Sorry about the shortness! Next update will be extra long to make up for it. Expect more chapters sometime later next week!

Guest: Aw, thanks! Glad to be back :D

He held in his breath, waiting. He found himself waiting for seconds, and he knew they were seconds, but they felt like years. It took a while, but he finally opened his eyes from where they had been tightly closed, only to see black.

It took him a second longer to realize that was because his face was pressed against something, something soft, something that strong hands were holding him against. Ben move his face away from Kevin's chest, and then he looked, looked at the person that should have killed him.

The Anodite was there, sure enough, the woman that Ben could safely assume was Verdona by now. She looked at them with wide blue eyes, but from behind a field of magenta, and one she wasn't casting. Ben was just as shocked as she was, still dazed from the blast earlier, but Kevin only grinned at something behind the old woman, and Ben's eyes followed his gaze.

Gwen was standing behind her, her hands held up and glowing with power, casting the shield up over the two boys. She had a frown on her face, delicate eyebrows furrowed. "Can't I leave you two alone for ten minutes?" Slowly, Verdona turned to meet that voice, and the shield around Ben and Kevin disappeared as Gwen launched a disk of mana at the woman's face.

She blocked it easily, holding up a hand and casting her own shield to break the disk, but she seemed oddly impressed, even at just the small show of power. "Do that again." Her voice was full of wonder, while Gwen just narrowed her eyes.

"No problem." She held up her own hand and swiped the air in front of her, and out of her palm came a flurry of pink lights, bursting from her fingers. The woman's eyes grew wider, but she blocked the attack just the same, while Kevin started to help Ben to his feet while Verdona was distracted, the shorter teenager too dazed and weak to get up on his own. He leaned against Kevin for support as Kevin helped him out of the lake, and Gwen walked over to them both to meet them.

Verdona, surprisingly, backed up, giving them space. "That's magnificent." Her voice was full of awe.

Gwen only frowned, and then she frowned harder, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "Who do you think you are, littering my grandpa's cove with your flowers?" Ben said nothing, closing his eyes for a moment. He felt badly tired, as if the world was crashing all around him, but he was keeping himself up nonetheless. He hadn't felt things like exhaustion and sleepiness in a long time, and he wished he wasn't feeling them right now, but he paid attention to the problem at hand rather than his own struggles.

He shared a look with Kevin, though, as Ben straightened up, supporting himself. He could tell that him and the Osmosian were on the same page. "The flowers that she makes out of magic..." He murmured the words, using that term to humor her, even though both of them knew that wasn't the case. Gwen seemed confused, and then shocked, looking at the woman as she came closer, and Gwen let her.

"Did you say your grandfather was Max Tennyson?" Gwen blinked at that, taken aback by the question, and she nodded. The woman gasped, before coming forward, and she suddenly hugged Gwen, holding her close with a wide and happy grin overcoming her features.

"Kiddo!" Ben just tilted his head at that in utter confusion, and then his eyes widened, seeming to understand, while Kevin just stood there, grumpy-looking as ever, not having a single clue about what this woman meant. Gwen was the most surprised out of them all, not knowing what to do about this alien woman suddenly hugging her out of nowhere.

Ben was the one who spoke up, finally, having recovered enough for his voice to have come back to him. "Max was my grandpa, too," he offered, though it was mostly to get Verdona's attention off of Gwen, who looked significantly uncomfortable by the moment.

Verdona "oohed" at that, letting go of Ben as she turned to face the redhead's cousin. "Can you project energy, too? Like your cousin?" She seemed excited, while a nervous look flitted across his features. Ben knew he was about to disappoint this woman.

"Sister," he corrected. She seemed expectant still. "And... no." Immediately, the interest vanished from her eyes, as if Ben was about as important as garbage to her now. He had to admit, it stung a little, but Ben supposed he could live without this psycho lady's affection after she had just been seconds away from killing him.

Verdona turned back to Gwen, as if she were the only person in the world besides the woman herself, and to Verdona, Ben was sure that Gwen may as well be. "I'm Verdona," she said softly, but Ben had already guessed that. Gwen seemed to not have figured it out, at least, and Kevin just glanced away and looked over at Ben as if to check if he was alright. Ben ignored the gaze even though he felt it, just keeping his eyes trained on the woman, stiffening in surprise as her eyes were taken over by beautiful magenta light. "We'll meet again soon." They all watched as the woman exploded into bright pink light, and when the brightness went down, she was gone, leaving them there in the dark.

"Dad, we need to talk."

Her voice rang out against the calm quiet settled deep into the house. Gwen stood tall in the semi darkness, her heels ringing against the wooden ground at each step, and she flipped on the light to her room, making her green eyes brightened as the shine reflected in them.

She looked behind herself at the man. He dressed nicely, a pair of glasses balanced on his nose, brown eyes widening in slight surprise. "In your room?" Those same eyes gleamed with curiosity on his kind face. "I haven't been allowed up here in ages." She rolled her eyes at the joke and waited for him to step inside, closing the door behind them and leaning against it as she let out a long sigh.

Her room was simple and plain, but there was a large, open window that was letting in a gentle and warm breeze, yet it made her shiver. Gwen was nervous about something, and it was obvious, the anxiousness creeping into her voice as she spoke up once more. "I have a secret I've been keeping from you."

