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Feel The Magic

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The sunlight peeked in from the windows. It was becoming brighter by the second. Ben groaned uncomfortably before he hid his head under his pillow.

Beep Beep Beep

The alarm clock rang loudly, blasting into Ben's ears. His head throbbed. As if by reflex, in his half-awoken state, his fingers searched for the button on top of the alarm clock that would stop the awful ringing noise. When he finally found the damned thing he relaxed.

"Mmm…I feel sort of refreshed today. I wonder why?" Ben spoke to particularly no one.

Well I can't just lie here thinking about it; otherwise I'm going to be late for breakfast.

He thought it would be best to wash up and get ready. Gwen had egged Ben so many times fixing his bed was now automatic to him. When Ben looked down he noticed that Gwen's bed had already been made. The strangest thing was that Gwen wasn't in it.

"Gwen?"


"Oh, good morning, Ben." Grandpa Max, who was just finishing his breakfast, smiled.

"You woke up on time today? Is something wrong? Did you catch Gwen's fever?" Grandpa Max dropped his plate and rushed over to Ben feeling his forehead for any change in temperature.

"Very funny grandpa, I wake up early sometimes." Max only stared.

"Fine, it's a miracle. Anyway, where's Gwen? I thought she would be out here."

"No, she left for her breakfast. She said she'd find a diner down the street."

"Well that's weird." Ben scratched his head "She could have woken me up to go with her at least."

"I'm not so sure that's a hot idea."

"Why not?"

"She looked pretty peeved when she left." Grandpa Max rubbed his chin "Did you two have a fight again?"

"Mmm, I don't think we had a fight…"

"But she didn't even want to come to dinner last night, either. I'm pretty sure you did something."

"Hey!"

The only thing Ben could think of was that incident that happened the day before. Gwen couldn't still be mad about that. Ben managed to get off her bad side by saying she was only an acquaintance that he met a while back. Even though that happened, it's not like he could have helped it.

"Maybe it's because you kissed that strange girl."

He just had to say it.

"She kissed me!" Ben defended "Besides isn't not like I wanted it to happen! It just did!"

"I know, I know. Just go talk to her."

"Yeah, yeah."

Ben decided to try to talk to her. For some reason, he felt that no matter what he said to her she wouldn't let it go. It wasn't the first time it happened after all. It was like Cherry all over again. Ben had a strange feeling that this one was definitely not going to be the last.

Ben walked only for a bit until he saw the dinner.

Wow, this place is crowded. Ok, let's see, is Gwen even here? Ben looked around the cafeteria until his eyes locked on to a familiar head. There she is!

"Hey Gwen."

"Ben? What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Before Ben could sit Gwen used her hands and pointed towards the door.

"Don't you dare! Go back to the rust bucket."

"Too late. I'm already sitting down."

"Fine, I'll move, then."

"You won't find a seat anywhere. This place is packed."

"…Fine. I'll leave, then. I'm already done, anyway."

"What are you talking about? There are at least half of your pancakes left! Don't run away with lame excuses like that!"

"Uhh…" Gwen looked away trying to rack her brain for a reason to get away from him. She was angrier than Ben originally thought. Well, there was only one solution to this problem: spoil her.

"I'll treat my lovely girlfriend to any sweets she wants from the menu." Ben almost snickered when he saw Gwen's face light up like a Christmas tree. He had her in the palm of his hands "If I remember, you love chocolate pudding right?"

"Well I don't hate it…"

"Good. Then don't leave until you finish this. I want to talk to you, okay?"

"…what do you want to talk about?"

Bribe successful.

"Listen, I want to say I'm sorry about yesterday. I know I kissed her but it wasn't my fault. She ran into me. There was nothing I could do." Gwen looked at her food only for a moment before she answered.

"…it's okay."

"Really? Thank god." Ben relaxed. Ben really hated it when Gwen was mad at him. It was a hindrance on his emotional well-being as well as a danger to his health.

"Come on, want to share my pancakes?" Gwen smiled.

Ben moved over to her side of the table and she cuddle up to him. He wrapped his right arm around her waist and picked up the extra fork with the left. Ben had to admit that moments like this were the best. Gwen was the cutest girl he knew…as long as she wasn't angry.

"Ben you're getting syrup over your face. Take your time to eat." Gwen took a napkin and began to wipe off his face.

"Hey I'm not a kid. I can do it myself."

"No you can't. You'll probably leave it there until you decide to lick it off or until I point out it's there." She was right.

"True."

"You're doing it again." She sighed.

"A boy my age can't be bothered with tiny stuff like that." Ben continued to chow down. Not before she held his head and wiped him down again.

