AN: Ok, this is my first one shot, which, if you guys like it enough, probably won't be a one shot for long…
Hehe… how ironic our world can get… Sometimes the worst possible things to happen to us turn out to be the best things we've ever done, just as young Ben Tennyson is about to show us.
Ben: Wait, HOW?
Me: You'll see, Ben… You'll see…
Ben: *gulp* I have a feeling I'm NOT gonna like this…
NOT…
ONE…
BIT…
Me: As I said, sometimes the worst possible things to happen to us turn out to be the best things we've ever done.
Mystique Sonyia: And now, ON WITH THE SHOW! *uses her tongue to pull the curtain on the screen open* KA-PLEGH!
Ben: O.o Eeeeeeeeeewww… did I just see what I THINK I just saw…?
Me: Oh yeah, I'm also on a Hero 108 kick… lol
Wolf Puppy Love
(AN: This fic takes place just as Benwolf's about to jump with Gwen and Kai)
After seeing that the lava coming towards them, Benwolf, Ben's newest alter-ego he obtained while fighting the Yenaldooshi, had to figure out how to save everyone, and only three words came to mind for the lycanthrope:
Jump for it.
"Time to see how far this Big Bad Wolf can jump!" Benwolf stated. "Who wants a ride?" Immediately afterwards, he wrapped his long, wolfish arms around Gwen and Kai's stomachs and jumped to the ledge that appeared to be 12 yards away from the ledge they were just on. When they all landed, Benwolf released the girls and jumped back to the ledge to retrieve their grandfathers. As soon as he touched down, though, he realized that Max and Mr. Green were both too heavy to try and jump normally, so he improvised.
"I'll need to take both of you, and I'll need all the help I can get."
And with that, Benwolf's mouth opened up in a way that was impossible for earthly canines. His muzzle first opened up slightly, then both his jaw and maw split in half, revealing only a hole in place of his mouth that began to glow a greenish color. He aimed his head at the ground and unleashed a blast of sound that lifted the three of them high into the air (AN: Let's just call this his Howling Blast. Hehe, get it? HOWLING Blast?)
When they first went up into the air, Benwolf thought they were gonna make it, but then he heard the one noise he hated most: the omnitrix beeping. He also realized that the blast wasn't powerful enough because they were falling down too soon, so he threw Max and Mr. Green over to the ledge while he continued to fall.
Max saw his grandson fall just before he got to the ledge, followed by the flash of red light. "Ben!" he called out just before running to the edge, only to find that Ben was now hanging on for dear life just an arm's length down. Max made a grab for Ben's hand, but, instead of feeling skin, he felt fur. He decided to ignore this for now and save his grandson. He pulled Ben up and saw that he wasn't human… Not completely anyway. Gwen, Kai, and Kai's grandfather all saw this and stared at Ben in shock.
Ben was wondering why everyone was giving him the horrified look. He knew for sure that the omnitrix timed out, so there should be no reason as to why everyone would be looking at him like that. He decided to look down at his hands. What he saw rocked him to his very core, and not in a good way, either.
His hands were the same as when his transformation into Benwolf first began. "Oh no… No no no no no, this isn't happening!" Ben began to freak out as his hands felt his face… it was still covered in fur. He felt his ears to find that they had pointed out again. He look down at his feet to find that they were now covered in fur with semi-long, sharp black toenails. He also felt quite uncomfortable around his tailbone for some reason, but he was too busy freaking out to actually pay it any mind.
His eyes began to tear up as he said, "This - This isn't supposed to - to happen. I was - I was supposed to - change back." He felt as though he couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Everyone saw this and began to feel sympathetic towards the child turned werewolf pup, but none felt as bad as Gwen about her cousin's transformation. She, too, began to tear up as she slowly approached Ben and embraced him in her arms.
That did it for Ben's control on his emotions, as he embraced his cousin in a tight hug and began crying his 10 year old heart out. People that know Ben personally know that it's hard to make him cry, but when he does, he bawls uncontrollably.
Gwen was crying as well, though not as much. She tried her best to calm him down by whispering soothing words into his ears while rubbing his back with one of her hands and holding his head with her other one.
