Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.
If It Can't Break Out of It's Shell
Chapter Four: Devlin's First Day of School
Was Devlin nervous about his first day of school?
Yes. Yes, he was.
Was he going to let it show?
Eh... probably. But not before trying to hide it and cover up his inequity with feigned excitement and distract from it with more questions about Gwendolyn's past with his father.
"Tell more of the story." He said, climbing into the backseat of the car and fastening the seatbelt over his chest.
The boy reached a hand up to scratch at his hair. Since he refused to have it be cut, his mother had pulled it back into a tight 'man-bun' (or 'boy-bun' as the case may be) to keep it out of his eyes and -Devlin groaned- 'stop hiding that hansom face'. The young Osmosian would admit that it was easier to see without his hair in his face, but it was also pulled so tight that it itched.
"Its not really that long a drive to your school." She informed him, taking the driver's seat and turning over the engine.
"But you promised." The boy reminded her. "You said you'd tell me the story, but it was a long one. Tell me what you can in the time it takes to take me to school -and then tell me more when you pick me up after."
Gwendolyn sighed. "Alright. Kevin's negativity and pessimism aside, everything started out like any normal pregnancy would. Things didn't start to change until about halfway through the second trimester..."
…
Gwendolyn yawned as she put her books away. It was really nice of Kevin to put her shelves together for her, but the book that were going to go on the shelves she wanted in a specific order. There was no way she was going to let her husband anywhere near her delicate organizational techniques. He just wouldn't do it right.
"Thanks for helping me with this, you guys."
Kai and Emily, on the other hand, they could understand how the sorceress liked to organize her books and help put the -more than considerable- collection away. It was a mix of magical tomes, reference and textbooks, and frivolous fiction. But Gwendolyn didn't separate it by genre, or line them up by author -like most normal people would. Instead she group them together by relevance to a central subject.
For example, if there was a fiction story that had to do with crystal power, then that would be group with magical texts from crystal powers, and a reference books for gems and minerals. Organizing Gwendolyn's books required one to actually know what the books were about, not just who they were by, or what genre they belonged to. That was why Kevin couldn't help. Kevin didn't like to read.
"I've just been getting so tired so easily recently." Continued the sorceress. "Its hard for me to finish something once I start it."
"That's not like you at all." Emily commented. Of all of Gwendolyn's friends, she had known the sorceress the longest. Since they were in elementary school. She would know when something was strange with her friend. Even before they found out Gwendolyn was an Anodite -a creature made of pure energy- she had always been energetic and goal driven. She wouldn't stop until she finished a thing she started.
Gwendolyn only sighed. "Like I said, I get tired more easily now for some reason. I have to go and take a nap before I get back to doing even something as simple as putting my books away."
Kai looked up at that comment. "How long have you been trying to get these put away for?"
"Well, Kevin put the shelves together after we got home from my first sonogram. That was a little over two months ago, so... a little over two months."
Emily looked genuinely concerned. "That's not like you at all!" She shifted position, wheeling her chair closer to the other woman. "Are you sure you're feeling alright? I don't want to sound like I'm taking Kevin's side, but do you think that maybe this pregnancy is a bit more of a strain on you than you want to admit?"
"Oh, don't you start too!" The sorceress scoffed. Then yawned. "I don't have the energy to argue with you too. I have to conserve my strength to put up with Kevin and his constant negativity."
Both Emily and Kai exchanged a look. Neither of them could tell if the sorceress was joking or being completely serious.
"Should... should we be worried?" Emily asked.
"Of course not!" Gwendolyn snapped. Then found herself suppressing a growl. "Honestly! Kevin's got you all so paranoid that you're overreacting to every little thing! I'm just fine and the baby is just fine! There's nothing wrong and all of you should just stop freaking out over nothing!"
She paused to take a breath.
"You're the one raising her voice." Kai took the opportunity to point out. Clearly, she and Emily were not the ones freaking out here.
This time the sorceress did not suppress the growl that rose in the back of her throat.
Emily wheeled her chair between the two women, holding her arms up for peace.
"Why don't we take a break." She suggested. "We all seem a bit flustered. These books have been waiting for month to be put away, they can wait another hour or two while we go out for brunch. How does that sound? Just us girls out for brunch. No irritating husbands to cramp our style. A Girls' Day!"