"This is starting to get embarrassing…quit it." Ben began to blush. People were starting to stare.

"What?" Gwen noticed Ben's reddened face "Hey Ben, do you rather me lick it off?" After hearing that Ben almost choked on his pancakes. He had to drink out of Gwen's orange juice just to keep it down."

"Stop messing around." Ben coughed.

"Who said I was joking?" Ben could see the sly cat-like smile she had on her face. He was totally going to get her back for this.

Jingle Jingle Jingle.

Bells rang in Ben's ear. They were familiar bells that brought fear, anxiety and an uneasiness in his stomach. He decided to repress the sound to the back of his mind but he couldn't help but worry. It wasn't long until Gwen noticed his troubled expression.

"Ben? What's wrong? You look a little green."

"It's…nothing." Ben smiled, or at least he tried.

As luck would have it, a checkered shirt appeared in Ben's line of sight, followed by a high pitch scream, and an unusual softness that wrapped itself around his head. It was the same girl from before.

"BEEENNNNN!" The girl screamed hugging Ben's head with all her strength.

"Get off me Ayame! I can't breathe!"

It's that girl! What is she doing here!

"You two know each other…?" Gwen couldn't help but hide the disgust and anger in her voice. Women were beginning to flock around Ben. As if Cherry wasn't bad enough. She was weird and strange in her own way but this one was by far the weirdest thing she had ever seen!

"Unfortunately." Ben growled as he tried to pry Ayame's arms from his head, with little success.

"What do you mean just know each other? I thought we were much closer than that!"

"Is that so?" Gwen asked with her head resting down on the palm of her hand. Ben could see how visibly angry Gwen was becoming; the pancakes on her plate were beginning to float.

"No we aren't! Get off me!"

"Quiet you!" Ayame tightened her grip on Ben's head "Yeah, Ben and I close. He is my slave after all."

"Slave…?"

Oh crud. Ben finally managed to get free of Ayame's grip but the damage had been done. Gwen gritted her teeth so hard he could even hear her teeth grind together.

"Gwen don't listen to her! She's insane!"

"How rude! How can you say that after the night we shared?"

"Night you shared…?" Gwen blinked in surprised.

"Yes, female person. We even shared a meal under the stars. It was so romantic." She clasped her hands together and batted her eyelashes.

"Stop exaggerating!"

Gwen opened her mouth to argue but she sighed softly and made her way to the door. "I'm leaving."

Before Gwen could get more than 2 feet away from the table, three large men in black suits entered the building. Gwen stopped and noticed that the men were clearly looking for something.

"Hide me!" The girl screamed.

"Huh?" The couple replied in stupor.

"You heard me! Hide me!"

Whatever she was doing here, she needed help. Gwen returned to her seat with a huff. Ben and Gwen were almost reluctant to hide her under the table. They looked at each other and somehow shared similar wave links; Curse our good nature. Eventually the men left and the girl popped up on the opposite end of the table.

"Phew. Thanks a lot. I thought I'd never get away from those idiots."

"Why were they even chasing you?" Gwen asked.

"Oh, they're just some guards that were sent after me. I got bored of 'em of running from them and decided to ditch them."

"It's just like you to find troubled people and bring them to us, Ben." Gwen glared at her boyfriend.

"Shut up! It's not like I wanted to! It just happened!"

"Hey! Who are you calling troubled you…you ignoramus of a human female!"

"I'm calling you that you freak!" Gwen retorted.

"You Feist!"

"You ninnyhammer!"

"Hircismus!"

Gwen's jaw dropped. She had never been so offended in her life! "At least I'm not some freakish loony floozy who flirts with other people's boyfriends!"

"Um, excuse me?" The waitress of the diner meekly butted in.

"What?" Only to have both Ayame and Gwen shout at her.

"Could you please leave…?"


"Way to go. Because of you we got kicked out." Gwen grunted, crossing her arms. She still hadn't finished her breakfast. More importantly, she ruined her alone time with Ben. And things were getting good too...

"It has been bugging me for the longest while but who is this female human?" Ayame asked with childish curiosity. Almost immediately after she said that, she walked up to Gwen, poking her in the ribs and face. Gwen quickly slapped her hand away, causing Ayame to hiss viciously.

"She's my girlfriend."

"Ben! How could you?" Ayame cried as she began to tear up "I thought we had something special!"

"What are you talking about? We don't have anything! I just fed you for one night and you think I'm your lover or something!"

"You are."

"What?" Both Gwen and Ben replied.

"Where I come from, if you offer a meal to a princess and she accepts she is officially the lover of the offerer."

"You're just making this up on the spot!"

"Oh, was I caught already?" Ayame snickered.