Ben continued to cry for a whole five minutes before he finally calmed down. He still felt the pain near his posterior but decided against telling anyone about it. "Let's just go… *sniffle* We need to get outta here *hiccough* before fang face shows up again…" Ben said with sadness in his voice. Ben began walking towards the cave with the others following him, Gwen in the rear.
Several Minutes Later
Everyone in the group except Ben hand realized that he had somewhat of a pained walk, but didn't bother asking, afraid that he might have another breakdown like before. Then Gwen noticed something up ahead.
"Look! A way out."
Everyone looked in the direction where Gwen was pointing and saw that she was right. Ben, Gwen, and Kai began walking towards the new cave, and Max and Mr. Green stood still for a moment.
"So…" Max began, "I wonder where all the satellite equipment is he took?" Mr. Green only shrugged as the two grandfathers began following their grandkids. After a few minutes of walking, Ben stopped suddenly, his new fangs bared and ready as he crouched slightly and growled. Gwen was the first to notice and asked "Ben, what's wrong?"
"It's here…" Ben said.
Just as he said that, there was a low growl and sounds of moving rubble just to the group's left. Everyone but Ben turned to look, but were too slow as the Yenaldooshi was already in front of the group, seemingly ready to take on the entire gang.
Everyone but Ben was surprised at this as they turned to face the Yenaldooshi, but not nearly as surprised as when they saw Ben crouch all the way to the ground with his fangs bared even more so than before.
But none of them were NEARLY as surprised as Gwen when she heard his growl become lower and more menacing than before. She was scared that he was going to take on the alien werewolf head on without going hero first. Her suspicions, however, were unfounded as he stood straight up and pointed at the Loboan.
"YOU!" Ben exclaimed. "YOU did this to me! YOU turned me into this FREAK! And now, you're gonna PAY!" He prepared to go hero, but stopped. All the group heard was growling, but what Ben heard was something he had NEVER expected to hear.
"Please, pup! Wait!"
"Hubada blah wha?" Ben was beyond confused. He had never heard the werewolf talk before now, for one, and for another, he didn't think he was fighting a GIRL Yenaldooshi.
"Please, little pup, give me a chance to explain," the Yenaldooshi begged. Ben was struck by so many emotions he couldn't even think straight: anger, vengeance, sadness, mortified, wonder, confusion, and, for some reason, serenity being the most powerful of them all. He felt as though her and him talking like this was alright.
Reluctantly, he gave in to the lycanthrope's request. Or at least he was about when his cousin interrupted.
"What's going on, Ben? Go hero already!"
"What do you mean 'what's going on'? Did you NOT just hear her talk?"
"Hear who talk, Ben?" Max asked.
Ben was beyond stupefied. He could have sworn he heard the Yenaldooshi speak just now, so why is everyone else acting like they couldn't hear her.
"Forgive me, pup, but only Loboans, even half-breeds, can hear their other Loboans speak." the "Loboan" stated, as if answering an unasked question.
Ben turned back to the alien lycanthrope and stared blankly at her. Him? A Loboan? "Whatever that is, I CAN'T be one. I'm a human being… am I?" Ben thought for a moment. Then his stare turned into a stern look. "Alright, but if you so much as BUMP into anyone here, especially Gwen, and I will PERSONALLY SHRED YOU TO RIBBONS!" Ben threatened the werewolf.
Everyone else present, aside from the Loboan, nearly had a heart attack at what Ben had said and at how he said it. This was NOT like the Ben they were used to. Gwen's feelings were intensified as the thought of losing the Ben she knew and loved is disappearing right before her eyes. Yes, that's right, loved. She loved her cousin, but refused to bring her feelings to light for fear that she would be shunned by the person she loves: Ben.
"Oh, Ben…" she thought. Then realization struck her when she replayed what Ben had said in her mind. "Especially Gwen… Does that mean he cares about me? Does that mean he loves me?" Though she didn't understand it, her heart was begging that she was right.
"Very well, pup. I shall keep my distance." the lycanthrope answered. Ben merely nodded in agreement.
"Now talk: Who are you? Why did you steal that satellite equipment? What are you planning on doing with it?" Ben stated more than asked.
"My name is Yenalda. I have stolen the equipment so that I can… How do you Earthlings say it? 'Hitch a ride'?"
"Wait, you mean your stuck here?" Ben asked in a matter-of-fact tone while lazily pointing at the werewolf.