"That sounds fine." Kai wasn't really that close with Emily, she was Gwendolyn's friend, not hers and -in all honesty- Kai wasn't really all that close with Gwendolyn. She tried to get along with her because she was her husband's cousin (more like a sister, really), and if getting along with Gwendolyn meant going out to brunch with her crippled friend, then fine. She could do brunch.
"Yeah, okay, sure." Gwendolyn huffed. She closed up the box of books she was in the middle of unpacking and stood up.
Maybe she stood up just a little too quickly, because as soon as she was on her feet, the sorceress felt dizzy. Her legs felt wobbly and weak under her like they suddenly couldn't support her own weight, and she swayed on her feet. It must have been enough to be noticeable, because she felt a hand grab her shoulder with a touch more pressure than was needed. Gwendolyn blinked, not realizing she had closed her eyes, and saw both Kai and Emily looking at her with sudden concern.
"Are you okay?" Kai asked, and Gwendolyn rarely heard the other woman sound so serious.
"I'm fine." The sorceress insisted. "Just got a little dizzy just now. Stood up to fast."
Both Emily and Kai exchanged another look. This one more serious. This wasn't Gwendolyn making some joke about being tired from having to put up with her husband's constant bitching about how he wasn't happy about the pregnancy and never wanted the child in the first place. They had just witness Gwendolyn nearly faint for no perceivable reason. Considering the fact that she was an Anodite and the thing inside her was an Osmosian, that was actually something worth worrying about.
But Gwendolyn would know her body better than either of them would. Especially considering that she was half-alien and both Kai and Emily were normal humans. Humans that might deal with aliens on a daily basis, sure. But still normal humans none the less. They wouldn't know what went on in an Anodite's body during pregnancy. For all they knew, excessive tiredness and fainting spells could be normal for an energy being trapped inside a physical body that was also currently trying to grow another physical body inside it.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Emily asked.
"Of course I'm sure!" Gwendolyn snapped. "Now, where did you want to go for brunch. I hear there's a new Kinet-fusion place that just opened up where that old hipster micro-brewery used to be."
She shrugged Kai's hand off her, picked up her purse and headed for the door.
…
"But you weren't okay, were you?" Devlin asked from the back seat. The car turned a corner and he saw the school outside the window, a small platoon of children being escorted by their parents up to the main entrance. Now that they were here, his mother was gonna stop telling the story. He better get his questions in fast. "I was already draining you. From the inside. Dad was right."
Gwendolyn pulled into the parent parking and stopped the car. "Devlin, I don't ever what to hear the words 'Kevin was right' out of your mouth. Do you understand me?" She said in a tone that had more force and raw feeling in it than the young Osmosian felt was necessary. "Kevin wanted to abort you the moment he learned I was pregnant. If we had done that, you would not be here. I do not want to ever hear you say Kevin was right."
"Yeah, but... If I hadn't been born, he never would have left, you two would still be together and I-" He cut himself off, suddenly getting the feeling that his next words were not something he should be saying to his mother. '-and I never would have had to suffer through my life so far.' Was what he was going to say -or something similar. Sometimes abortion was the more humane option. But Devlin got the distinct impression that this was not an argument he wanter to start with her. Instead he said, "I guess I better get to school. First day and all. Gotta make a good impression, right."
"I'll walk you in." She unbuckled her belt and got out of the car.
Devlin had never been to school before. He and Kevin were always moving, they were never in one place long enough for the boy to attend anywhere -not that Kevin would enroll him even if they did settle down. For some reason he imagined Gwendolyn just dropping him off and saying 'Have a nice day.' He didn't know why. He saw other kids being escorted by their parents. It gave Devlin an odd kind of feeling of belonging, having his mother walk him to the main entrance. For what was probably the first time in his life, the Osmosian felt just like everybody else, and it was a nice kind of feeling.
…
After dropping Devlin off at school and making sure he found his way to his classroom safely, Gwendolyn went straight to Plumbers Headquarters to meet with Ben and get the Null grenade that contained her estranged husband.
But Ben wasn't there when she arrived. Rook met her instead.
The sorceress blinked at the Revonnahgander. She hadn't seen Rook much since he had confessed feelings for Ben that went beyond simple friendship, but the other man didn't return said feelings and the Revonnahgander took the position of Warden of the Void in an attempt to escape the rejection and run away from the pain.
