Gwen winced her eyes as she felt her face being rubbed. She winced her eyes open seeing her cousin holding her cheek checking on her to make sure she was alright. She groaned pulling her head away and rubbing her eyes trying to adjust back to reality of life.

"You okay?" He asked concerned. She watched the camera crew from the door and knew something was up. They followed Ben everywhere on his trips, originally only broadcasting the fights but then as rating went down, starting documenting aspects of his personal life. That included Gwen. But she was a professional, she acted smart in front of the camera.

"Yeah, thanks" She took his hand as he lifted her up. The camera zoomed in on the both of them. Ben picked up her alarm-clock reading the time. She had been meditating for almost 2 and a half hours. He smiled before looking back up to her noticing her stretching her upper body before she went out on patrol. Meditation, was like a lesser form of sleeping to Gwen. She could reap the benefits of allowing her antodyte form to express itself as a form of spirituaity, while at the same time resting and building up her energy and assurance. Yes, meditation was the best form of peacefulness, where she would forget her troubles and calm herself down. It was reality that sucked. The reality of having to put up with her cousin, and fulfill his every need that kinda sucked. He would say something; she would play along with it. That was the game anyway. It's not that she was obliged to do it; it was just a habit she had grown accustomed to over the period of three years.

"You ready?" He raised his hand up near her face. She forced a smile, grabbing his hand and patting his back.

"I'll light up the sky" She mumbled, walking out the room and to the ramp, staring out at the scene of darkness, rain and thunder. Her eyes glowed as she searched for a sign of life amongst the trees below looking for the pink on her radar.

"where is he?" Ben asked placing a hand on his cousin. Her hair blew in the wind as she moved her head continuing to scan the area.

"Over there!" She pointed to a small opening in the woods where the Vreedle Brothers were placing their stolen loot into their space ship.

"Land the RustBucket II" He told her activitating his Ultimatrix and slamming down his watch. Gwen raced to the controls landing the ship as quickly as she could while Ben jumped out of the ship, sumersaulting for the camera before transforming in Spidermonkey, screaming his name. He landed with a large thud into a web of spidermonkey web. The Vreedles turned, facing the alien monkey.

"Looks like we got's some company, Rhomboid" Octagon readied his lazer rifle preparing to shoot.

"Come' out here Tennyson, no point in hidin', we know it's you" He readied his rocket launcher to the mass of cobwebs.

"You're right, which one?" Gwen mocked stepping out from behind them and using her pistols to shoot them both in the back.

Octagon ducked down, as Rhomboid took the onslaught of the assault.

"You little" Octagon aimed his rifle towards her. She instantly threw up a shield blocking his onslaught before raising her manna powered pistol and shooting towards Rhomboid.

"Ain't you suppose to ready us our rights or somethin'?" Rhomboid asked ducking Gwen's powers and firing the rocket launcher towards her. Her eyes widened, quickly dropping her shield and jumping out of the way rolling behind a small hill on the ground.

"Stay still" Rhomboid yelled, trying to shoot her.

"Should've worn a helmet" Gwen muttered placing her hand over her head before reaching for her pistol on the ground and firing back with as much rapid fire as she could force through the hollow weapon. Accurate and cost her a lot less energy then throwing her discs. She had to admit, it was a good design. She would have to thank Cooper later.

"Hey, don't even think about hurting her" Ben yelled. Gwen rolled her eyes, raising her head slightly noticing how close the camera's were. She cursed herself mentally before throwing up a shield in front of the cameramen so they wouldn't get hurt. She grabbed her other gun out of her side and continued to fire single but precise shots as not to hit Ben as he engaged with the enemy by flailing shots of webbing to tie them up. Octagon was the first to go down, too distracted by the win to see Rhomboid regain his composure and aim the rocket launcher towards Spidermonkey.

"BEN LOOK OUT!" She instantly gritted her teeth, eyes lighting up as she pelted towards Ben jumping towards Ben, throwing him out of the way before she threw up a shield. His weapon went off blasting the two Tennyson's. Smoke flaired threw the air blinding the camera's for a fraction of second before it cleared leaving the two Tennyson's still laying behind the shield of manna.

