four Arms' strength, and your aunt Rachel's ability to talk to animals and her ghostly wail."
Salwa gave that some thought and felt Eye Guy pull her into his lap. "And you should never hide from your family," he said gently. "Because your family will always accept you as you are."
She nodded and then hugged him. "Thanks, Uncle Eye Guy," she said.
"You're welcome, Salwa," he said with a smile as he stroked her wings again gently. "You like someone patting your wings?"
She nodded. "It's like a back massage, to be honest," she said. "Plus, you're very gentle and the first one I've allowed to touch my wings."
"Really?" He asked in surprise. She nodded. "Well, I'm honored that you trust me enough to allow me to touch them."
Salwa smiled and hugged him again. "I'm…slowly learning to be able to trust everyone fully," she admitted. "But after being with the Knights…,"
"It takes you a bit to trust others," he finished gently. "And we understand that too."
"Thank you for understanding," she said, feeling him rub her back before he picked her up and carried her downstairs. Rachel was there and hugged Salwa.
"You okay, honey?" She asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, and I've made my choice," she said.
"Choice?" Eye Guy asked.
"About the Plumbers using their technology to make me fully human again," said Salwa, seeing Magister Patelliday and Magister Tennyson standing by her aunt. "I appreciate the kind offer, but…I think I'll pass."
"Are you sure, honey?" Rachel asked.
Salwa nodded. "Like Uncle Eye Guy said, my appearance makes me unique," she said. "And being unique isn't really that bad."
"If it was, everything would be rather dull, no?" Eye Guy asked.
"Very true," said Magister Patelliday and Magister Tennyson nodded. Four Arms then came up and Salwa hugged him hard.
"Sorry about worrying you," she said.
"It's okay, kiddo," he said, hugging her back and gently patting her wings too. "And I gave those punks something to think about."
She smiled. "Thanks for standing up for me, Uncle Four Arms," she said.
"That's what family does, kiddo," he said seriously as he hugged her again.
Salwa smiled. Thanks to her loving uncles and her aunt, she knew now never to be ashamed of her appearance, because they loved her all the same.
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GoldGuardian2418