"Hey, haven't seen you in a while." She pulled Rook into a sisterly hug. Of all the people whom had, had crushes on her cousin over the years, women, men, aliens, and everything in between, Rook was the one Gwendolyn thought was the best match for Ben. Unfortunately, Ben was already married to Kai and having a child with her by the time the Revonnahgander finally worked up the courage to confess his feelings. There was no way the Hero of the Universe was gonna leave his wife and come out as more than straight all at once. Rook's feelings were doomed to be unrequited from the start. "How've you been?"
"It has been a while." Rook nodded. "I have been working. The Rooters keep me busy -as has your husband. Warden of the Void is a surprisingly demanding responsibility."
"Has Kevin been giving you a lot of trouble?" She asked, genuinely concerned. If the Osmosian caused to much trouble during his eleven years in and out of the Void, then even if they did succeed in rehabilitating him, he might not be able to return to his job and rank as a Magister Plumber.
Rook sucked in an uncomfortable breath. "Its not really Kevin... so much as Kevin's followers."
"Followers?" Echoed the sorceress.
"You see, in the Null Void, weaker residents tend to congregate around stronger ones for protection." The Revonnahgander began to explain. "I do not think Kevin did anything to encourage this, but after absorbing the powers and abilities of eleven thousand aliens, he was very strong, and a following grew around him. A very large following. Since Devlin pulled him out of the Void, that following has been... problematic. A lot of them have flocked to Servantis and become Rooters. I did not realize before, but his presence was actually helping to keep the peace. Even if he wasn't actively doing anything."
The Revonnahgander was only telling a half-truth when he told Ben it was good he hadn't released Kevin back into the Void. Actually, Rook did want Kevin back in the Null Void, but he wanted him back on the Plumbers' side.
Gwendolyn paused. She'd been to the Null Void a couple of times, but never spent any extended time there. She didn't actually know what it was like. "I have no idea Kevin had so much influence in the criminal community. I thought he was just a maniac."
If Rook had an opinion about her thinking Kevin was a maniac but marrying him anyway, he did not voice it. Instead, he said, "So you understand why I have a vested interest in what happens to him."
"So where's Ben?" Asked the sorceress. He was the one with the Null grenade that held Kevin, after all. They couldn't exactly get this show on the road without him.
"Ben is picking his wife up from the space port." The Revonnahgander answered in a voice that made it sound more like he was actually saying 'He felt uncomfortable around me so came up with an excuse and left.' Rook reached into a pocket of his new standard issue Plumbers uniform and pulled out a Null grenade. "He did, however, give Kevin to me so that you and I could begin whatever it is you plan to do without him."
Oh, well it was nice to see that Ben had thought ahead. It might have taken him thirty years, but the Wielder of the Omnitrix and Hero of the Universe had finally learned responsibility. This was actually a reassuring start to their endeavor.
She took the grenade that held her estranged husband and held it up to look at him again. Face distorted by the curve of the egg, body squished and contorted to fit in the shrunken ovoid chamber. It was hard to tell if he was conscious or not. His eyes were open, but there was no indication that the Osmosian saw her. Gwendolyn put the grenade in her own pocket.
"So, I guess its just the two of us heading to my library, then."
…
Gwendolyn's library was much changed since the last time Rook had seen it. Obviously she'd have to make some changes in order for it to be livable for Kevin. While the Revonnahgander knew that he and the sorceress had spent plenty of nights in her headquarters under the library, it was not actually a place meant to be lived in.
The building's plumbing had been altered in order to create a place for the Osmosian to dispose of his waste, and Gwendolyn had swapped out the mini-fridge for a proper sized refrigerator and a microwave. But the most noticeable feature was not the changes to the plumbing or the new appliances. It was the large sigil drawn on the floor in the center of the chamber in bold white paint. Paint, not chalk. Gwendolyn must anticipate Kevin struggling and chalk would smudge or smear, rendering the magic circle unusable. But already dried paint was more-or-less permanent.
She pulled the Null grenade that contained her estranged husband out of her pocket and tossed it into the center of the circle.
"Does it ever bother you that we can compress living people down to something the size of a fist?" Rook asked.
The Null grenade glowed a golden-yellow before releasing a stream of particles that shifted in the air, twisting around themselves until they formed the shape and figure of Kevin 11,000. When the light dissipated, Kevin was standing in the center of the sigil, in the exact same condition he was in when Devlin first trapped him in the grande all those weeks ago.
"Not really." Gwendolyn shrugged at the Revonnahgander's question.
