The Secret Origins of Lucky Girl
Gwen
Three days later. Bellwood. Ben's house.
"Hi, Gwen!" Aunt Sandra said, opening the door with a smile on her face, "I'm glad you're here, sweetie. Your cousin doesn't want to take that odd watch off, not even at home, maybe you can talk to him."
"So Ben didn't tell Aunt Sandra and Uncle Carl the truth about the Omnitrix... I can't believe that Doofus!" Gwen thought.
"Dweeb, come here!" Ben appeared at the end of the hall. He grabbed Gwen's hand and quickly led her up the stairs to his bedroom.
Why did his hand feel so soft . . . and warm? "Because his hand is sticky and probably dirty, DUH GWEN!"
"I shouldn't show this to any civilians, but we're family," Ben pushed her into his room and locked the door.
He turned to face her and dramatically pressed a button on the Omnitrix - funny, Gwen didn't remember that button being there before - and quickly his whole body was engulfed by some kind of dark goo.
A moment later, Ben was dressed in a military-style black outfit, but not only that, his face was slightly altered, his brown hair turned white, and his green eyes turned red.
"Dweeb, meet Watch Boy, badass hero," Ben grinned, and made a "hero pose" with his hands on his waist, "The name is lame, I know, but it wasn't my idea. I'll try to come up with something better eventually."
She raised a quizzical and amused brow, "How did you discover this new feature of the Omnitrix?"
"S.E.C.T.'s scientists figured it out," He said, "Now, I can do my job as a hero without being recognized by the bad guys, and I no longer have to worry about getting naked after a transformation." He struck a few more 'hero poses', "what do you think?"
"You look like an cartoon character. I can't believe this, those guys from S.E.C.T. already have everything planned to get you killed."
"They just believe in my potential! Who wouldn't? I'm awesome!" Ben said more to himself than anything else.
"They don't care if you live or die! And you should at least tell your parents about all this!" Gwen protested.
"I told my parents I'm going to take the test to be a S.E.C.T. agent next month. They'll be very surprised and happy when they find out I, Ben Tennyson, passed." Ben chuckled.
Being an agent of S.E.C.T. was a prestigious career and offered a good salary. Any parent would probably be proud. But Ben wouldn't be a regular agent, and that was the problem.
"I'm sure they would be against the stupid idea of you going out there using a dangerous alien watch that no one really knows what will do to your health in the long-term, and that in the short term makes you a target for the most dangerous being in the universe!"
"The watch is completely safe for my health, don't worry." Even though his face was different, he still had that condescending, arrogant look that annoyed Gwen so much, "As for being a target for Vilgax, that's why Watch Boy is going to use the Omnitrix, not Ben Tennyson. And even if my parents were against my decision, Director Steel made it clear that my choice is what counts. Telling Mom and Dad about everything would only create needless stress."
"Ben, don't you realize that-"
"I realize you're jeeeeealous... Because I'm a superhero with superpowers and you are noooooot..." Ben hummed.
Her head was pounding with a headache of fury at her idiot cousin. "Of course it's not that, Doofus!"
He was wrong. She was not jealous. Especially because she had powers too. Although she had never learned how to use them . . .
Suddenly someone turned the knob of the door.
"Ben? Gwen?" It was Aunt Sandra.
Ben pressed the button again, his white hair turned back to brown, his red eyes returned to green, and the black military outfit disappeared, leaving Ben back in his normal clothes, white shirt and brown pants.
Gwen unlocked the door with a smile on her face, "Hi, Auntie Sandra."
"Kids . . ." Aunt Sandra looked at them with a strange expression on her face, "What were you doing with this door locked?"
Gwen's house. A few hours later.
It was past 1 in the morning, and Gwen was lying on her bed with her cell phone in her hand, unable to decide whether or not to send the message to her grandmother, Verdona.
