Author Notes 1 & 2 (Do not confuse with the twin menaces with the Cat in the Hat.)
Btw, before I list the A/Ns, I feel yet again obligated to point out that I own no franchises.
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, and then post them. (Note: I went to 11, then realized it, then decided, eh, leave it.)
I saw the challenge on my favorite ffnet author's profile, checked it out (she did Pokeshipping – Ash/Misty) and I decided I'd do my own song challenge with my favorite couple. It's Ben/Gwen if you weren't aware.
White Houses – by Vanessa Carlton
"When I first moved in with you, I wasn't sure what to expect. You know, Ben?" Gwen said this as she sat in the armchair in the living room with her legs drawn up, bent; her knees against her chest as she hugged herself. "I wanted to stay here so I could finish out Senior Year at the same school while my mom and dad went to look after a relative out of state."
"And that's what you got, right?" Ben replied, while he sat on the couch, texting Julie, just as he'd been doing for the past hour. "You got what you wanted, yeah?"
"Sure…" Gwen said quietly, watching him as her pulse raced, her words rising in her throat – words of her truth, what she really wanted; it would only decide to fall again, along with the level of her nerve. "That's what I wanted."
Gingerbread Coffin – by Rasputina
Gwen cast her eyes toward the ground. Fear filled every bit of her heart. Her mind was in a state of shock. Bile had risen, and seemed to be resting at the base of her throat, somehow unwilling to move beyond that point.
"You'll never see him alive again," Charmcaster said to her. "It wasn't a part of my plan, but the plan of the One I'm working for. You know - the One your cousin was busy trying to stop?"
Gwen trembled, but was still unable to speak, her throat seeming to swell to a close. Kevin would rescue her from her hostage position, but it wouldn't matter anyway.
Ben was dead.
The Shooting Star That Destroyed Us All – by A Static Lullaby
Ben felt that he had to get back to Gwen and Kevin somehow. He had finally overcome the One that had been causing so much destruction and terror for the past year. Now, maybe, they all had a chance of making it out okay in the end. Still, he felt pretty sure that Charmcaster had Gwen somewhere, and who knew what that would result in?
He had to find her.
"Don't bother coming for your precious Gwen," a voice said then, causing him to stop in his tracks.
"Who's there?" he demanded to know, anger surging through his bloodstream.
"You know it's me," Charmcaster said to him, via some telepathic connection. "And I know what you did to Him."
"Where are you keeping Gwen at?" Ben shouted.
"It doesn't matter now. She's dead," Charmcaster lied simply, before closing off the connection and returning to the other room she'd just come from, giving her attention to Gwen, who remained tied up in a chair.
"I'm sure Ben would have missed you, too, if he'd had the chance to before he died. Regardless, now it's your turn to meet the same fate he did."
Fully Alive – by Flyleaf
The second she had heard the rumors, she'd packed what little she needed and set out on a trek to find him. Ben 10, the wonder, the menace, the savior, hero, and arrogant person that she'd had in her life since birth was – so some thought – alive.
Charmcaster had told her three years ago that he was gone. She'd believed it, and it had led her to a mental breakdown that not even Kevin, her other best friend, could fix. Then one day, out of nowhere, she'd heard the rumor.
As if awakening from a nightmare, she'd stirred at once, deciding to seek him out. She had to. Her life was absolutely nothing without Ben being a part of it.
Whisper – by Evanescence
"Paradox," Ben said, looking back to the man standing before him, amazed to find himself face to face with anyone remotely familiar after the past three years of utter loneliness. "You have to get me back to Gwen."
"You're in a paradoxical universe. It's not easy to jump from one dimension to the next," the time traveler said.
"You managed to do it," Ben challenged him.
Gwen found herself on a beach of seemingly endless, white sand. The water beyond it was pristine and crystal clear. It was a beautiful sight to behold, but it did little to lift her heart. She'd been told by someone that she could find Ben here.
But he was nowhere to be found. No one was anywhere to be found. For the paradise that it was, the beach at the bay seemed to be completely abandoned, for whatever the reason.
Breaking down to tears after a few moments of standing alone there, staring blankly toward the water, Gwen closed her eyes, kneeling down to the sand as she placed her face in her hands. "Ben…" she whispered, her vocal chords weak from a lack of use.
Had there been no merit to the rumor after all? Had she only broken her own heart all over again?
Crossfire – by Brandon Flowers
The winds of time and space whipped around Ben something fierce as he travelled through a spectrum of light and darkness alongside Paradox.
"When you feel your feet touch ground, let go of my arm," the scientist said to him. "I have elsewhere to go to."
Nodding his head within the vortex, Ben did as instructed, releasing his grasp on Paradox as his shoes landed upon some sort of soft ground beneath him. Opening his eyes to find himself on a beach, he inhaled deeply, before breaking out into a grin. He was back on his own planet, in his own time once again.
The One Charmcaster had been working for had managed to make him travel to an alternate dimension during their battle, a dimension where He - the villian - had more powers than He held in the current one. Ben had withstood it all, though, claiming the ultimate victory, though losing the past three years of his life as he did.
Looking all around to find the beach seemingly abandoned, he frowned. He was back, but he didn't know if Gwen was here. He'd had a hunch that Charmcaster had been bluffing about her death. He also knew there was no way Kevin wouldn't have gone to any expense to save her.
She was bound to be here, somewhere on the face of the planet. His heart just knew she had to be.
The Edge of Glory – by Lady Gaga
Gwen was sat on the opposite end of the beach, her back resting against a large rock formation as she continued crying. Though soundless, the tears streamed without end, and she couldn't stop her thoughts from free-flowing through her mind in any order they liked – memories, words unspoken, instances that had made her heart leap, times where her heart had sunk like a stone – all going crazy behind her eyelids as she kept her eyes closed.
