I do not claim to be an expert on Aboriginal mysticism. In fact the only thing I knew about prior to my brief research via wikipedia was the Dreamtime itself. This is also my first Ben 10 fanfiction so I'm still getting used to the characters.
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The night sky was clear and a full moon lit her path as she scurried along the dry, flat land before her. She had been running for days and she didn't know if she could keep it up anymore. It was risky trying to continue at night when he was most active. She knew this but she kept going anyways. She couldn't stop running now. She had to put as much distance between herself and that demon as possible. She wouldn't let him capture her again. This time she wouldn't stop for anyone or anything. She had to keep running until she reached the ends of the earth if necessary.
Her legs were beginning to weaken and her lungs felt as though they would give out at any moment. She slowed her steps and gradually came to a complete stop, bending over with her hands on her knees. She would have to take a moment to catch her breath. Surely she had a moment if nothing more. He had been so far behind her the last time she had checked. She brushed the green bangs from her face as she straightened up and threw her head back to stare up into the starry sky. She placed a hand to the hideous scar that covered most of the right side of her face. She closed her dark brown eye and let out a deep breath before concentrating on the image of her pursuer. Where was he now?
She found herself in a similar area now but much taller. Her skin was pale as snow rather than dark brown. Her bare feet were huge as they pushed her much larger bulk along the desert. He was close but how close? Why did this whole place look so much alike? She squeezed her eye closed tighter as she tried to pinpoint his location. She had been there recently. Very recently. As she passed a large boulder in her pursuer's body she realized he was right behind her. Her own body was just ahead!
She gasped and just as she opened her eye she felt a hand tangle in her long hair. She screamed as he pulled her back and wrapped his arms around her waist. She struggled against his hold but her arms were pinned to her side now. She screamed and kicked at the air but his grip didn't loosen. As she jerked around a small wooden charm on a string about her neck bounced against his hand. It began to glow a light yellow and his crystal blue eye widened slightly.
"Let me go!" she cried into the night.
"Gemini, wait!" the man shouted.
He knew she wouldn't heed his call. He felt a pressure on his chest as his body lifted from the ground. He flew across the empty landscape with a silent frown and braced himself for his landing. He hit the very edge of the boulder behind them and bounced off, rolling across the ground. Gemini didn't look back to see if he had survived or not. She just kept running. If she could last a few more minutes she would be fine. If she could only last until sunrise.
"Now, Gemini. That wasn't very nice." he hissed as he stood.
She wouldn't turn to face him but she could hear the change in his voice. She knew he was preparing to attack her again. She barely survived the last beating he bestowed upon her. She wouldn't make it through another even if he did want her alive. Gemini wouldn't stop running but she turned around anyways. She continued to run backwards though she had to slow down or risk tripping. He was coming after her already, his fingernails growing long and black. His visible eye was slanting and glowing yellow as he drew closer.
Gemini put both hands out in front of her as she stumbled along and the charm around her neck rose from her chest. It floated between her palms but nothing was happening. She was too tired to make an offensive move. She would have to resort to defense. She screamed as he lunged at her but his razor sharp fingernails hit an invisible shield around her. It was all she could do at the moment. It wouldn't last long. She stopped suddenly and he slammed against the shield again. She screamed as she pushed all the energy in her body outward. The shield burst in his face and sent him tumbling away. That would buy her some time.
She turned to run again but found herself unable to move. She couldn't even blink. She gasped as she fell to her knees and her body bent over so that her nose almost touched the ground. Her arms were spread out before her and she couldn't bring them back to her side though she tried her hardest. It made her sick to be forced into bowing to him. She could hear his footsteps as he made his way around to her front. He allowed her to raise herself enough to look up at him after a moment but her legs still wouldn't obey her commands to run.
The man's red hair fell over the right side of his face as he bent over her and the moonlight glinted off the fangs that adorned his malicious grin. She watched as his hand reached out towards her in what seemed to be slow motion. It wasn't reaching for her face and it wasn't striking her in fury. It was slowly making its way to her charm. The pointed fingers were slowly wrapping around it and she felt something in her heart snap as he began to pull.
"Not my tjurunga! Damion, please?"
"It allows you to defy me, Gemini." he replied, his grip loosening as he frowned at her. "I'll give it back when I'm done with you. For now, it proves to be an annoyance I can not tolerate."
"I'll help you!" she cried, desperation in her eyes. "Don't take it. I'll help you. I promise."
"You've already promised me that." Damion laughed. "You can't be trusted with the power it endows you with anyways."
She felt panic engulf her as he began to pull again. One little tug would be all it took and the frail string that held her precious charm close to her would snap. Her bond with the Dreamtime would be severed! The last remaining possession that tied her to the past would be broken and she would lose herself again. She would become an empty shell wandering the desert alone. She closed her eye tightly as she remembered those long, cold nights. No... No, she wouldn't face that emptiness again! Not again...
"NOT AGAIN!" she shouted.
Damion's hand felt as though it were on fire but he refused to release the charm. Rays of light shone through his fingers brightly and a beam hit his visible eye. His face screwed up in a look of utter pain and he released the tjurunga at last with a cry of agony. Gemini watched as he bent over, holding his face in his hands but her legs still wouldn't move. She put her hands out and aimed the tjurunga at him as it shone brighter. He squirmed under the bright light.