Gwen breathed out laying in the prone-unsupported position behind her pistol. One blast and Romboid Vreedle was on the ground, smoke coming off his body. Spidermonkey stood up off the ground and slammed down his Ultimatrix and helping his cousin up off the ground, dirt covering the both of them.

"You okay?" She asked hitting her thigh and placing away her weapon.

"Not bad for the most powerful being in the world" He smiled at her remembering Diagon's words.

"Weapons powerful" She smiled, blowing on the top of the weapon, placing it back into it's compartment before walking over to the ship and opening one of the crates.

"Diamonds?" She ran her hands through the fortune. She picked up a handful hand and eyes glowing.

"Can you get an owner" Gwen nodded.

"Upstate Library of Tennessee" Gwen muttered placing the diamonds back into the box before throwing the lid back over it. Ben smirked before the producers and camera crew.

"I'll get the diamonds back to their owner"

"Great" The producer smiled.

"We just need one last camera shot and we're done"

Gwen shrugged,

"Whatever wraps this up quicker" She muttered concealing up the containers with her powers before she noticed Ben coming over to her. He took her arm, making her arch her eyebrow.

"They just want to get one last shot" He lead her over to the camera. She was a little put at first as Ben kept a gently hold on her, or so she thought, the armour was thick enough to take an artillery round (as Cooper had suggested) but still light and flexible enough to be able to be used to assault enemies and retreat if need be. The camera shined on the both of them as Ben took her arms so gently. It was kind of romantic in a sense, a finished firefight the two survivors standing in the light of the darkness.

"Close your eyes Gwen" Ben mumbled leaning into her. She did as he said, knowing that he wouldn't hurt her, especially in front of the camera. Instead, he did something that completely took her off- guard. She would've never seen it coming. Her eyes sprung open as she felt his lips on hers. He...he was kissing her with such passion. Gwen was hesitant, not knowing what to do. She was in shock from the approach. She quickly raised her hand pushing him off her. Her strength aside, the power of the armour still packed a punch. He was shoved back by his cousin who had the most confused look on his face of why she rejected him. Her eyes searched his for a solution to the answer but she found nothing, until she noticed the camera.

"And that's a wrap everybody, good work Ben. Gwen try not to push your cousin away while we're still rolling but we can edit that part out and just have the romantic bit in" The producer walked over to the two of them trying to place an arm on her shoulder. She was still in shock though. Shocked and confused out of her mind. She couldn't believe it. She backed away from them, not knowing what to do. Ben looked over to her, seeing the hurt look in his eyes. His heart pained him greatly. It took him a few seconds to realise what it was.

Guilt.

"Gwen, wait I can explain-"

She ran for it. Ben tried to catch her but the producer stopped him, grabbing him by the shoulder and refusing to let him chase after his cousin.

"She needs time to process it, in the mean-time you still have a job to do" The producer pointed to the stash of diamonds and alien's lying waist on the ground.

Kevin had been working on his new vehicle for hours now and he had only made the slightest dent in fixing it. But it was a project and he didn't want to half-ass the job.

He wiped his hands on a dirtied cloth before hearing the door to his garage close. He turned round to see the redheaded beauty enter his home. He quickly turned round throwing a cover over the car he was working on as to not show her. She, however, payed no mind to it, choosing to move over and sit on the green couch and stare towards the wall.

Kevin arched his eyebrow as he watched the redhead in white shining armour sit on his settee looking like she was in shock.

"You...okay?" He asked, coming over and standing in front of her as she continued to stare ahead, like she had seen a ghost. He bent down, placing his hands on his knees and clicking his fingers in front of her face.

"What happened to you? You look like you're in shock or somethin' "

"Ben!" She muttered back, looking directly towards his television that was recording the news. She knew what it was about without the media.

"Ben what?" He tensed thinking about her cousin.

"Did he hit you? I swear if he hit you he-" He turned round noticing her direct eye contact with the television. A picture came up showing the two Tennyson's together. Kevin's jaw practically dropped when he turned the television up.

"Ben 10 and Gwen Tennyson are a couple" He stared at the picture of Tennyson holding his girl, kissing her with such passion as she stared at him, shocked by his approach to her as he gripped her forearms not letting her resist back as he kissed her.

"Can I stay here for a while" She muttered towards Kevin. He turned to her, knowing full well why she was upset. He kneeled down grabbing both her arms and staring into her eyes.