"If by 'stuck here' you mean 'I've stayed here until I am no longer wanted and now wish to go home to Lunar Loboa', then yes."
"'No longer wanted'? You mean you came here for someone?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
The werewolf paused for a moment before hugging herself and answering Ben's question.
"My ex-mate."
"Ex-mate?"
"Ben, what's going on?" Kai interrupted.
"Well, seems Gwen was right about us dealing with an alien werewolf. Yenalda here says she's been stealing the equipment so that she can call her home planet and hitch a ride." Ben said.
"Yenalda? It can't be…" Max thought. He paled at that name. "I hope this doesn't go where I think it's going to go. If it does… God I'll be SO screwed."
Mr. Green was the next one to speak up. "Why was she here in the first place?"
"Well, from what I can tell, she was here because of someone she cared about. What was it she called that person again? Your 'mate'?" Ben answered Mr. Green then asked the Loboan, who only nodded to show he was right.
"What IS a mate, anyway?" Ben asked.
Everyone that heard this, the Loboan included, all performed face-faults at hearing Ben's question.
"Are you really THAT stupid, Ben? Or were you born with a cavity in your brain?" Gwen rhetorically asked.
"A mate is a partner that will willingly start a family with you."
"A family?" Ben inquired before turning to the werewolf, "You mean you started a family with this jerk?" The Loboan and Gwen could tell the rage in his voice, but the others could not truly detect it.
"Please, listen. Carl Tennyson is NOT a jerk. He's the sweetest, most kind hearted -"
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa, BACKIT UP! Did you just say Carl Tennyson?"
The lycanthrope hesitated before giving a slight nod that only Ben saw.
"But tha… that's my dad's name…"
Yenalda looked up at the half-human, half-Loboan in front of her with a surprised look before she gathered up the courage to ask her next question.
"Your name wouldn't happen to be Benjamin Kirby Tennyson… would it?"
Ben could tell that Yenalda was afraid of what his answer would be, but he had no choice but to be honest with her.
"…"
"…"
"… Yes…"
The Loboan continued to stare down the young Loboan pup in front of her for what felt like hours but was more around two - three minutes. Then she broke into tears and collapsed onto the cavern floor, hugging herself and sobbing all the while.
Ben was afraid he'd said something he shouldn't have, yet that wasn't his only fear. He was now wondering if the mother he knew was nothing more than a replacement for Yenalda or if she really WAS his mom. At seeing the two wolves' discomfort, Gwen decided to speak up again.
"What did you do?"
"She asked me if my name was Benjamin Kirby Tennyson and I said yes." Ben answered with fear in his voice.
Beads of sweat were rolling down Max's face and neck. Just as he was about to say something, however, Kai decided to put her two cents in.
"What are you waiting for, a written invite? Go comfort her!"
Ben felt appalled at the idea that there was a chance that the mother he knew could very well be a fake, but Kai was right: there was someone HE had emotionally harmed, whether intentional or not, and HE was the only one who could comfort her.
He took one look at Yenalda before tears threatened to come out of his eyes, too. He slowly walked towards her, still cautiously thinking this could be a trap. When he was close enough, Ben went down on his knees and embraced the Loboan as best as he could. Yenalda saw this and returned the favor, crying into Ben's shoulder. Ben finally broke down and started crying, too.
As they both continued to cry in each other's embrace, Max started to slowly slide further and further behind Mr. Green. Nobody noticed this until he tripped on a chicken egg sized rock and stumbled…
At which point, everyone, including the crying mother and son, turned to look at him as he put on an expression that screamed, "Ohshitohshitohshit I'm busted!"
Yenalda then looked at Max carefully, and recognized him on the spot.
"Max!," she exclaimed and asked, "What are YOU doing here?"
Though no one showed it, Max's other spectators were surprised that she had spoken English. They were more transfixed on Max's expression to be concerned with her dialect.
"Grandpa, what's with the weird face?" both cousins asked simultaneously.
Max was starting to get worried. He knew if he stayed here any longer, he was going to suffer a spurned mother's wrath…
One he knew he would not survive.
But before he could do anything, Yenalda had asked a peculiar question, "How's my 'ex' mate doing?" She had asked the question in such a searing tone that Max had felt it burning his very skin.
Then he realized something…
That wasn't her tone doing it.