"Sunlight!" he screeched, trying to crawl away from the beam. "Suuuunliiight!"
Gemini stared in awe as he began to grow smaller and blacker. He was turning into a scorpion and she felt his hold on her legs grow weak as he scurried away from the light emitting from her tjurunga. She grew more confident at his pain and began to chase after him, shining the light down on his smaller form. She knew she should be putting distance between them but she couldn't help exploiting his weakness while she had the chance. Her tjurunga had never emitted sunlight before and she doubted it ever would again.
Unfortunately it didn't take long for the light to fade and she gasped as it disappeared suddenly. Damion turned to face her in his scorpion form and she feared he would return to his true form now. However, he didn't. She looked up to find that the sky was beginning to shine with a hint of orange. The real sun was coming up. She smiled at her fortune but when she looked back down Damion had gone.
"You'll regret this act." his voice hissed from behind.
Gemini turned to face him but he was nowhere to be seen. She stared around her in panic for a moment before a sharp sting pierced her back. She fell to her knees and groaned in pain as the sun grew brighter around her. She didn't even notice the scorpion that crawled out of her shirt and into a nearby hole. She rolled around on the ground as the pain spread. It was too much for her and she felt consciousness slipping from her grasp. Now she would never be able to put enough distance between them before the sun set again. She clutched her tjurunga tightly as she fell into a dreamless sleep.
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"Alright kids." Grandpa grunted as he stepped down from the Rust Bucket. "I'm gonna take a look at the engine."
Ben and Gwen climbed out behind him with looks of exasperation. Arizona's dry heat was getting to them and Gwen had gotten sick and tired of Ben's jokes about her sweaty pits. She punched him in the shoulder one good time as he opened his mouth to make another one. He just rubbed his shoulder and stuck his tongue out at her as they wandered around to the other side of the RV. Ben stretched and leaned against the Rust Bucket with a yawn. Gwen scooted a few steps away from him as he did so with a hand over her nose.
"And you had the nerve to make jokes about me. What did you do, rub rotten eggs on your underarms for deodorant this morning?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who-"
"Ben, look!" she interrupted, pointing out at the empty desert beyond.
"What?" he snapped, turning to look as well.
He squinted his eyes and shielded them from the sun with a hand as he scanned the horizon. At first he didn't see anything but as his eyes focused he spotted a lump sticking out from the flat landscape. A very small, strange-looking lump. It took him a few moments to realize this lump was a human. He gasped and they both ran out to the stranger. Ben squatted beside her and put a hand out to touch her arm. He pulled it back as she stirred. She was dressed a little warmly for traveling through the desert. Her pin-striped shirt was long-sleeved and she wore stockings with her short similarly patterned skirt. She even had on a sleeveless coat of some sort.
"Gwen, go get Grandpa!"
Gwen nodded and ran back towards the Rust Bucket for help. Ben's eyes were drawn back to the stranger as she sat up with a look of pain on her face. The hair that was hanging over her eyes fell and he gasped at the sight of her scarred eye. He was so interested in this disgusting disfigurement that he almost didn't notice that her ears were slightly pointed. She stretched her back with a groan and coughed a few times before looking up at him.
"Damion!" she croaked, pushing at Ben's chest weakly.
"What? No. I'm Ben." he corrected. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."
She blinked rapidly and relaxed as she realized it was still light out. She rubbed her head with a groan. She still had a headache. She wasn't sure what kind of scorpion Damion had turned into but it's sting hadn't been fatal. She wondered how much time she had before the sun set. She looked up as two more strangers came running over to them. An old man and a little girl. And beyond them...an RV. She looked back to the boy who called himself Ben and stared into his eyes sternly.
"I have to go somewhere. You're going to take me."
"Rude much?" Gwen asked, thrusting a bottle of water at her. "Near death's no excuse for bad manners, you know."
Gemini glared at her but made no comment. She gulped down the whole water in one go then threw the bottle behind her. She grabbed Ben's shoulder and he almost fell face forward as she used him to push herself up. He rubbed his shoulder once she released it and stood as well. She stumbled as she moved forward. It looked as though she were trying to run but her legs wouldn't hold her for long. She fell to her knees.
"Hey, lady. You okay?" Ben asked, running after her.
"Take me from this place." she repeated. "I must...keep moving."
Ben gasped as she grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to her face.
"He'll come back for me. Keep...moving..."
She lost her grip and fell to the ground again. The others joined him at her side and Max turned her over. He checked her pulse then lifted her into his arms after a moment. She opened her eye with a fluttering of lashes as the sunlight flitered through into her dilated pupil. Maybe that scorpion sting had been fatal after all. She tried to bring her hand up to her tjurunga as she was carried towards the RV but it fell limply to her side.
"Is she gonna be okay Grandpa?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know, Gwen." he replied with a worried look. "It's probably just the heat. Let's get her inside and I'll get the RV running again."
Ben and Gwen sat by her side as she rested on Grandpa's bed and watched over her. She seemed to be sleeping but her neck muscles were somewhat jerky and her eye rolled around under her the lid. Gwen even took to her spell book to find a healing spell but she had no luck. Gemini felt as though she were on fire as she floated between waking and sleeping. She could feel the Tennysons looming over her. It was almost as though she could actually see them. They had a shimmering green glow to their silhouettes. She felt at ease after a while and fell into sleep once more.