"You don't have to ask, Gwen" He hugged her tightly in his arms. She closed her eyes leaning on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Kevin" She breathed out, feeling practically violated by her cousin.

"Let's get you out of your armour" He whispered into her ear. She kissed his cheek before removing herself.

"You want something to eat, we'll go out for dinner; anything you want?"

Gwen smiled warmly to him as he held her hands. 'Anything you want?' The words played in her head. She didn't understand why but the words played on her mind and they made her feel...happy. She couldn't remember the last time she had been asked that. Kevin noticed her display and took her cheek in his hands, wiping away her tears.

"Burgers" She muttered.

"Could use some fast-food" It was truely the first time she actually craved it.

They sat on the couch together, Gwen's armour off as she rested in her blackened underarmour, being inflammable cloth with padded elbow, knee and shoulder pads as well as ankle and wrist stabilisers. Her legs were resting on Kevin's lap as he gently leaned over her knees eating his burger with his clean hands. He had been constantly asking about her missions, her most recent ones in fact. The ones where she couldn't stand to be her cousin. They made Kevin feel...warm inside.

"So why do you do everything for your cousin? It doesn't make sense!" Kevin spat munching on his burger and turning to the finishing up her second burger.

Reacting from the question she placed her burger on the side before removing her legs off Kevin's lap.

Gwen gripped the edge of the couch nervously.

"I...ummm" She thought about his question. She had had many of her and Ben's closest friends ask her. Why she made him drinks when he asked? Why she puts up with him violating her privacy? Dragging her out of class just to go to Mr. Smoothies? Why waking her up at 3am in the morning to go on patrol? Why she would help him with any homework he had, even to the point of completing his assignments for school Why, everything?

"Did you like, accidently rip his teddy bear in two" Kevin joked before he noticed Gwen's eyes fade to the ground. He gulped noticing her serious features.

"I did something bad, Kevin. Real Bad" She closed her eyes thinking back to her memories.

Kevin wrapped a hand around her, trying to comfort her.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to" He rubbed her back, holding her close. She thought about it for a moment before sighing.

"I guess I can't escape it" She lifted herself off him.

"It happened like three years ago" She closed her eyes. "Though it feels like it was yesterday"

He placed an arm around her.

"I..." She closed her mouth, placing a hand on her temple.

13 year old Gwen Tennyson sat at her desk at school reading over her report which she had gotten back off the teacher. Her hair was longer, just below her shoulders now and she was beginning to shape into a woman, though still a kid. She was top of her class in all subjects and sat alone with her cousin during lunch and recess. They had grown close since their Summer trip and had been spending more and more time with each other. They were family none the less and family always had each others back.

She didn't understand why, she practically died on the inside seeing her marks.

C-

Her first fail. She gritted her teeth staring across at her cousin noticing his B+ as well as everyone else's reasonable marks but her's. Her cheeks flustered. She didn't understand.

"Ah, cheer-up, Cuz" He smiled at her as he patted her on the back.

"I don't understand. I've never got a mark lower than a B+ before; what happened?" She read the markings scribbled down her page. Covered in red. Her Dad was going to kill her; literally.

Ben sighed feeling sorry for his cousin.

"Maybe you should talk to the teacher about it. Meet you outside" He dashed off as soon as the bell rung, to the teacher's annoyance. The old hag gritted her teeth angrily. The rest of the kid's left to go home but Gwen stayed. The older woman noticed sighing annoyed at the girl.

"Ms. Tennyson, what are you doing?" She asked coming over to the girl. There were tears already in the girl's eyes. The woman noticed her flustered cheeks.

"Is everything alright Gwendolyn?" She asked bending down on one knee and noticing the paper the girl was leaning over.

"Why did you fail me?"

"It's not a fail"

"A C- is a fail"

The woman shook her head.

"The assignment was on your feelings and your life; your intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of why you do things. Gwendolyn, you gave me the psychological history of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation"

She sighed staring down at the paper in the girls hand.

"You're such a bright girl, Gwendolyn, I know you put a lot of effort into this assignment but it was not what I was after. This mark will only make you a better student"

The woman stood up.

"Be sure to read the question carefully before you begin to write" She walked away from the girl.