He had been in the middle of a fight with Ben when he was put in the Null grenade, so Kevin came out fighting. He snarled a wordless snarl into the air and transformed back into his monstrous and mutated 11,000 form. Flames, and tentacles, and arms, and wings. Gwendolyn had to supress a gasp. Ben told what her husband had become, but there was a wide difference between being told something and actually seeing it for yourself.
Kevin snorted a jet of hot air that came out as two thin jets of fire. They illuminated the dim library, and the forms of Gwendolyn and Rook. Seeing they were the only other people present apart from himself, Kevin charged for an attack. But Gwendolyn was quick to react. She threw up and hand and the circle Kevin was looming inside flared with light. A shield went up around the outer most ring of the sigil, a barrier of pure mana keeping the Osmosian trapped with. Kevin collided -head first- into the wall of solid star sapphire light.
The Osmosian staggered for a moment, disoriented. The last thing he remembered he out on the open street outside Plumbers HQ in Bellwood, facting off against Benji and Benji's annoying red-skinned brat. Now all of a sudden he was indoors. In what appeared to be some kind of dimly lit chamber full of books and a magic circle on the floor, and- oh... He was here... In his wife's hideout from back when she was Lucky Girl.
Kevin reverted back to his human shape upon registering that it was her -and that he'd nearly just attacked her. Everything he'd done these past eleven years had been for her. How far gone was he really to attack her incandescently and without hesitation? It had been a little over a decade since the Osmosian had seen her. She let her hair grow long again. It was pulled up into a tight no-nonsense 'action girl' style ponytail. The hooded scarf she liked to wear was gone, but she still seemed to prefer blue and black, and the Charms of Bezel were displayed prominently on her arms.
"Kevin Ethan Levin." She growled. What? Was she mad at him or something? Well, he did try and attack her, so... there was that.
"Gwendolyn Eleanor Levin." He smirked back, sass seemed like a good idea right now.
The sorceress did not smile back. She seemed not to have patience for his today. "Good. You know who I am. More importantly, you know who you are. You're not that far gone. That will make this easier."
Kevin blinked at that. He shifted his focus from her on the other side of the mana barrier to the barrier itself. A wall of pure power -and didn't it just feel delicious! It took every once of strength the Osmosian had not to try and absorb her barrier right then and there. He looked down at his feet. Noted just how complicated the sigil he stood inside really was, and looked back up at her. "And what is 'this' exactly?"
Rook came up beside Gwendolyn. He had no great gift for magic. He had preformed a few simple spells before, but only with the aid of powerful magical items like the Alpha Rune. Rook had no mana of his own. But he was trained in how to talk to terrorists, victims, and the distraught -and Kevin was his friend. "We are going to help you, Kevin."
This did not have the desired affect of putting the Osmosian at ease. In fact, it had the exact opposite reaction. He flew into another rage.
"Rook!" He snarled then threw an accusatory glare at Gwendolyn. "You're with him now!" Back to the Revonnahgander. "You couldn't have Ben so you went for the next best Tennyson and decided to steal my woman!"
"That is not even remotely similar to what we are doing here." Rook replied calmly.
Kevin did not appear to be listening. He banged a fist on the mana barrier. "I'll fucking kill you!"
Gwendolyn sighed. Maybe he was father gone than she originally thought. This was going to take a lot of work. She walked up to the edge of the sigil and placed a hand on the mana barrier, and said one word. A short, clip of a spell. The inside of the circle crackled with power and Kevin snarled at the sensation of something sizzling around him to fast to be absorbed. He groaned in discomfort and fell to his knees in front of her. His long dark hair falling like a curtain over his face, obscuring his expression.
Gwendolyn knelt down in front of him to be on an eye-level.
But he did not raise his head to meet her eyes.
"I never filed for divorce, Kevin." She told him, knowing that it might not mean much to him right now in his less-than-rational state. "We're still married and -even though you don't deserve it- I still love you. I'm going to fix you, Kevin. Just like I did when you were Ultimate Kevin."
That was when he raised his head -laughing. A low, dark laugh, devoid of mirth. Head tilted back, hair falling away from his face, eyes wide, pupils dilated. Gwendolyn had never seen him look so... insane before.
"You're going to 'fix' me, Babe?" He laughed. No, not laughed, taunted. "Of course you're going to fix me. That's what you do. Poor broken Kevin... where would I be without you to fix me?"
"Dead." Gwendolyn informed him flatly. "You would be dead. Ben would have killed you back when we were teenagers. No one's trying to kill you this time, but that doesn't make it any less important that I bring you back to normal."