It'd only taken her a few months after moving in to Ben's house with intent to finish High School that she'd discovered a feeling within that was uneasy, frightening, but impossible to make go away when she was alone with her cousin. At first, though, she did do her best to keep it at bay. When that ultimately failed, she decided to let it pass on through her, like a phase she'd grow out of.
As it had so turned out, she'd only grown further in terms of her feelings for Ben.
Shaking her head now, she slowly got to her feet, her heart aching painfully as she turned to look back out toward the place she'd first come to. There was, standing there now, the figure of a man. Her heart seeming to stop for a second or two, she inhaled deeply, before breaking out into a run, heading for the person standing there on the beach with her now.
Turning from his own end to see the figure of a girl running toward him, her hair whipping in the wind, Ben's eyes soon widened themselves as his mind caught up with his sight. "Gwen?" he said quietly.
Love Story – by Taylor Swift
Gwen could barely believe her eyes. As she got closer and closer to the man she was running toward, he began running to her, likewise. Soon enough, she could make out his features better. Beneath the inch he'd grown, the scruff of stubble on his face, and the longer hair, she could see who it was, and before she knew it, she found herself in his arms.
Holding her tightly, as closely as he could to his body, Ben placed his chin on Gwen's shoulder, closing his eyes as he said, "I've come home now, haven't I?"
Her tears stirring back up again as she inhaled deeply, taking in everything she could about Ben, including his scent, the redhead nodded her head a couple of times, before saying, "I thought you were dead."
"Oh, Gwen," Ben said sadly, feeling impossibly sorry for imagining for just an instant what she must have gone through, thinking such a thing; after all, he'd gone through it himself. "I'm so sorry…"
"Don't be sorry," she said at once, clasping onto him. "We're together now. It's all that matters."
Letterbomb – by Green Day
Ben had been back at his childhood home with Gwen and the rest of their family for a good, solid month of nothing but reunions and hugs and newfound appreciation for having the people you love in your life. Wanting Kevin to be a part of it, Ben was soon told by Gwen that his best guy friend had left to fight with an army on another planet some time earlier, to help them gain freedom for their people.
"I want him to come home, too, if only for a leave from the war he's battling in," Ben had said, finding that it wasn't quite the same to be amongst everyone if Kevin wasn't a part of it.
Gwen had thusly written a letter, sending it via electronic telegram, making sure that Kevin would get it on the far away planet. Four days after sending it, she received correspondence.
KEVIN E. LEVIN UNFORTUNATELY PASSED AWAY WHILE IN BATTLE . IT OCCURRED LAST WEEK . HE FOUGHT GALLANTLY FOR OUR PEOPLE AND WILL BE RECOGNIZED FOR IT .
Not knowing how to tell Ben, Gwen stayed in her grandpa's underground intelligence bunker for the rest of that night, sleepless and shocked. An important part of bother of their lives was gone – in a blunt, brief message, he was suddenly no longer amongst them - and she didn't have the heart to break it to Ben quite yet.
Second Chance – by Shinedown
Julie stood on the front porch with Ben. His hands were stuck in his pockets, while her arms were folded across her bosom. His eyes - having been opened wide in what had happened over the past three years - he now saw everything and everyone in a new light. It was for the better, he figured, except when it came to the things that hurt, such as letting Julie know that while she was an incredible friend, and had been the world's most patient girlfriend, his heart belonged to someone else.
Without a terrible amount of prejudice towards Ben for the confession, the girl had left silently after hearing his confession, not offering a word in reply to let him know how much she'd possibly been hurt. He could only hope that it wasn't too much.
Still, he knew he had done the right thing in telling her. If nothing else, living without Gwen for ages taught him to never take for granted the fact that his life could've never been so amazing without her in it. The past week alone had taught him that even your best friends could disappear without ever getting another chance to see them again. All in all, he'd learned that you always have to speak now, or otherwise you could be too late in the end
Japanese Candy – by Little Teeth
Ben had been knelt before Gwen for a couple minutes, and when he found he couldn't speak, she, too, knelt down, eye level with him as they took hold of each other's hands. "We're both young, but both aged at the same time," Gwen said to him. "I know it's all confusing. And don't say a thing you don't think you're ready to say."
Nodding slowly, Ben replied, "I wouldn't dare say a word I didn't mean. I've learned my lesson. I'm not going to ask you to marry me or anything insane like that. I am asking you to run away with me, where we can be whatever we want to be, together."
Nodding once in reply, Gwen said, "I see."
"So… will you?" Ben asked, as the pair leaned in towards each other, slowly, inch by inch – their faces getting closer and closer.
"Will this answer your question?" Gwen replied in a very quiet voice, before breaking the last of the space between them, kissing him with everything she had.
In returning the kiss, Ben was answering her question, as well. Both of them came to find that they'd never had a more clear answer to any of their questions in all their life.
A/N: So that was fun to do. I tried to make the drabbles somewhat connected. I know it doesn't pull off a grand emotional impact or any such thing, but again, I tried. Not as easy as one would think, to write purely between the opening and closing notes of any given song. But again, it is fun. (And if it's weird/confusing, I went with "the One" Charmcaster was working for to try and give "Him" a more ominous feel. Probably didn't work xD)
Anyway,I suggest anyone who likes to write to try ths. And thanks for reading! Btw, if anyone's curious, the author I got it the idea from is Bittersweetromanticide. There's a link to her page on my profile if you wanna check her out.