"Have a good night, Gwendolyn" The teacher waved. Gwen sighed standing up and grabbing her books off her desk before walking over of the classroom on the way she saw the popular girls staring towards her. She tried to avoid eye contact looking in the other direction of them as they snared at her.

"Eh," Gwen rolled her eyes not noticing the taller blonde haired girl in front of her.

"Watch it, Dork" She slapped the redhead's books out of her hand. Gwen gasped taking an unsteady back from the girl.

"Try get your stupid mark's changed, Dork" She pushed her into the wall.

"No, I-"

"You're a freak, you know that?" The other girl's surrounded her, enclosing her in a small space.

"Always reading that weird 'spell-book' of yours"

"It's like you want to be picked on" The girl shoved her back against the wall.

"Freak, Freak, freak" They chanted towards her, poking her and shoving. Gwen felt like she was going to explode. She closed her eyes, wincing as she tried to calm herself as they jabbed her in her ribs. She tried to get past them but they shoved her back.

"Hey," She heard a boy scream. They turned round, seeing her cousin bent over the watch.

"Leave her alone" Ben gritted his teeth, angrily.

"Oh look, it's the other freak"

Ben took a step forward, "I said BACK OFF!" Ben screamed at the top of his lungs. The leader breathed out, flicking her hair behind her shoulders before rolling her eyes.

"Whatever loser. Come on girls" The 13 year old walked away, leaving the redhead on the ground, huddled over.

"Gwen, you okay?" Ben grabbed her books placing them back into her fallen school bag. He felt his eyes getting wet as he listened to his cousin cry.

"Don't listen to them, they're the freaks"

She sniffed looking up into her cousin's eyes. He smiled down at her before zipping her bag up and taking her hand.

"Besides you're way more cooler then them, they can't even do half the stuff that you can do" He helped her stand on two uneasy feet.

"You're amazing, Gwen, don't pay them any attention"

He helped her place her bag on her back before taking her arm.

"Thanks Ben," She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I've always gotcha back, Cuz" He nudged her.

"I'll walk you home" He smiled, leading her out of the school.

"Ah, my Dad's going to kill me" She stared down at the paper thinking about her enraged father.

"Can't you just not show your Dad?" Ben stared down at her assignment.

"He already knows, I'm taking this home today. Plus, he rings my teacher up just in case" Gwen placed a hand on her head wiping the tears from her eyes. Ben sighed stopping outside her house.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"My ribs hurt, my head hurt's and it feels like my rib cage is about to explode and I'm boiling hot" She grabbed her heart. Ben stared at her shocked.

"Call me if need anything" He hugged her. She smiled.

"Thanks, Ben" She removed herself from him before turning to her house.

"Talk to you tonight" She waved towards him.

He waved as she walked into her house, greeted by her father opening the door for her.

"Hey Gwenny," He didn't bother smiling. Gwen saw the kitchen door open and noticed her mother holding the side of her cheek crying her eyes out and holding her face. Next to her stood Saundra, comforting the woman as Carl came over with a glass of water trying to hand it to Lily.

He noticed her frightened stare towards her mother and gave the girl a quick push towards the stairs.

"Go to your room, Gwen" He pushed her. She didn't argue, running up the stairs towards her room and unpacking her equipment from her school bag before her father came in. No toys littered her room. It was clean. OCD clean, only filled with books and a few picture frames of her and her cousin.

She took out the assignment that she received back today and looked over it. She pulled her hair as she sat on the floor leaning against her bed just thinking about it. Tears were beginning to work their way back into her eyes as she felt a tense pressure on her rib cage. The heat of her body started up again. She heard her bedroom door close and looked over to her father staring down at her.

"Is that your assignment?" He asked kneeling down next to her. Her hands shook as she held the piece of paper in her sweating fingers.

"Are you going to let me have a look at it?"

"I..." He gently removed it from her hands before reading through the piece of paper. It was up to a high level, university level in fact.

He stared down at the red mark, scratches tainting her work. He shook his head lifting the piece of paper over and reading the next page. Tears dripped down the young redhead's cheeks as she watched him intently face flushed with red. She was burning up. She must've had a fever. That would explain it.

She watched her Dad flipped to the next page growing more and more angrier. It just made the girl more scared. He shoved all the pages together and stared at the girl, daggers in his eyes.

"This is the second assignment this week which you've taken home and failed" He stared at her waiting for her answer.