Gwen began a rant of muttering foul language under her breath (that I won't write).

"I sense an enemy. It must be you!" Ayame pointed accusingly at Gwen.

"An enemy? What the heck are you on about now?"

"Don't bother trying to understand her." Ben sighed "I gave up a long time ago."

"Who are you anyway?"

"I am the great joker fairy princess, Ayame; the seeker of truth and the hero of justice!" He puffed out her chest.

"Princess? That's new." Ben commented.

"I did say I was princess only a few moments ago. Is your brain failing you at such a young age Ben?" Ayame walked over to him and began patting his head.

"Hey, hands off floozy!"

"Ben is my property. I can do anything I want to him!"

"No he isn't! He is mine!"

"When was I ever anyone's property?" Ben shouted. "Ayame what do you want? You've been bugging me for a while now but you haven't told me what you wanted."

"Oh, down to business eh? Fine." Ayame took off her tiny bag pack and pulled out a picture from within. "I'm looking for this. It's very important to me and I need help finding it."

Ben cautiously walked up to Ayame to procure the photograph. From what Ben could tell, it was a bright blue orb with plasma circulating within its inner core. "What is this thing?"

"It's like a family heirloom. I had it when I got here but those humans in black took it from me! The nerve! I should use my electro shocker on them for their treachery!" Ayame waved her arms up and down like a toddler.

"What would they even want with this thing?" Gwen asked as she reluctantly picked up the picture. When she looked closer at the picture she couldn't believe her own eyes for a second. "This is the Ley Sphere…"

"Yes! That's its name!" Ayame jumped up and down. "Wait! How did a lowly human like you know what it was?"

"I do a lot of reading on ancient artifacts and this happens to be one of them. Thousands of years ago, there was a tribe of demons who wanted eternal power and control so after years of struggle they created the Ley Sphere. But the God's simply wouldn't allow a weapon of mass destruction be unleashed on mankind. And so they trapped the Ray Sphere in another dimension."

"It was decided that the royal family of Altair to watch over the ray sphere to make sure that it didn't fall into the wrong hands ever again." Ben just whistled after the story ended. He wasn't sure he could believe all that but for once one of Gwen's stories didn't put him to sleep.

"I don't know about all that complicated stuff you just said but my mom gave it to me just last week. Ever since, I've been using it as my own personal toy."

"Toy…?" Gwen remarked.

"Yeah! It may not look like it but that thing bounces really high if you try hard enough." Ayame grinned.

"If this thing was real I'd smack you upside the head…"

"So will you help me, Ben?" Ayame asked rubbing her head against Ben's chest.

"Wait, huh?"

"I said hands off you freak!"

"Ben…" Ayame pleaded, showing off her puppy dog eyes. Ben had to admit. She was better at this than Gwen was.

"Fine! I'll help, just get off me!"

"Yay! Yay! Yay!" Ayame broke down into one of her stupid little dances.

"Ben! Don't go helping anyone you find off the street! Especially when they are freaks like her!" Gwen grabbed Ben's collar from the back. "This is an ancient artifact she's talking about! How could a little girl like her have that unless she's lying about the whole thing?"

"I'm a hero. I'm supposed to help people I find off the streets."

"You-I-She-Bah!" Gwen gave up. "Fine. If you want to go flirt with a wack-job nutcase like her be my guess."

"Gwen-"

Before Ben could finish his sentence, he looked around and noticed all of the men in black suits seemed to be gathering on the street. They appeared in the front doors of all the buildings along the city block and began pouring in through the living room into the streets. There were so many it was hard for him to keep track.

"What the heck? How could there be so many of them?"

"There's just no end to them." Gwen muttered. She had nothing to do with this but even she wondered how the men were practically appearing out of the buildings. She could have sworn that ten of them came out of one car. That isn't normally possibly unless they were teleporting onto the spot.

"Aw, they found me." Ayame frowned. She rubbed her chin for a moment before a brilliant idea dawned onto her. She grabbed Gwen and pulled her towards Ben, putting all three of them into an awkward three person hug. "Hold on tight!"

"Wait what are you-!"

And with that the three were gone in a burst of transcendent light.

Back at the Rust bucket.

"Where are they? I hope that they haven't gotten themselves into trouble again." Max scratched his head. Knowing Ben he must have been fighting off a horde of aliens or something. Max sighed. "Well I better go find them."


Feist : Definition: 1) A small dog of uncertain ancestry, a mongrel. 2) A person of little worth or someone with a bad temper, and 3) Silent fart.

Ninnyhammer: Definition: A fool or silly person.

Hircismus: Definition: Offensive armpit odor.