SOS Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Not mine. I merely follow my muse.

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated Loving You Behind Closed Doors yet. I am working on a chapter, but I'm at a difficult spot, and this story kind of hit me over the head suddenly with ideas, so it's coming first. Anyway, here is a not very Christmassy chapter for Christmas. Enjoy my surprise which is probably not very surprising! ;)

Note:In this story, I have written Vilgax as normally using his tentacles to show expression. The way I will be handling this is that when the story is from Vilgax's point of view, or the point of view of someone who knows his expressions, I will generally simply write out the equivalent expression, ex. 'Vilgax smirked', or possibly 'Vilgax's tentacles moved in a smirk.' However, when the story is from someone's point of view who doesn't know what the changing tentacles mean, such as Gwen, I will describe what the tentacles are doing without explaining what they mean, ex. 'Vilgax's tentacles shifted.' Hopefully this won't be too confusing for anyone. I think it works, but then I know what Vilgax is expressing. ;) If anyone gets confused, feel free to send me a PM and I'll clarify any confusion you have. (You can also do that for other aspects of the story. I know it's a weird one.)

And now…the next chapter of Shades of Self.

"Put not your trust in those of your blood, for blood merely keeps the body alive. Nor can you trust those who were once your friends, for friendship is fleeting once you have parted. Trust only he whose growth you saw and whose depth you know. Trust he who is always with you."

- Sayings of Ba'an Qo (Bistrin wise woman)

Present Day.

She had never even seen him.

That was Gwen's first thought upon waking. She had spent years training for this mission, even before she had known what exactly it would be, they both had; Grandpa had been even more driven than she was. And now that it came down to it, neither of them had even put up a fight.

Her next thought: why wasn't she dead?

Gwen had begun to notice a painful feeling in her arms as though they were stretched too far. She opened her eyes and realized that she was chained to the wall. Her arms were indeed pulled away from her above her head and attached by metal cuffs which covered her wrists and went halfway up her arms. They exuded a soft, blue light, as she could see when she craned her neck upwards. The same thing had been done to her legs, and there was even a thick, metal band around her abdomen. Glancing to her right, she saw that Grandpa was hanging next to her, similarly bound and apparently still unconscious.

They were in a large room of unadorned gray metal. It seemed too large for a cell, but too bare for anything else. Gwen particularly didn't like the restraints. She felt too helpless bound like this. The position also made spell working difficult, as she couldn't move her arms very much. At least her fingers were free. If she could just get down from here, she could free Grandpa and get them out of here before anyone came for them.

She could only assume that the reason that the two of them hadn't been killed yet was because they were going to be questioned. Likely they would be held here until Vilgax returned, so they had a little time, but she didn't like to count on that. It would be best to get out of here now.

Inhaling, Gwen focused her thoughts and searched her mind for the spell of unbinding. She had particularly looked it up, as she did before all of her missions, but she had long ago committed all of the spells in her book to memory. Mentally selecting the correct spell, Gwen scrabbled on the wall behind her with her feet, her right foot finally finding purchase on a seam in the metal. This in turn allowed her to pull herself up slightly; giving her arms some needed slack. It was still awkward, but she could do it.

Bracing herself, she muttered the words, shifting her arms and fingers into the mystic signs. She felt the familiar build of the power inside her, but suddenly the spell was interrupted. Gwen's restraints flashed brilliant blue and she screamed as her power burned her from the inside. Every part of her seemed to melt before its searing heat, and then it was gone, and she slumped back against the wall.

Her hair was hanging in her face like a orange mist before her eyes, but Gwen couldn't summon the strength to lift her head. Her body flinched and shivered involuntarily at the memory of that pain.

When she could think again, Gwen realized that this was a nasty development. No magic. Vilgax had clearly accounted for her powers. Except Vilgax wasn't here, and there was no way he could have known that they were coming. Maybe this was just some standard feature he had included in his restraints. She probably should have tried another spell just to be certain, but the pain had been so strong Gwen was afraid to try it. Next time she might lose consciousness or worse.

In any case, there wasn't time to try another spell. One wall of their cell abruptly slid back with a soft 'click' and Vilgax strode confidently through.

They were now officially in trouble.

Gwen couldn't believe it for a moment. Either their contact had decided to double cross them, or he was being deceived himself, because the leader of the Trestriel forces was here, and he wasn't supposed to be. She had no idea what they were going to do now. Distractedly, she realized the reason this room was so large. She always managed to forget how large Vilgax was until he appeared again.

Vilgax had not entered alone, but she was so focused on him that it took Gwen a moment to notice his companion. Riding on Vilgax's shoulder was an alien which resembled nothing so much as a blue, four armed monkey. It was quite a large monkey, but looked small next Vilgax, like everything else did.

Vilgax's gaze strayed over Gwen and Grandpa idly, as though they were of no consequence, but the other alien kept its large dark eyes fixed on them.

Gwen glared at Vilgax as the alien came to a halt in front of them. She was afraid, but she was also quivering with hatred towards this being who had caused her so much pain. Apparently unimpressed, her enemy turned away slightly, as though disregarding them and everything they stood for. The long tentacles on his head rippled slowly, the ends twitching and crawling like blind worms.