That was the magma they were avoiding earlier!
Max turned sharply around to see the magma heading right for them before he yelled, "Run, NOW!"
Everyone else saw the magma and took Max's advice. They ran and ran and ran only for them to remember something.
"If that lava leaves the way we are, it'll destroy the village!" Mr. Green exclaimed.
As if he were suddenly put on auto-pilot, Ben stopped and turned around to face the magma turning lava and yelled, "NOT ON MY WATCH!"
Everyone stopped and turned around to see Ben twisting the omnitrix and hearing him yell, "You guys go on, I'll slow the lava down!" Then he slapped down on the face plate of the watch and transformed into Cannonbolt.
Ben as Cannonbolt then yelled, "Go on! GET OUTTA HERE!"
Gwen and Yenalda were the most reluctant to move, but still obliged. Just as everyone else left, Gwen stopped and turned to Ben one last time to tell him to be careful.
Cannonbolt only nodded, which was more than enough for Gwen as she ran out of the tunnel. The Arburian Pelarota then curled up and rolled into the ground, trying to dig a hole large enough to engulf all the lava. He then disappeared into the ground, with all of the lava following him.
Several Minutes Later
Kai, her grandfather, Max, Gwen, and Yenalda all made it out of the cave just in time for it to cave-in on itself. Max, Kai, and her grandfather all had neutrally worried faces on, but Yenalda and Gwen became horrified that Ben had been sealed in with the lava and feared the worse.
"BEN!" Gwen yelled with all her lungs' might. She raced towards the pile of rubble that used to be the cave they were just in and started to move the rocks as best as her 11 year old body could.
"Oh god oh god PLEASE let him be alive, PLEASE!" she yelled as she moved more and more of the obstructing rubble out of her way.
Then they all felt a quick rumble as if a tiny earthquake were taking place…
Either that or someone with a drill was underground, which wasn't that far off, but the rumble had ended as quickly as it began.
With her sensitive hearing, Yenalda could hear someone scratching their way out of the ground, right between the group and the cave entrance. That's when it hit her; her son was digging his way out by hand!
"Ben!" she exclaimed as she ran to spot where the sound was at his loudest. At hearing his name being mentioned, Gwen quickly jumped off the pile of rocks and ran to the lycanthrope's side and aided her in digging her cousin out, clawing at the dirt separating her from her cousin slash hopeful love interest.
At this, Max, Kai and her grandfather all began to dig at the area the Loboan and the magic user were digging.
After a minute or so, a single clawed finger popped out, then another, followed by the hand they were connected to, then the wrist.
Once she saw this, Gwen made a grab for the hand along with the alien werewolf and tugged as hard as they could while Max and Mr. Green continued to dig. Kai mere stepped back to allow room for the mother and cousin of the half buried half-werewolf to pull him out.
When his head finally breached the surface, Ben took a deep breath in the form of a gasp. Gwen then grabbed her cousin by his torso and continued to pull him out of the ground with the help of his lycanthrope mother.
Ben collapsed onto the ground on all fours (pun not intended…) after Gwen had let him go; his breathing erratic from this previous episode. Even though it scared her to see him like that, Gwen was happy that he was alright. After a few minutes, he finally calmed down enough to twist his body enough to sit on the ground; his arms moved behind him to support his upper body.
But… That didn't last long…
"YEEEEEEEEEEEOUCH!"
Ben had suddenly jumped up after feeling an extremely sharp pain in his buttocks. Thinking he had sat on a cactus or something, he checked the spot where his bottom once was to find that there was nothing there. Everyone else there was confused at his outburst, but it was Gwen who voiced their question.
"What happened, Ben?"
"I dunno. I just sit down and the next thing I know, it feels like someone stuck a spike or something up my butt…"
He then proceeded to rub said derriere in an attempt to lessen the pain, but almost immediately noticed something.
"Um… Guys…," he said with concern, "I think something's in my pants that's not supposed to be there…"
At this, everyone promptly face faulted. Yenalda was the first to recover and knew what he was talking about.
"Ah, hold still, pup." she told Ben, and he obliged. She lightly pinched where she thought the source of the annoyance was and could feel a slight bulge. She inwardly smirked now that she knew her suspicions were correct.
"This may hurt a bit, but trust me: it'll help in the long run."