Gwen had always been very close to her family on the paternal side - the Tennysons - but, on the other hand, she knew almost nothing about the maternal side of her family. The only maternal relative Gwen knew was Grandma Verdona, and yet she had only seen Verdona five or six times in her life. Gwen's mother, Natalie, had done everything she could to keep her own mother away. Uncle Carl once jokingly said that his brother - Gwen's father, Frank - was very lucky because he didn't have to worry about his mother-in-law, and, of course, Aunt Sandra smacked him on the arm because of that comment.
On Gwen's 10th birthday, Grandma Verdona told Gwen she was a witch and offered to train her. That was the last time Gwen saw her, because after that Natalie banned Grandma from seeing Gwen for good - Natalie didn't know that Verdona had given her cell phone number to Gwen.
Gwen had kept her grandmother's offer in her mind for all these years. Most of the time she was very busy with school and karate and her friends and the summer trips to even think about being a witch but there were some moments when she seriously thought about it.
Now was one of those moments.
Since she couldn't make Ben give up the stupid idea of playing hero, she could at least try to protect him.
A witch could protect Ben.
Grandma, I need to see you. Gwen finally pressed SEND.
"Wow! This is a bad idea . . ."
Two days later, Gwen got an answer from her grandmother, which was only an address of a house in Bellwood, on the other side of town. Since she was still on vacation, it wasn't difficult to go there in the morning.
Gwen knocked on the door, and a few moments later she was greeted by her grandmother.
"Come in, come in. Look at you, my beautiful granddaughter, you grew up so much!" Verdona hugged Gwen.
"Hi, Grandma!" Gwen said, returning the hug.
No one would say Verdona was over sixty. She looked about forty, tops. It definitely had something to do with magic. Grandma looked like Gwen, but her red hair was curly instead of straight, and her eyes were dark blue instead of green.
A few minutes later, Grandma Verdona brought some cookies and chocolate milk to Gwen. They sat on the couch and began to talk.
"Grandma, I didn't know you had a house in Bellwood," Gwen said.
"I didn't . . . until yesterday. But it was already past time for me to have a house here in Bellwood, close to my daughter and granddaughter."
Gwen wondered how Grandma Verdona had gotten so rich that she could simply buy a house unexpectedly. Hm, maybe there was a good reason to keep away from her, but Gwen pushed those thoughts away.
"Your mother, how is she? How's the law firm she and your dad formed? "
"The firm is doing very well. My parents want me to study Law too. "
"Oh, that's a great idea. So you will know all the loopholes in the law and the best ways to fool the authorities," Verdona said with a wicked grin.
Gwen laughed, but couldn't help thinking her grandmother was serious.
"Ben would probably like her . . ." Gwen thought.
Ben. It was because of him that she was there. Verdona probably noticed the worried look on Gwen's face, and got right to the subject at hand.
"You are not here because you miss your grandma, and assuming your mother doesn't know you're here, my guess is that you want me to teach you about your 'hidden powers'. Am I right?"
Gwen shuffled in her seat for being found out so easily, "Yes."
Verdona gave a small nod, "May I ask why now?"
"Ben is in big trouble. I have to help him." The words came out of her mouth faster than she could think about what she was saying. Too late now.
"Oh, a boy, I see. I would advise you to forget about him. With your pretty face, I'm sure you can replace your boyfriend in no time, sweetheart," Verdona said in a calm tone.
"Ben is my cousin, not my boyfriend. And he is irreplaceable," Gwen answered angrily.
Verdona eyed her curiously, "Well, for most people cousins are nothing more than some annoyance to put up with on family meetings every once in a while. What makes this Ben so special to you?"
"Are you willing to train me or not?" Gwen wasn't comfortable with that many questions.
Verdona continued examining her, and finally smirked. "You have my rebel attitude. Yes, I will train you. I always hoped that you would embrace your magical heritage one day. Remember the gift I gave you?
"You let me touch your amulet, and said I would be very lucky. I just couldn't tell Mom anything." Gwen chuckled.
Verdona stood up and left, and one minute later she returned, wearing gloves and with a beautiful small rounded stone full of strange inscriptions on her hand.