As Gwen watched, Vilgax reached up and gently touched the other alien's head with one massive finger. In response, the monkey-creature leaped gracefully down from Vilgax's shoulder to land on the floor by his feet. Even as it landed, its body began to change, the blue fur disappearing into the skin, the extraneous pair of arms and tail shrinking into the body and the spine and legs straitening as the face adjusted itself.

There was no sudden flash of green light, and Gwen at only a moment to realize that this must be the omnitrix wielder before the transformation was complete, and then all such musings fled from her mind.

For four years Gwen had been training.

She had been too late to see Ben leave for the last time, and from the moment that she had arrived at the remains of his house, dirty and out of breath, only to see Vilgax's ship, along with her cousin, disappearing into the atmosphere, there had been nothing else she could do.

At first, quite naturally, she had expected Ben to come back. It wouldn't have been the first time he had been captured by Vilgax and managed to free himself. And back in those days he always seemed so indestructible.

Days passed, and then weeks, and then one day Vilgax's first attack came, on a remote planet at the edge of the civilized galaxy. And it was then Gwen knew that Ben was dead.

Reports from several planetary citizens who had managed to escape described Vilgax fighting with a creature that shifted through the forms of many aliens, some of which had never been seen before. Grandpa and Gwen had realized then that Vilgax must have given the omnitrix to one of his operatives. They didn't know why Vilgax had not duplicated the omnitrix, as had been his original plan, but assumed that he had not been able to for some reason. The Plumbers had been brought back into action to combat the threat, and after those reports, joining the fight was the only thing Gwen could do.

It had been a long four years, spent learning many different ways to use the spells in a spell book that had become increasingly worn, and using what she had learned to develop spells of her own. She had trained with the Plumbers and their allies, honed her fighting skills and become formidable with fourteen different alien weapons. Through it all, her drive for revenge had carried her. It sustained her when all she wanted was to go home to her parents. It became an almost painful ache when she saw friends and companions die in battle. And it kept her awake some nights when she remembered something Ben had done long ago, or the way he smirked and she had to push her face into the pillow so no one in the close quarters would hear her sobs.

It had not been a pleasant period in her life, and sometimes she wondered whether this was all that her life would consist of from this time on, but still she would not let herself quit and return home.

Because she had to prove that she hadn't forgotten him and the sacrifice he had made to keep their home safe. She had to show that she remembered he was a hero. And she had to destroy Vilgax for what he had done.

Four years had passed, but he still looked like her cousin.

He was different, of course. He seemed to have grown into his body now. He was tall and muscled but lean, with an agile grace that he had certainly never had before. His face was fine-boned and slender. His hair was the same dark brown it used to be, but it was slightly longer, and hung around his face slightly, giving him a roguish appearance. He was dressed in black touched with olive green at the throat, and around his neck the same black circlet rested. His eyes were the same colour as she remembered, that yellow-green that she always used to find annoying, but their expression now was wary and calculating, and Gwen saw no recognition in them, and none of Ben's curiosity or playful mischief.

And yet, Gwen felt that she could weep for joy that he was alive. She wasn't stupid, and she knew that if this was Ben than he was in trouble, they all were, and he had gone through much more in the past four years than she had with all of her grief and pain, but still he was here, and that meant that it wasn't over yet.

Vilgax watched Tennyson carefully. His old foe had been attempting to feign unconsciousness, but he had flinched when Ben had changed, as Vilgax had known he would. He felt a rush of pleasure at the old man's pain. Humans and their weaknesses were so predictable. Not that he needed their weaknesses to control them this time. They were already helpless. No, this was merely for his own enjoyment. And it was worth postponing his trip for it. Oh yes, worth it many times over.

And yet, he found himself somewhat disturbed by the girl's expression. He had not expected her to look so…positive.

Nevertheless, his pleasure was not dampened by it. He glanced at his guarded pet fondly. It had been a long road these four years, but the end result was the loyalty of the most powerful being in known universe.

He allowed himself a smile of triumph. He had won.

Thanks for reading!

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and do let me know what you thought of it. I hear that there is some kind of 'review' button which is very useful in this regard. ;)

I have kept Ben's appearance similar to that in "Alien Force", as I thought he was done very well in that show. The only things I have really changed are the length of his hair and, most importantly, I kept his eyes the same yellow-green colour that they were in the original "Ben 10" show. I always liked how they looked and hated that they were changed to bright green for "Alien Force".

Gwen looks the same as she does in "Alien Force", except that she has shorter hair. You have also seen that her powers remain the same as those in the original show.

Vilgax looks the way that he does in the original show, except that he is no longer wearing his breath mask.

Hopefully that is not too confusing for everyone. You will see a lot more descriptions of people in future chapters, but I thought it would be good to put a little explanation here, for the purpose of anyone who wants to know exactly how the characters look.

I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can, and we'll get to explore a little more of Ben's past. I would also really appreciate it if you would send me a heads up if you think this story starts to warrant an M rating. It's T right now but, well, it's going to get quite a bit darker.

See you all soon!