Ben 10's not mine..i swear, I don't even own it, I'm just holding it for a friend.
Opposing Sides
Chapter 10
"Of course its me, how often do you see a crazy four armed monster running around the city saving people." Ben said as he put his hand on Gwen's shoulder. "Now Im only gonna ask one more time, What did you do to me?" he said the last in a pleading tone.
Gwen was surprised, not only had she not expected that the four armed alien was Ben. She had also missed the fact that the faint traces of magic she could pick up from him, were from her. She had sensed it in the hospital when he had awoken, but it was so small that she had completely put it at the back of her mind.
She was also surprised at how close he was. His face was barely a foot away. Her face grew warm as she looked into his eyes.
"Come on its driving me nuts." he exclaimed, which brought her back to her senses.
"what are you talking about. The only spell I've ever cast on you is that sleep spell." she said taking a step back to regain some composure. Her answer however seemed unsatisfactory to him.
"No you didn't, something is wrong with my brain. And you did it." Ben didn't sound accusatory, its more like he was stating a well known fact. "if you could just undo whatever is wrong... I don't even care what you have to do." he gave her puppy dog eyes.
The young girl had no clue what he was talking about. However she couldn't just leave him alone while he was in a state like this. She also couldn't not say something about his first comment.
"well of course something is wrong with your brain, your a boy and a dweeb. Its probably been like that since birth." she said trying to alleviate his concerns. However when she finished her sentence, his eyes became glassy and unfocused.
"Oh yeah, then why do I know 8 fun and flirty fashions for fall." Ben said sounding serious. "How do I know that your middle name is Lynn, how do I know that Shakespeare's plays are written in iambic pentameter, and how do I know that despite how mature you act your just a kid who misses her parents." he said looking at her with complete confusion. His face started to contort with concentration.
Gwen was horrified. She had thought the fashion bit was funny but the rest of it hit her to the core. How had he known all of that. She had never once told a soul besides those who already know that her parents were gone. There was also no way that anyone knew her middle name, not even Hex and Charmcaster knew that. Now he had her attention.
"i know its weird. But somehow I have a....clone, or a mirror of your brain, your thought patterns inside my head, and they keep getting stronger and stronger. I dont know how much more of this my mind can take." he said pain now evident on his face.
"I really don't remember doing anything that would cause this." she said with complete honesty, and growing concern. " I don't even remember if there was anything there that could have caused this." she said as she approached him.
He was leaning over now, racked with pain. " I have a recording of the time when you cast that spell on me, back in my grandpa's RV" he said gritting his teeth. " if you got a look at it do you think you might see something, I've tried looking at it while this is happening but the mirror thoughts don't seem to want to figure it out. Like its trying not to think about it." as he finished his sentence he suddenly went limp and fell to one knee.
While she had no clue, what he was talking about. She Couldn't very well leave him like this. She closed the distance between them and pulled him into a standing position, letting him lean on her for support.
"i don't think it could hurt to take a look." she said as she looked down at him. "but on the way there do you think you could explain this a little better to me." she said with a devilish grin. "it sounds like you got way to in touch with my feminine side."
"So how many alien...things can you turn into anyway." Gwen said as she took another bite of her meal.
After he had pointed them in the right direction, she had used some magic to morph into her street clothes, and then proceeded to helped him walk for a while... until he felt well enough to realize that he was leaning quite heavily on her. He suddenly pulled away stating that he was feeling much better, so he didn't need to be held up by a girl. Gwen doubted he felt that much better, he was still a little wobbly. So, trying to help while disguising that fact, when they passed a diner she suddenly declared herself hungry. After a brief tally of funds the two walked in and ordered some food.
"I don't know, around twenty two now." he stated like it was no big deal. He did, however look up to judge her reaction. Hoping to find her suitably impressed. "but some of them just aren't practical for everyday use, so its more like twenty" he stated flatly.
"so what are they like." she said leaning forward excitedly.
"well, a few of them are really awesome. You saw four arms, hes ridiculously strong. A few of my other favorites are Cannonbolt, he may not look all that cool but he can turn into this ball thing and pinball around destroying the bad guys." Ben said as he stuffed his burger into his mouth, and continued speaking. "oh, then theres upgrade, he can meld with any Technology and make it ten times better, and more effective. And Heatblast, he is this guy made out of fire and rock, its so cool he can shoot fire from his hands and even use it to fly. " the young boy was becoming more energetic with each explination. "Graymatter is also cool, he may be tiny and useless sometimes but he a thousand times smarter than ill ever be." he said knoking on his own head to imply emptiness. "My favorite is one that I cant actually use in everyday combat. Waybig is so big he makes Godzilla look like a children's toy." he said with pride.
