Author's Note: I own nothing.

34 A Workable Theory

Ethan hated waking up after everything went down, it honestly made him feel like he was impeding the mission. So when he woke up to the bad guy, an ex of Gwen's apparently, screaming and vowing revenge before taking off was not how he wanted this to go. He scrambled to his feet grabbing his gun but the metal masked man was already gone. Kevin dropped the pieces of the golden device he'd been using. He was back to his mutated form. Ethan blinked.

"What happened?" He rubbed the large goose egg on the back of his head. Kevin shook his head.

"I came to my senses." Gwen smacked him in the shoulder.

"You made a deal with Micheal Morningstar! That was really, really dumb!" As Gwen went off on a tirade about the levels of stupidity Kevin had sunk to, first with his run in with Charmcaster now actively making a deal with Darkstar, Ethan looked around.

"Wait."

"And you didn't even tell me! I could have told you that the Dominus Librium was a dangerous artifact that could have gotten you killed! But no! Don't go to your girlfriend, the magical expert when an enemy approaches you with a shady deal!"

"Guys!" Ethan had to shout to be heard over Gwen who glared at him.

"What!"

"Where's Jen!" Gwen stopped entirely and looked around as Kevin swore, dropping the pieces of the Dominus Librium he'd been holding. A flash of green saved them from panic. Even though it was mostly buried under a pile of prop boxes. They dug her out quickly.

"That fucking hurt." She groaned as Ethan pulled her out of the last bit of the pile of destroyed boxes. She blinked slightly at Kevin and frowned. "What happened?"

"I made a deal with Micheal Morningstar. He let me track him down, I wanted to beat the snot out of him for what he did to Gwen when we first met, for framing us and getting my badge taken away, for ditching us during the last fight with the DNAliens. He knew I'd come. Must have known I'd be stupid enough to come alone." Kevin looked back over at where the dropped pieces of the Dominus Librium now lay.

"He offered… well a solution. For his busted up face and my… problem. It's been nearly two months… I was desperate, he made sense." Kevin ran his hands over his face. "I wanted him to not be lying. I wanted there to be an easy solution that you just didn't know about. I wanted a cure." He looked away from the pieces of the device. "It was stupid." Jen nodded.

"Yeah it was. But I don't blame you." He looked up, shock on his face. "I've been stuck as something I'm not before too. It almost got me dissected by Forever Knights. And that was just the first time I got stuck. It's happened a few times."

"That's why she ended up not wanting Albeda to be stuck as her." Gwen said looking Kevin over.

"There's a better way to do this. We will find it or I will go sit in Azmuth's Lab and sing until he gives in and finds a way to fix you." Kevin laughed. "I'll bring my mom's guitar, she taught me how to play after I gave up the Omnitrix the first time! I could do it!" Kevin burst out laughing. Gwen shook her head.

"She's serious. Ken taught her how to sing." Gwen took Kevin's arm, Ethan helped Jen all the way to her feet and helped her out to the car.

"We're taking you back to the med bay, they need to look you both over." Kevin nodded.

"It's probably not a bad idea." He said as Jen nodded.

The doctors could find nothing wrong with them but decided to keep them both overnight. Jen grumbled but stayed up late watching those bad alien horror movies with Ethan. There was a pile of popcorn at the base of the tv at the next morning and the doctors giggled to themselves. They'd heard the two argue the ethics of the fake aliens and the scientists in the movies throughout the night and none of them had the heart to tell them to go to sleep.

In a similar case no one had been brave enough to enter Kevin's room that night after the angry figure of Gwen Tennyson entered. She did not leave either, none of the Plumbers wanted to mess with the Tennyson's, so they left Kevin to his fate.

They did do a lot of talking that night, Kevin apologized several times and Gwen did eventually forgive him. The spent the rest of the night in a similar state to Jen and Ethan, cuddled together, though they chose to watch the nature channel. Max looked in on both couples to make sure they were ok and found both pairs asleep. He smiled slightly at the sight of his granddaughters looking peaceful for once. They had been through too much for people their age and it was nice to see them happy.

The next day found Gwen in her room meditating. She was trying to get into contact with her grandmother through the Mana field, it took some time but eventually she made the connection.

"Gwen! It's so good to hear from you! I see your studies are going well." Gwen smiled.

"Pretty well, yeah. I have a question." Verdona grinned.

"I bet I have an answer." Gwen explained the events of the past day to her grandmother. Verdona raised an eyebrow.

"As much as I love a little bit of gossip here and there Gwen dear, but I'm not sure I see your question." Gwen nodded.

"When Kevin and Darkstar used the Dominus Librium it hurt Kevin. And Jen. I cross referenced the times. It matches perfectly. But I don't know why. Any ideas?" Verdona frowned.

"There are a few possibilities. This Darkstar, an energy vampire you said?" Gwen nodded. Verdona continued. "Has he ever gotten his hands on Jen alone?" Gwen had to think for a moment.

"It's possible. He had her, Kevin and a few others at one point." Verdona frowned.

"Is he at all skilled in the mystic arts?"

"Not that I know of. But he seems to be taking an interest if the book we recovered from his lair is any indication." Verdona frowned.

"If he was a skilled magic user I would say he could have created a loop between them, to feed off her energy at a low level to keep it unnoticed, but he'd have to be highly skilled." Gwen shook her head.

"Definitely not then." She tapped her chin. "What if… What if it's not Micheal? What if the connection is between Jen and Kevin?" Verdona raised an eyebrow.

"From what I learned while in her mind it's more likely. They've had an energy based connection since he first took power from the Omnitrix. The most recent accident may have opened an energy connection between the two. Or rather reopened one that likely already existed." Gwen frowned.

"What does that mean though?"

"Your cousin and your boy toy have a base connection. It may even connect their mana. But it's unlikely either of them is even aware of it. However there is a danger to a connection like that." Verdona tapped her chin. "As with the Dominus Librium any magical threats that affect one may affect the other. Severing a connection like that is tricky and takes time. I will have to get back to you on the details of that. I'll be as quick as I can dear. You should call me more often though. I'll talk to you soon!" She cut off the connection and Gwen blinked her eyes open and frowned.

"Well that wasn't as helpful as I was hoping."