And in one swift motion, the lycanthrope pulled on the bulge and pants, effectively ripping a hole in them and his undergarments. Ben had felt the sudden pain, but it was not enough to cause him to yelp like sitting down did.
All but the Loboan and her son were shocked to see something that the previous Ben didn't have.
Ben, being the curious, hardheaded pre-teen he was, decided to look behind him since he felt a new sensation on his behind.
What he saw made him as shocked as the others.
"Holy cow! I have a tail!"
Again, everyone else face faulted. (I'm mean, aren't I? XP)
This time, Gwen was the first one to recover. She walked up to Ben, stared at him for a minute or two, and gave him something that he would never forget in his entire life.
She had given him the hardest slap her eleven year old body could muster right on his face.
"BENJAMINE KIRBY TENNYSON, YOU ARE THEBIGGEST IDIOT I'VE EVER MET IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!" she yelled at the poor half-breed with such venom in her voice that it scared and scarred poor Ben very badly, all the while tears were forming in her eyes as she looked down at his feet.
Ben was flabbergasted at this sudden outburst and almost began to wonder what he did, but was interrupted when the first girl to slap him threw her arms around his neck and starting crying uncontrollably into his shoulder. "Don't EVER -hiccough- make me worry like that agahihihihin!" she barely said before her sobbing took completely over.
Ben couldn't understand why Gwen felt like this, but deep down he was glad she was. To him, it meant that she cared about him; she cared for him. With arms that felt like they weighed a ton each and tears burning his eyes for release, he slowly wrapped his crying cousin around her torso and tried to sooth her with words of comfort. It was all Ben could do to keep from going over the edge himself from seeing his cousin like this.
"This isn't your cousin anymore…" Ben thought, "This is now a girl your age who needs someone to help her; someone to make her happy again. And that someone's me."
As everyone watched this scene play out, only the full-blood lycanthrope noticed Max slowly backing away from the group. In one swift, fluid motion, she had snuck up behind him, towering over his portly frame.
Max continued to back away from everyone else until he hit something with his behind. He looked at the group to find Yenalda missing, and brought his hand to where his bottom had hit the unknown obstacle. He felt around, only to find that whatever it was he hit was furry.
Then he put two and two together.
"Ooooooh shit…" were his only thoughts.
He looked up, and saw only the emotionless face of a lycanthrope mother. Just out of pure survival instinct, he jumped forward to the group and looked back at the two embracing cousins.
After almost half an hour, Gwen was finally beginning to calm down. She had made a huge wet spot on Ben's shirt, but he didn't seem to mind. She looked up at her now werewolfy cousin and showed her red-eyed, tear-stained face to him; her face saying silent words that only a lover could tell to another. Ben looked down at her with a concerned face that began to warp into a small smile, showing Gwen that she had done nothing wrong with doing what she did.
It was then that a voice decided to interrupt the serene moment, completely ruining it.
"Ah-HEM!"
Kai had her hand rolled up into a fist which was brought to her mouth at the time she interrupted them. Her action had an unexpected result which had all attention from the group on her.
She decided to voice the unasked questions.
"Okay, first off, how do you," she pointed at Yenalda when she said this, "know how to speak English? Second, why didn't you just use that in the first place? Finally, where did you hide the satellite equipment?"
Okay, so she's not very subtle and has no sense of drama whatsoever…
BIG WHOOP…
The alien werewolf decided to speak up at the Navajo girl's questions.
"I will answer the first two questions, but the third one will have to wait.
Number 1: I learned English from my 'ex' mate," she began, putting extra emphasis on the EX part,
"and Number 2: Have you no sense of drama?"
At this, everyone did something different.
Ben and Gwen had performed face faults.
Max's jaw had dropped to the ground.
Kai's eyes became the size of dinner plates.
Kai's grandfather merely slapped his hand onto his forehead.
And Yenalda had put a grin on her face that would put a fox to shame.
"Now then… Max… You have yet to answer my question. How is my 'ex' mate doing with his new bride, hm?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Max to see his reaction and hear his reply, but it never came. They waited, and waited, and waited for what seemed like hours. His answer still never came. Yenalda, having enough of the silent treatment, decided to change the interrogatee.
"Ben, how has your father been?"