"This is the Charm of Luck and Probability. You were the last person to touch it, since then I locked it in my safe, so you still have its luck."
"Wow, it's actually real?" Gwen asked, widening her eyes, "Who created it?"
"Bezel, our ancestor and greatest sorcerer of all times, forged six mystical amulets in Anodyne - our homeworld – a millennia ago, the 'Charms of Bezel'. This is one of them."
"Are you from Anodyne, Grandma?"
"Actually, I was born here on Earth, just like you. Many centuries ago, Anodyne was almost completely devastated by a great war, and some Sorcerers decided to look for another world to live. Using their magic, they found a place in which they could blend in almost perfectly, Earth, and they relocated themselves here."
Then Gwen asked a question whose answer she feared, "How different are we from humans? Are we really flesh and blood people? Or are we . . . something else, like energy beings, I don't know?"
Verdona laughed, "Energy beings, that was funny. No, my dear, we are flesh and blood, almost identical to humans, with a "magical gene" of difference. If witches and humans were not so similar, your father and mother couldn't have you."
"I'm half-Sorcerer and half-Human. . . Am I weaker than a full Sorcerer, like you or my mother?" Gwen asked. Maybe it was a bit of vanity, but she didn't want to be 'weaker' than anyone else.
"No, there is no middle ground, either you are a Sorcerer or you are not. You got the magical gene from your mother, so you are just as much a Sorcerer as she and me. But you also have your father's normal gene, so if you have children with a human, depending on which gene you pass on to them, your children may be Sorcerers or normal humans. To avoid that, our people often prefer to marry amongst ourselves." Verdona said.
Gwen was still very curious, she had many other things to ask, but Grandma Verdona interrupted her, "My turn to ask questions. What do you need to do to save your cousin's neck? Steal something valuable, kill someone important?" She casually asked.
"No, of course not." Gwen replied, a little surprised. Yeah, definitely her mother had reasons to keep Grandma Verdona out of her life.
"Even if you want to be a good girl, I advise you not to show your face around. Let me help..." Grandma put her hands on Gwen's face and said, "Transfigura Apparentia!"
Gwen felt something strange and asked, "What happened?"
"Take a look in the mirror."
When Gwen looked at her reflection, her hair was black, her eyes were purple, and her face was slightly different.
Well, if Ben had another identity - "Watch Boy" - why couldn't she have one too?
"Cool!" Gwen quickly thought of a name. She had a luck charm, so... "Lucky Girl," she smiled, proudly looking at herself in the mirror.
"We can start your training now. You'll be a very powerful witch in no time, my dear." Verdona smiled.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's notes
* Thanks to all who are reviewing, favoriting and following. I really appreciate the feedback. Also, thanks to bearhow and Aurora Nightstar for helping with this chapter.
* The new looks of Ben and Gwen are a nod to Albedo and Sunny.
* I made Verdona Gwen's maternal grandmother here in order to explain why Ben doesn't have magical powers like Gwen.
* For those who want to know how the genetics of Humans and Sorcerers work in my story, here is a more detailed explanation (you can also skip this, if you want):
- Sorcerers have the magical gene "M" while humans have an analogue normal, non-magical, gene "m".
- Humans and Sorcerers have genes in pairs. A full Sorcerer is "MM" and a Human is "mm".
- The "M" gene is dominant, so there is no real difference between a full Sorcerer (MM) and a half Sorcerer (Mm).
- A child always gets one gene from the father and one gene from the mother. So, the possibilities are:
Full Sorcerer (MM) x Human (mm) = Child will always be Sorcerer (Mm)
Half Sorcerer (Mm) x Full Sorcerer (MM) = Child will always be Sorcerer (MM or Mm)
Half Sorcerer (Mm) x Human (mm) = Child can be Sorcerer (Mm) or Human (mm)
Half Sorcerer (Mm) x Half Sorcerer (Mm) = Child can be Sorcerer (Mm or MM), or Human (mm).