"thats so cool." she said truthfully. " So when you turn into one of these aliens does your vision get any different, like seeing different spectrum's of light. Oh can you hear any better like at frequencies humans cant." she said becoming interested in her own way. "Or can you...." Gwen stopped in mid sentence realizing that she had leaned so far forward that she was over halfway over the table, she suddenly shot back into her seat.
"Yeah, actually, I think Stinkfly sees in infrared and Wildmutt can see through smell, since he has no eyes." Ben said meekly as he found new Interest in his meal. " and I think they can all hear better than humans... accept for Heatblast maybe, there are a lot of roaring fire noises that distort his hearing." he began to push one his last fry idly around his plate, when he decided to shift the conversation elswere. "so what about you, Ms. villain, whats it like to do magic." he said looking at her with one eyebrow raised.
"Jerk, don't call me a villain, if anything I'm an antihero. I did try and save everyone from the crazed cartoon dragon right." she said defensively. " And using magic if you must know is no walk in the park. It uses your own energies to manipulate the world around you, so every time you use it, you have to put part of yourself into the spell. Its a lot more trying than just turning into some giant alien and throwing your fist at him." she said haughtily.
"Geez. Defensive much." Ben said, raising his hands in a placating manner. " So your an antihero, ill still go toe to toe with you the next time you rob some museum." hoping to get some kind of info on what they were planning. His other mind always seemed to skirt the subject whenever he tried to get it to think about the stolen objects, like it was afraid of what would happen.
"Ha... well you wont get a chance Mr. Hero. I'm done with robberies." she said dismissively.
"So what are you doing here battling terribly drawn dragons." The young hero said, subtly prodding her.
"This place has a great aura to it... magic can flow from you more freely here. So Charmcaster brought me here to practice some of the more advanced spells she has taught me." Gwen lied suddenly. It was then that she realized how "coincidental" it was that he should be here of all places, Even if he was looking for her.
"A better question is...What are you doing here?" she said pointing at him suspiciously.
"Duh! I came to find you. Because I was thinking that this would be a place you would go...i mean you were thinking it... well the you thats in me... my other brain..." he said becoming both very confused and slightly concerned that she might find out that he knew they were here for a much more important purpose.
"In any case one of me thought it would be wise to look for you here, that and the whole fighting giant monster things is kinda in my job description." he said finishing his statement to the best of his abilities.
Gwen wasn't sure what to make of him, if he did indeed have a clone of sorts acting as a parallel brain then its entirely possible that he knew what they were up to. She also knew that she rarely thought of what they were doing herself, it made her feel a little guilty. She also was feeling a little guilty because of Ben. Something was clearly wrong with the boy, other than the fact that he was a little immature. She was about to say they should finish up and head out when she noticed him reach over and take her remaining fries.
"Hey... you little dweeb, give those back." she said as she extended her hand to him, making a grasping motion.
"But you were just staring off into space." Ben said as he began to move the fries closer to his mouth, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
"Don't you dare, if you eat those fries I swear I'll..." as she threatened him with her hand outstretched, he moved the fries an inch from his mouth. "BEN if you eat those fries I will unleash upon you a world of arcane tortures." she said taking a page from Hex.
Ben sat completely still for about half a second..... and promptly threw her remaining fries into his mouth.
Without missing a beat, Gwen jumped from her seat and got Ben in a headlock, and began to muss up his hair. For his part the young hero began to chew like the wind. Trying not to spit out his ill gotten gains.
"I told you not to eat them, I gave you fair warning" she said as she continued the torture. However after a couple of seconds she suddenly started to laugh, and loosened her grip on Ben.
Not sure how to react the green eyed boy backed away and could only stare for a moment, until he suddenly started to laugh as well. They both continued laughing until there were tears in there eyes.
As there laughter slowly died down Gwen turned to face her...acquaintance...no... friend. That sounded right to her.
"I haven't laughed like that in long time." The young girl said wiping the tears from her eyes.
"thats what I'm here for. Comic relief." Ben said, making a small bowing gesture.
They sat like that for a while content with the moment, until there waitress came over with the bill.
"Well aren't you two just the cutest couple." Said the kindly old woman, as both of the children began to vehemently deny such an accusation.