Gwen huddled in the corner, still in shock.
Ben came running over to her. "Gwen? What happened? Are you okay?"
She flinched as he reached for her.
He stopped, realization dawning on him. "What did he do to you?"
"Nothing."
"Gwen…"
"He kissed me, all right?!" Her next words were almost inaudible. "And I kissed him back."
"What?! How could you?!"
"I thought he was you!"
He gaped at her. "Are you saying you wanted me to kiss you?"
"No!"
His gaze grew shuttered, and she could practically hear his thoughts. You just wanted him to kiss you.
She turned away, unable to bear the look of betrayal in his eyes.
"I don't know what happened," she said at last.
It had all happened so quickly.
He'd lured her into a trap, and she'd fallen right into it.
She'd wanted to him kiss her… but which one?
She hated to admit it, but she was secretly attracted to her own cousin. But Ben – Good Ben – was too honorable to ever try anything like that.
Good Ben didn't see her that way. That was why he never made a pass at her.
Bad Ben didn't care. He was selfish. He went after whatever he wanted. And he had decided that he wanted her. Or something.
Maybe he had just been toying with her. For no other reason than that he could.
It was surreal. On the surface, Bad Ben was identical to Good Ben. He could even turn on the charm and act so much like Good Ben that he had fooled even her. She couldn't tell them apart.
She couldn't help it.
Bad Ben was also exciting. He was even more ruthless and powerful than Kevin or Mike. Neither she nor Kevin had been any match for him.
Maybe he was how Ben would have turned out if she hadn't exerted all of her good influence on him the past 5 years.
She often felt that Ben was overly solicitous with her these days.
Sometimes she missed the old days when they had fought a lot. Well, maybe not the fighting so much, but it had been fun engaging in banter and a constant battle of the wits. Especially since she knew she'd usually have the last word. She had enjoyed provoking him.
Now, everything was completely different. They were closer and they rarely fought. He almost always listened to her. Which was good, but also... boring. Predictable. Good Ben was a little too good these days.
Bad Ben was nothing like that. He was roguish and charming. Reckless, wild. Full of mischief.
No… It went far beyond that. He was cruel, calculating, manipulative…
She felt guilty about kissing Bad Ben, but… how was she supposed to know? He'd tricked her, damn it.
No, it was her own fault. She should have known he was the impostor. Good Ben never would have said such beautiful things to her. He never would have tried to kiss her. He was too honorable to seduce anyone. He would never take advantage of her.
But she'd managed to convince herself that maybe, just maybe…
She felt hopelessly confused. She didn't know what she wanted anymore.
Maybe she never had.
The End
A/N: After watching the actual episode, my train of thought for this story got completely derailed. Though I finished writing it, it wasn't very satisfactory. So I ended up writing a much darker, more explicit (and out-of-character) version where Albedo does a lot more than just kiss Gwen. I thought it was a little much for posting on FFN, but I will consider it if enough people want to read it. Please let me know if you want to beta-read it. Thanks.