She couldn't conjure the words though, heart racing to over 200 beats a minute. She gripped her heart again trying to breathe.

"I..."

"What?"

She winced her eyes more tears escaping down her face.

He gritted his teeth when he realised she had no excuse.

"Damnit Gwen" He sighed getting up off the ground walking over to her back-pack and rustling her back. He watched as the books, pencils and other equipment left un-pack, dropped from her bag. She backed away as he stared at one book in particular. Her magic book.

"What is this?" He asked. She backed away further.

Again, she didn't answer. He shook his head throwing it to the side harshly, a threat meant for her.

"Did your grandfather give you that? You're suppose to be studying not reading about magical fairies" before grabbing her arm.

"Stand up" He hoisted her up and took her over to her bed. She cried biting her lip.

"I'm sorry" She begged as he sat down on her bed.

"You've been told about your marks Gwen," He held her arm tightly as he moved her to the side.

She blinked the tears out of her eyes as he swung his hand back and hit her. She bit her lip trying to stop herself from screaming as he continued on with the punishment.

She stiffled every scream that was begging to come out. Every single one until he was finished, screaming at her to get back to her studies before slamming the door of her room and locking it as she laid on her bed, crying as pain seared in the back of her thighs and lower back. She hunched over, listening to her parents argue. Listening to her mother scream as he attacked her. She listening to her uncle and aunt trying to calm him down from hitting his wife.

"I hate it here" She whispered, hearing the sound a smack run throughout the house. She winced her eyes, heat flooding over her body.

"I hate it here" She winced her eyes, listening to another round of smacking and yelling ring out. Her hands felt like they were on fire as she felt adrenaline rush throughout her body.

"I HATE IT HERE!" Her eyes lit up in anger, glowing a violent white. She gritted her teeth, feeling her body turn to fire. She screamed, getting off the bed watching as her skin peeled from her hands, turning to a shade of purple.

"HELP ME!" She screamed, feeling the rest of her body begin to surge with energy. She didn't know what was happening; she couldn't stop. She couldn't feel anything other than the pain flooding through her whole body.

"HELP ME!" She screamed one last time, smashing her palms down onto the floor boards as she yelled her lungs out. Except, her voice sounded strange. Like she had two different voices. Pain flooded back through her body as she heard people run upstairs towards her. Her door banged open and there was her father, towering over her and telling her to calm down. He was screaming at her. He wasn't afraid of her at all. He was angry; he was furious. He hated her.

"SHUT IT OFF!" He screamed into ear. She tried to hold down the energy, feeling her rib cage trying to conceal the amount of power flooding through her veins. She screamed, teeth growling as her now claw like hands dug into the floor boards, scratching them. He had had enough though, grabbing her by the arm, ruining her concentration. She gave up trying to hold the power in. Caught up in too much emotion and rage, she screamed one last time feeling her rib cage explode. She didn't remember what happened. One second, caught up in a bright flash of light, the next second on the ground, covered in ash and laying in a pile of rubble. She could see a boy shaking her. She winced her eyes open seeing her cousin.

"Ben?" She whispered trying to pick herself up.

"Gwen?" He stared down at her. She caughed, picking herself up off the ground before noticing her purple hands. She was still...she didn't know what she was until she felt Ben grab her chin.

"It's okay, Gwen" He hugged her, holding her close as she quietly freaked out.

He shushed her, holding her so close. She could feel his warmth. His human, comforting warmth. She sunk into him holding him closer and hugging him back. She could feel the heat slide from her body before she laid her head in the crevace of her back. Ben stared down at her noticing that she no longer had any close on. He instantly removed his jacket wrapping it round her body before the Rustbucket showed up.

"Then what happened?" Kevin asked, watching intently as she wiped her eyes and sniffed. Gwen, wiped her nose with the back of her hand, thinking what occurred.

"I was taken away to the Plumber's; locked-up; Ben and I were told we no longer had parents to go home to then a week later, I went on trial"

Gwen rubbed her eyes leaning back in her chair.

"I was originally sentenced to the Mel-void for 20 years"

Kevin's eyes lit up.

"You were suppose to go to the Mel-void for 20 years" He was shocked at her words. Gwen nodded.

