Finally! A new chapter! Some humour has been added here to help lighten the morbid mood the last few chapters had.


Chapter 11: Personal Growth

It was surprising at how quickly Ben was learning his new powers. He was levitating five feet off the ground, able to move heavy furniture with telekinesis, go intangible for self-defence, and manipulate solid matter to construct shields.

Today's lesson?

Two female forms were levitated in meditation. A young blond male approached the silver-haired figure, ignoring the redhead, giving a soft brush of lips on a silky cheek. What the young male was not expecting was a telekinetic push across the room. "Charmcaster, what the hell?"

Charmcaster entered the room, several gargantuan spell books floating behind her, and looked at her boyfriend's fallen form on the floor, then turned to face her body double. She began to laugh as she helped Cooper to his feet. "Nice, Ben! You fooled Cooper into thinking you were me."

"Ben?" Cooper turned to where he thought his girlfriend stood, just to see the form shimmer and reveal itself to be Ben. Gwen fell from her meditative position to the floor, laughing at her blond friend's confusion and her cousin's embarrassment.

"Food's here." Kevin announced as he entered the training room. He saw the looks on everyone's face and asked, "What happened here?"

Gwen stuttered as she laughed. "Ben was practicing shape-shifting while meditating and Cooper thought he was Charmcaster, kissed him on the cheek, just to have Ben knock him away with a telekinetic shove!" Charmcaster began to laugh again, causing the infectious laughing from the girls to force Kevin into joining them. Cooper only scowled over his embarrassment while Ben turned several shades of red.


"I'm telling you that he needs to build on his defensive tactics more!"

"Oh, please! With that stalker after him, he needs to focus his training on offensive attacks!"

Charmcaster and Gwen continued to argue about the direction of Ben's training. Charmcaster thought that Ben should learn more defensive spells, while Gwen wanted to teach him more offensive skills. Kevin and Cooper? They were busy watching the 'cat fight' with much amusement.

"Considering how much your defensive skills suck, you should be more willing to help Ben in progressing his own!"

"What did you say? I'm much more proficient in my abilities than you are with yours!"

"Bitch!" Charmcaster yelled furiously. "Tempestus!" Charmcaster conjured a small tidal wave in the training room, knocking Gwen across the room.

"Slut!" Gwen screamed back. "Turbo!" She conjured a strong tornado that caught Charmcaster and spun her around in circles.

"That's enough!" Ben was fed up with his cousin and friend arguing like he was not in the room. "Eradiko!" The redhead and the silver-haired spell casters were wrapped and trapped in a sphere of mana, effectively stopping their fight. "As far as I'm concerned, I need to learn both – offensive and defensive skills in spells and mana. We're a team, so get your act together and apologise to each other." The girls only glared at each other. Ben's eyes glowed pink and he shouted "NOW!" The girls only mumbled their apologies, while Kevin and Cooper straightened up from their laughter during the fight. For an amateur Anodyte, Ben was getting scary.


"Alright, Benji," Kevin said to the young brunet. "Now that you've managed to escape the bitchin' clucking hens…you need to build up on your hand-to-hand combat skills."

"Actually, I've learned quite a bit from Gwen already." Ben replied, looking at the taller male curiously. "Plus Charmcaster has been teaching me some moves from her realm. It's kinda like chin-na, but fancier."

"Seriously?" Kevin rose an eyebrow. "You've been learning fancy moves that would only make that fucktard want to get his hands on you more?" Ben only made a slight sound, realising that Kevin was right. "You should be learning how to fight dirty!" he grabbed Ben by his hand and dragged him towards the training room.

Ben began to feel hesitant. "Is this such a good idea? I don't want Gwen and Charmcaster mad…"

"Mad for what?" Kevin questioned. "For learning some cheap shots in defending yourself?"

"Mad at you for disregarding their training." Ben replied, holding back a chuckle as Kevin's eyes widened, as realisation dawned on him that the girls might gang up on him and cast a spell in retaliation. "They can be vengeful when need be." He heard Kevin mutter a string of curse words. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll take the blame if they ask…"

Kevin only gave him a small smile and moved into a fighting stance. Ben followed suit. As they began to block each other's strikes, several kicks and punches being delivered but constantly blocked, Kevin eventually got the upper hand by holding Ben in a grip; the smaller teen's back pressed against his chest. "You really need to work on your 'fighting dirty' skills, Tennyson."

"You mean, like this?" Ben mocked, as he lifted his leg high enough to kick Kevin between his eyes until he released his grip. Ben heard a painful moan from Kevin and turned to check on his friend. "Shit! Kevin, I'm so sorry!"

Kevin held the bridge of his nose. "Nah…I had that comin'. But damn you can kick!" He tried to laugh off the pain but it only hurt more. He looked at Ben, who had a depressed look on his face. "Hey! Don't look like that…it was an accident."

"I know." Ben turned his face away. "But…it seems you always get hurt every time you're near me."

Kevin couldn't believe that Ben still harboured guilt about his mutations. 'Will he ever forgive himself about that?' The raven-haired teen held the brunet's chin to turn his head towards him. "Ben…" Brown eyes met green eyes. "You need to stop feelin' guilty about that." Ben was ready to interject but Kevin gave him a hard stare to shut him up. "Those were accidents. We both know that."

"The last two accidents wouldn't have happened if it weren't for you trying to protect me."

"Yeah," Kevin said, still keeping his hold on Ben. "The accidents happened while trying to protect you. But you know what? I'd do it again in a heart beat if it meant keeping you safe."

Ben was shocked to hear Kevin's confession. 'After causing him to mutate three times and the horrible things I said to him before my relationship with Jason went downhill…he still wants to be around me?' He wrapped his arms around the muscular older teen. "Thank you, Kevin." Ben whispered. Kevin was mildly shocked by the small gesture of affection from Ben; after the shock died down, he wrapped his arms around the lithe figure.

They stayed still, arms wrapped around each other, the quietness of room as their only company. As they finally pulled apart, brown and green eyes met again; their eyes closed as lips began to gravitate together. The lips almost touched, when a slight sound was heard by the doorway of the room. Ben became flustered and pulled back, turning to face his cousin. Gwen had an expression that somehow crossed between amused and stunned.

Gwen cleared her throat, looking directly at Ben. "Charmcaster is waiting for you in the backyard to go over offensive attacks and spells." Ben nodded at her and ran out of the room to head outside.

Gwen turned her attention towards Kevin; part of her wanted to chastise him for making a move on a very vulnerable Ben, yet at the same time another part of her wanted to cheer him on for being the support that Ben needed right now. Kevin glared back; his expression was clear – 'Damn, bitch! Why'd you have to interrupt me and Ben?'


Author's Notes: Damn Gwen for ruining a fluffy moment between Kevin and Ben…

Well, my computer's in the shop – again (I should save some cash to invest in a MAC) – and the stupid local library has a block on this website for containing "mature content". Anyway, this chapter is up, so all's right in the world – for now! I'm trying to get some notes ready for chapter 12 I'm not 100% sure of where it will lead to, but I will try to make it satisfactory for everyone.

Until next time, dear readers! Remember to review to feed my muses ^.^ and wish me luck with my problematic beast of a computer to work so that these chapters keep coming to ya! ;)