Silver Dust
Part 1: A Surprise Visitor
By Chibi Hime
AN: Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man of Action
There was a knock at the cottage door.
Verdona opened it and immediately put her hands on her hips.
"Charmcaster," she said flatly.
Verdona was a good witch, so she knew who it was no matter how many glamour spells the younger witch had cast on herself.
The disguised sorceress snorted.
"Witch Verdona," she nodded, sounding very respectful.
Verdona raised an eyebrow and stood in the doorway blocking the threshold.
"What can I do for you?" she asked, being careful to be straight to the point without being rude.
The girl was her granddaughter's main rival in terms of magical competitions and Verdona was very aware of some of the girl's underhanded methods of sorcery.
Charmcaster seemed to pause a moment and swallowed. Verdona hoped it was her pride she swallowed.
"I need you to do a spell for me," the white haired girl whispered.
Verdona leaned on the side of the entryway.
"So...I am to understand you cannot cast it yourself?"
"I don't trust myself to do it accurately,"
Verdona smiled. The younger witch wasn't lying.
"What kind of spell?" Verdona asked.
Charmcaster looked warily around, making sure no one else was nearby.
"A...a...gynecological empathy concentration spell," she mumbled.
Verodna's large eyes widened in surprise.
"A What?" she asked.
"You heard me! I need to know...something very important," she ended vaguely.
Verdona grinned.
Twice the price for being who she is and being uppity about it.
"I can help you with that, my dear, for a very reasonable price," Verdona smiled and stepped out of the doorway and gestured for Charmcaster to come inside. Once she did, Verdona slammed the door loudly.
"Can't you be quieter about this?" Charmcaster asked, wild purple eyes darting around the room.
"Don't get your coat in a bunch, your uncle's not going to find you here," Verdona said cheerfully.
Charmcaster gulped.
"I'm not worried,"
Verdona knew it was a lie. The old witch made some small talk with her guest as she mixed up several powders and egg shells to make the potion she needed. When at last she was finished, she said a brief incantation.
"Now take off that coat of yours, hun. We need to be able to see your abdomen for this next part,"
Charmcaster nervously slid her coat off and rolled up the shirt underneath it, exposing a pale stomach that contrasted to her darker skin. Verdona blew a puff of the powdery mixture in the girl's direction. If swirled before both of them before clustering around the younger witch's flat stomach. A faint yellow glow emanated from under her skin and pulsed with its own heartbeat that was separate from her own.
A hand flew to Charmcaster's mouth and she gasped.
Three years ago, she wouldn't have believed it.
A year ago, she wouldn't have believed it.
Six months ago, she would have screamed and tore it out of herself with her own hands.
She could not have imagined it ever happening to her...or how it
Now...now she didn't know what to do, but she wanted to keep it.
It wasn't just his...it was hers too. It was special. It was theirs.
She's never had anything like that...anything that wasn't explicitly hers or not hers.
Charmcaster wondered what it would be like...who it would be like...blue eyes or purple eyes? Yellow, brown or white hair? Magic like her or...cursed...like...
She can't bring herself to continue the thought and that hurts her for some reason. Her chest clenches.
Fifty-Fifty.
It is always fifty-fifty.
Will it be human like her or...like its father?
There's no way to tell.
She had to wait.
She had to wait to see if it will be privileged or an outcast.
A child of the sun or a child of the moon?
But...but would it really be so bad if it was? It wasn't all the time. Werewolves were only werewolves a few nights a month. It wasn't all the time. She'd learned that. The rest of the time, they seemed just as human as everyone else.
All her life, her family had told her of how disgusting and how base werewolves were...they were tools to be used...less than human...less than pets...but...but...
She'd learned so much in the past six months.
She wasn't who she used to be.
Her little pet...her little toy...she'd used him. Used him in more ways than one for so long...but now, somehow she could see what he was...what he really was. Mike...Michael wasn't a toy. He wasn't a pet. He was a person.
He didn't belong to her, no matter what she had tried to tell herself.
She's not supposed to care. She's supposed to manipulate the golden fur ball until he's outlived his usefulness. Then she's supposed to throw him away.
But she can't now.
Verodna could see her customer's shock and worried expression.
"I take it this is unwanted. You'll have to take that business somewhere else. There's some magic I won't touch, you know," Verdona says darkly.
Charmcaster shakes her head.
"No. No...I don't want that. Thank you," she says simply.
The girl rolls her shirt back down over her stomach. She places and arm protectively across her abdomen and covers the fading golden glow. Charmcaster pulls her pink coat over he and leaves several large coins on Verdona's table and exits without another word.
Verdona looks down and sees that the girl has overpaid her slightly. The older witch watches her leave...watches her wind her way through the woods, her hand still over her stomach.
And then she was gone in a pop of purple light.
Verdona narrowed her eyes and sat down in a large chair by the fireplace.
She wondered how her granddaughter's rival had gotten herself in such a mess and what she planned to do about it. With a sigh, she picked up a book and flipped to where she had left off before Charmcaster had interrupted her.