"Ben hadn't spoken to me since the accident" She leaned forward. "We were at the court trial and before the judge could bang his hammer, Ben stopped him. Ben had saved the universe twice by then" Gwen muttered staring at her hands.

"He asked the judge for a favour, said that I was part of his team, and he wouldn't be able to save the universe without me. Said that, he couldn't do anything without me"

"The alien judge, told my cousin that anything that I did in the future was his responsibility. He warned Ben, told him that un-matured Antodytes were just ticking 'time-bombs waiting to explode' and that 'he should keep me close'" Gwen closed her eyes.

"Ben took the judges warning, literally. He didn't talk to me for weeks and I wasn't allowed far from the RV either. Grandpa bought me some new clothes though, got a job and eventually Ben's fame rose and made a t-v show out of it. He made money out of it and my grandpa helped him. My brother was already 19 at the time, he had already moved to college before it had happened," She took a gulp of air wiping her eyes again.

"What about you?"

"I was still in shock. I didn't want to use my powers and was seeing a professional about it" She sat up still continuing to avoid eye contact. He rubbed her back.

"I made my cousin a school lunch everyday, did all his chores, cleaned his room. I did anything to get him to talk to me"

"When the judge noticed I was no longer helping Ben on the t-v shows, he threatened to throw me in the mel-void. So Ben was forced to work with me. I did everything he said just so I could at least try to make it up to him" She played with her thumbs.

"As time progressed, Ben got more and more used to having me around. I barely left the house we were in, scared that if I went outside I might not be able to control myself, then Ben realised he wanted a friend"

Kevin laughed, thinking about how many people would kill to be Ben's friend. But then those weren't real friends. They were just there because he was popular.

"Ben dragged me everywhere he wanted to go. We began talking again and I made every effort to make it up to him. I lived in a dysfunctional family but Ben had the sweetest parents. So much that I was actually jealous of him"

"It's been three years, and I'm still guilt ridden about the events" Gwen closed her eyes more tears escaping down her cheeks.

"Is that why you let Ben treat you like this? Because you feel guilty" Kevin placed a hand on her back wrapping her up. She finally looked him in the eyes, nodding.

"It's not Ben's fault, I have a better life with him and grandpa then with my parents. Ben, however" She looked down again.

"Him and grandpa make me meditate for a minimum of three hours per day. Sent me away for a month with grandma so she can help settle me down"

She sighed running a hand through her hair. "My Dad made me study everyday for at least 3 hours, if I didn't then I would be punished, that was on top of doing all my chores and everything else. I hated my Dad so much" She leaned forward, feeling the heat well up in her hands.

"I was just...so angry" Her hands shook with power.

"Babe," He held her close, placing a hand on her chin, trying to get her out of her trance.

"I should, get home" She tried to stand up but Kevin gently held her closer.

"I need to apologise to my cousin" She mumbled. Kevin took her cheek turning her so she would face him. He leaned in capturing her lips. She kissed back, listening to him moan. She sighed pulling back, closing her eyes.

"You want to go back home" He leaned his head on her. She nodded taking his hands.

"I'll give you a lift"

Gwen got home late, body armour still on, head low as he walked into her house. Her cousin was on the couch eating popcorn and watching a movie with Julie wrapped in her arms. They looked like they had recently had a fight. Probably about the kissing incident on camera.

"Gwen!" Julie was the first to notice the redhead enter the room. She removed herself from Ben's arms and ran up to Gwen hugging her tightly.

"I'm so sorry" She whispered into Gwen's. The redhead just forced a smile back telling the Asian-American that she was okay. She came over and sat on the couch watching the Summo Slammers show. Ben took a quick glance over to her and forced a smile.

"Sorry, I took advantage of you. I didn't mean to upset you; just...it's a bit of extra publicity, that's all"

"You should have told me that you were going to do that"

Ben shrugged. "They just told me to"

Gwen closed her eyes, leaning her head against the couch.

"You owe me a smoothie" She mumbled yawning as she closed her eyes drifting off to sleep.

Wanted to bring across the point that Gwen had a troubled childhood (like the witch of the West- Wicked) just saw the muscial like a month ago and was like (man he's so harsh on her). Anyway, Gwen had a troubled childhood and leaned on her cousin for emotional support. He was always there for her when she needed it the most so Gwen's always there for him when she is older.