The smile faltered on his features. His eyebrows rose. Gwen didn't say a thing, walking over to her desk, and she slid the drawer open. Inside, there were many upon many tomes- faux spellbooks, to be exact- along with a number of model staves and almost tacky magic wands, and the collection altogether looked very slightly ridiculous, but the anxiety in her tone hardened, and it was very clear she wanted to be taken seriously at this moment. "Magical powers."

The smile came back to her lips, now slightly confused. "What, like, you're a wizard in training?" He chuckled at that, sitting back down on the bed, seeming a little amused now. She walked over, taking a seat next to him, sweeping her long hair over her shoulder as she let out a sigh.

"And... there's something else." She murmured that, and he raised an eyebrow quizzically at her. With a raise of her hand, a long tendril of mana came out, and without much warning, it snaked around them both and shut the drawer for her that she had left open at her desk. Her father's jaw dropped, and he was silent, watching as the mana faded and made the light in the room look less bright in its absence.

Finally, he spoke. "Well, that's quite the secret," he finally decided on, but relatively, he seemed to be taking it pretty well. She didn't know what to say, so she took her time until finally managing something.

"I met Grandma Verdona today." She didn't know if that would mean anything to him, but she had deducted that after Verdona's entire visit. It took a while, but he finally nodded, running a hand through his unkempt hair.

"I had wondered when this day would come." She seemed surprised, then , her eyes widening as her face contorted in shock.

"You mean- you know? You knew about my magic?" He let out a soft sigh, glancing over to her nightstand. On it were pictures of her and her parents, and even a smaller one of her and Ben when they were eleven, making goofy faces at the camera. The pictures never failed to make her smile.

"We didn't think it would come up," he finally said. "You showed no signs of it like the other girls in the family did." Again, it was obvious the words surprised her.

"Magic runs in the family?" At that, a shake of his head.

"It's not magic," he told her. The question was on the tip of her tongue, but he answered before it could be asked. "Your grandmother's an alien, Gwen."

At that, she was speechless. That was the one thing to make her mouth shut, and she sat there, slightly dumbfounded. After a minute to let it sink in, he opened his mouth as if to continue, but she held up a hand before he could.

"Before you keep going," she said, and then she stood, Gwen heading right to her window. They froze, just as she stuck her head out, aiming an unamused stare down at them both. "Will you two stop hiding and get in here?"

Kevin and Ben shot wide-eyed looks at each other from where they had been hiding under Gwen's window, but they both gave her sheepish smiles, making her huff and walk away. Kevin pulled himself up, and then helped Ben up after, both of the teens standing in the room rather awkwardly, almost like little kids caught red-handed stealing cookies from the cookie jar.

Finally, Ben spoke. "Hey, Uncle Frank." He said nothing, looking faintly amused, and then he glanced over at Kevin, who seemed nervous at the look, speaking up with a slight stammer.

"U-uh, hello, Mister Tennyson," he said, and Ben held in a slight snicker at how awkward the teen appeared to be. "K-kevin Levin? It's- pleasure... meet you..." Ben's eyebrows rose as the faintest shade of red tinted the taller's cheeks, blushing out of embarrassment. Kevin seemed rather flustered, and Ben had to admit he had rarely seen the Osmosian act like that before.

Frank was quiet for a long, long time, before he finally chuckled. "Who's this?" He aimed the question at Gwen, who seemed surprised to get it. "Your boyfriend?" Gwen was shocked, her own cheeks turning pink, and Kevin stammered nervously but loudly over Gwen's calm dismissal, filling up the room with noise.

Ben just frowned.

"Here's how it is!" Gwen finally raised her voice, while Kevin's shrank, and he fell silent, letting Gwen steer the subject away to more important matters. "My grandma, who I never knew, wants something from me, but I don't know what." Her frown deepened, and Ben's did, too, but not at what she was saying, looking at Kevin from the corner of his eyes. Why was Kevin's face still red...?

Why did he care?

"Well, let's ask her," Frank said, a smile on his lips, and Gwen seemed surprised. He only laughed again, sending her a wink. "Your friends aren't the only ones who go around eavesdropping." Kevin laughed nervously in an almost dorky way, while Ben smiled, but it was a tight expression on his lips, and he didn't say anything after that. Frank, however, grew a slightly larger smile on his lips as he called out after that. "Isn't that right... mom?"

All of the teenagers were a bit too shocked to do much as the room filled with pink light once more. Ben's hand hovered over to his watch, but it was still shut off, and he couldn't do much to help as Verdona appeared, smiling a wicked grin over at the four. "You could always tell when I was hiding, son," she said affectionately with a small little cackle, and he let out an unamused breath, shrugging as Gwen just stared stil. This was a whole different side to her dad that she had never seen before. "I had always hoped it meant you carried the same powers as I. Sadly, no such luck!" She seemed faintly disappointed, but just as excited as ever, and Ben had to conclude that this was the most energetic old woman he had ever met in his life. Before he could do a single thing, however, Verdona raised her hand, and then they were gone, Ben's vision fading into pink as the ground disappeared under his shoes.