Ben was shocked out of his stupor when she asked this and shook his head to clear what little fog was in it before he answered.
"Well… He's never really let me call him 'father' or 'dad' for as long as I can remember… He's always had me calling him 'Carl' and my mom - 'scuse me, my other mom - 'Sandra.' No matter how I go at it, they always make me call them by their names. Mom's reason is because she values freedom, or some other baloney like that, but dad's reason's… kinda different."
The Loboan became intrigued at this. "Really? How so?"
"As far as I'm concerned, he deserves to be called a father, but he told me once that, and I quote, 'That title does not belong to someone like me… but let's forget about it, shall we?' Unquote."
Yenalda had numerous emotions going through her body. Anger, frustration, concern, regret, and her motherly instincts. Completely ignoring who all was there, she then whispered to herself, "So that's how he feels…"
Ben, being a bit knuckle-headed, asked, "Wha?"
"He feels it was his fault, and I felt it was mine…" she continued, completely ignoring Ben's question. "For eleven years, we have believed our own selves at fault, but now I understand…"
She pointed a threatening and accusing claw at Max who was all but cowering in fear.
"You LIED to your grandson, you LIED to me… But most of all… you lied to your own OFFSPRING: YOUR OWN SON! We Loboans may be a proud warrior-like race, but even WE do not lie to our own children about their mates!"
At hearing this, everyone turned to look at Max with confused and accusing expressions.
Max realized the charade had gone on long enough…
He just prays that Yenalda, as well as Ben, would understand his reasoning.
"Yes, I admit it: I forced you two to separate and kept you two away from each other, but I had my reasons."
"OH YEAH, YOU DECREPIT, OLD ORC?" Yenalda shouted at the top of her lungs, "THEN JUST GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T TURN YOU INTO A 180 LBS PILE OF GROUND BEEF!"
At this, Max had lost his fear nearly instantly; replaced with the same parental rage the Loboan had and retorted, "IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOUR BROTHER KNEW ABOUT BEN!"
Yenalda was shell-shocked. She had almost completely forgotten about her brother. She knew he didn't hate humans, but he trained anyone related to him in any form so long as it was by blood to the point to where no one would be able to recognize them anymore.
"So you have honestly forgotten about him, did you?"
The lycanthrope had barely recovered from her turmoil and had began looking at the ground before lightly nodding.
Before anything else could happen, though, everyone had heard growling. They looked over at Ben whose eyes had gone pure white. He then looked off at the distance to his right to find a coyote looking at them. Without warning, Ben ran on all fours for the coyote. For some reason, it did the same.
"Crasvah, I forgot!" Yenalda exclaimed in shock. (Crasvah is supposed to be Loboan for "Crap" And incase you are wondering, I made it up)
"When a Loboan turns of age, his hunting and territorial instincts kick in and will attack anything of canine origin that wanders within his or her range of smell and hearing."
"What happens when they find the intruder?" Gwen, not being one to beat around the bush, had asked the lycanthrope mother.
"Well… Either he kills it in blind rage…
Or dies trying…"
At this, Gwen gasped. "We have to stop him!"
"We can't…"
"Why not-"
"Because if we do, the overload of what you humans call 'testosterone' will cause his brain to shutdown; instantly killing him! The only way for that testosterone to dissipate is for Ben to kill the intruder."
Ben and the coyote had finally reached each other and began gnawing and clawing at their opponent. Ben had then slashed his claws into the coyote's neck, forcing said coyote to release the half-Loboan's other hand. Ben then went in for the kill.
He jumped at the wild dog, his mouth aimed right for the throat. All the coyote could do was aimlessly scratch at the lycanthrope and yelp in pain as it's throat was being sealed by Ben's mouth.
This continued for about five minutes until the coyote stopped moving completely. It was also at this time that Ben's eyes had returned to normal, and became shocked when he saw what he had done.
He had murdered an innocent animal.
A predator, mind you, but innocent nonetheless.
Ben slowly released his mouth from the coyote's throat and saw that it's blood was all over his hands and shirt.
He could even fell it on the sides of his mouth.
He could even taste it on his tongue.
He was a murderer… a cold blooded killer…
He turned to look at everyone who had ran up to him to check and make sure he was okay, but were stunned at what they saw.