That sent him into another rage. "I am normal! This is normal for me!"
Gwendolyn only smiled a sad, gentle smile. "I know... It does seem that way, doesn't it." She stood. "Lets get started. I want to get at least the first ten aliens out of you before I have to pick Devlin up from school."
That comment changed the Osmosian's whole demeanor. His rage melted away. His eyebrows came down in seriousness. His pupils returned to a more-rational size. He blinked at the sorceress with lucid and legitimate concern. "Devlin! He's with you? How? Are you alright? Has he hurt you?"
It there wasn't a wall of pure energy between them, Rook was sure the sorceress would have slapped the Osmosian across the face. Rook hadn't met Devlin yet. The last time he saw the boy, he was still an infant that didn't know how to control his powers and couldn't tell the difference between 'parent' and 'food'. But from what he understood of the boy now, Devlin was not only in full control of himself and his Osmosian abilities, but also much more same and well adjusted than Kevin ever was at that age -and considering the fact that he had been raised by Kevin, that was a praise worthy accomplishment.
Instead of smacking him like she wanted to do, Gwendolyn met her husband's eyes and growled. "Devlin has never hurt me more than you did when you kidnapped him and disappeared eleven years ago."
They glared at each other. This was one thing they would never agree on -or even understand the other's point of view on. In fact, it was probably one thing Gwendolyn for never forgive him for.
Kevin looked away first.
Gwendolyn nodded, as if she's won something.
She turned he back on the circle long enough to walk to a table and pick up a book she had already opened to the page she needed. Lifting the impressively large tome into her arms, the sorceress turned back to face the man in her sigil. "Now, this is going to hurt..."
…
Gwendolyn looked tired when she came to pick Devlin up from school.
Her car pulled up in front of the building just noticeably later than the other parents picking their children up. To spite the tardiness, Devlin didn't consider worrying about her until he saw just how exhausted she looked. Physically exhausted and also the 'sad-tired' kind of exhausted that went along with emotional exhaustion. What had she been doing between dropping him off and picking him up that wore her out so completely?
"Hey." But she still smiled at him as he climbed into the backseat and pulled the seatbelt across his chest. "How was your first day at school?"
"New." He answered. Devlin had never attended any sort of formal schooling before. He didn't really know what to expect on his first day. It was not like how they made it seem on TV. "It'll take some getting used to. But I think I'll like it. There are a lot of books."
"You like books?" And she seemed honestly and truly pleased and excited by that.
"Haven't really had many chances to find out if I like books." The boy admitted. "Dad only ever gave me the one. But I liked that one."
"'The Princess Bride', right?" She nodded. "I remember Leah telling me that it was one she used to read to him when he was just a bit younger than you are now."
"Who's Leah?" Devlin asked, blinking at the unfamiliar name.
Gwendolyn also blinked, staring at the boy in the rearview mirror. "Leah Levin. Mrs. Levin-" technically, Gwendolyn was also a 'Mrs. Levin' still, so that didn't mean much "-Kevin's mother. Your grandmother."
"Oh." The boy looked down at his hands. "He never talked about her either. Like he never even told me that Ben Tennyson's cousin and the High Magus was my mother."
"I... see..." She readjusted the rearview mirror.
They drove in silence for a bit.
Devlin wondered if he should ask her to continue the story. She did not exactly look up to talking about how her pregnancy nearly killed her (he assumed), and how her husband kidnapped her child as soon as it was out of her, and left her to pick up the pieces of her life alone.
That being said, the young Osmosian still wanted to know.
They were just pulling into the driveway when he finally screwed up the courage to ask her to continue. Zed was lounging on the porch again, and -just like before- when she saw Devlin climb out of the car, the Anubian Baskurr took off into the backyard and away from the Osmosian. That was the thing that solidified Devlin's resolve. He still wanted to know why a dog that seemed to like him instantly in the past, was utterly terrified of him now.
Setting his backpack down just inside the door, the young Osmosian took a breath.
"Are you hungry?" His mother asked. "I'll fix you a quick after school snack."
"I'm not hungry." He said, voice low and serious. "I want you to finish your story. Was I really draining you from the inside?"
Her face fell. Expression shifting from exhausted, but glad to be home, to despondent and somber -almost regretful. "I'm a little tired, Devlin." She said. "Today was a busy day for me. We'll pick the story up again tomorrow. Okay?"
…