Ben stood up from the ground and turned to look at them. Gwen was frightened with what she saw. Her cousin had seen this, and tears formed in his eyes once again.
"Gwen… Please… I didn't mean t-"
That was all he got out before being grappled by his cousin in another of her death-hugs.
"It's okay, Ben… I know you didn't mean to. None of us could have predicted that would happen."
This had put Ben at ease as he returned Gwen's hug with as much affection as she had given him.
Then an idea had struck him.
"Grandpa… Gwen… I'm gonna stay here with Yenalda."
At this, the aforementioned family members had stared at him. Gwen had released her embrace and gasped at him.
"But why, Ben?" she asked trying to hide her sorrow.
"If something like that ever happened again, it might be one of you next time. And I don't want either of you to get hurt." He put a pair of reassuring hands on his cousin's own before continuing. "Especially you, Gwen. If something like that were to happen to you, I'd never forgive myself."
She looked at her cousin with hopeful eyes; eyes that said "I hope you're saying what I think you mean".
"And the reason for that is… I… I - I love you, Gwen. I love you more than words can ever say in my entire life time. And I mean as more than family."
At this, Gwen's heart had fluttered like a hummingbird soaring through the air; her sadness and shock turned to pure joy and devotion in an instant.
"Oh Ben…"
She grabbed Ben by the sides of his face and pulled him in to kiss him. Though it looked rough, it was softer than it appeared. Gwen had barely put any pressure on his lips. Ben's eyes widened in shock, but immediately closed as he coiled his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss. Electricity sparked all throughout their young bodies as the kiss continued. Their hearts began to beat in-synch with each other, the breath from their noses tickling and teasing each other's faces. Neither of them had ever had this feeling before.
That's when they knew.
"So THIS is love…" both cousins thought.
They continued the kiss for another four minutes before their lungs screamed for air, and they released as slowly as they could; their lips mere millimeters apart. Their breaths tickled each other's lips.
While the kiss was going on, the others had their own expressions.
Mr. Green had mild shock on his face.
One could have sworn that Kai was suffering Gang Green from the envy she was emitting.
Max was happily shocked at their declaration to each other.
Yenalda had a stern look with a hint of a smirk on her snout.
Gwen then took this time to say what she had always wanted to say.
"I love you, Ben. With all my heart…"
Ben embraced her once again before turning his attention to the others and exclaiming, "And don't anyone DARE tell me EITHER of two things:
1: That me going psycho killer won't happen again 'cause I'm sure as eggs are eggs that it WILL happen again and I want to play it safe by training with Yenalda.
And 2: That me and Gwen are cousins and it wouldn't be right because it IS right… in here." he finished, slamming his fist into his chest where his heart is to emphasize his point.
No one had spoken a word, however Kai had 'harumph'd' and stomped off into the distance with her grandfather following her. Max then decided to speak, "Hey, I'm not saying anything."
"Personally," Yenalda began, "I think you are making a decently wise choice, but you are forgetting to bring someone along with you."
The two cousins/lovers looked at each other in shared confusion and asked what she had meant by that.
"I mean that Gwen is to come with you as well, Ben. Provided that she willingly does so. There are some things I must teach you that require your mate for it to work… or should I say "future" mate?"
At this, Ben and Gwen both turned a shade of red that would make a tomato jealous, or a cherry in Ben's case.
"So what is your decision, child?"
Gwen hesitated for a bit.
"I choose -"
The End
NOT!
You think I'm THAT cruel?
I wrote this much, and I'm gonna finish it!
"I choose -"
"To be with Ben. I love him, and I will be willing to do whatever it takes to be with him…
Always."
And so, the group had reached the Rustbucket safe and sound. Max had called Ben and Gwen's parents and told them of what had happened, right to the letter. Though Frank was a little peeved that he was losing his daughter too soon to the world of romance, he as well as Lilly, Carl, and Sandra had all agreed to and accepted their children's, and Sandra's niece and nephew's, decision.
With all of their stuff packed up, Ben, Gwen and Yenalda had looked to find a brand new cave that they could call home where they trained to the fullest of their extent and lived happily ever after.
The End
…
For real this time…
…
What are you still doing reading this thing? I said it was over…
…
…
…
GET THE F! AWAY FROM MY CABBAGES!
*goes and grabs a shot gun and cocks it*