Author's Notes:

* Watch Boy & Lucky Girl is back, and this is a 100% Bwen story. If you want to see more of Charmcaster and the Ben/Gwen/Charmcaster love triangle, don't worry, you can read the alternate version of this story (Mystic Vanguard). I know that some readers want to read both versions, but I'd really prefer if you folks choose only one of them (It's not very often that you will see a writer asking people not to read a story of his XD), because that way you won't feel confused with the similar plots, and also because I'm curious to see how popular one version will be when compared to the other.


Friend or Foe?


Gwen


Curled up with Ben, Gwen had a wonderful night of sleep, free of nightmares. But the worst nightmare happened after she woke up in the morning. Her parents caught Ben sleeping in the bed with her.

"Mom, Dad, it's not what you're thinking!" Gwen said.

"What I'm thinking is that Ben came here in the wee hours for some reason, and fell asleep in your bed with you. At this moment, I hope that's all that happened and nothing else..." Frank said, his arms folded. His voice tone was calm but stern.

"Err, then it is what you're thinking, don't worry," Gwen said, with a nervous chuckle.

Ben woke up at that moment and his eyes widened in dread. "Uncle Frank, Aunt Natalie, what are you doing here?"

"Gwen had overslept and we came to wake her up for breakfast," Natalie replied. She seemed to be very upset, "The main question is what YOU are doing here, Ben."

Ben began to stutter, "I ... I ... I ..."

Gwen decided that the best lie she could come up with would be to tell part of the truth, obviously omitting some details.

"Mom, you know that Ben and I are trainees in S.E.C.T.," Gwen said, "that video of Vilgax announcing that he's coming here to Earth made me panic. I was having nightmares and I couldn't sleep, and Ben was kind enough to come here to help me calm down."

"I was already awake, and Bellwood is a very safe town, no problem walking through the streets in the wee hours," Ben said, "and I accidentally fell asleep here, but it wasn't my intention, of course."

Natalie was about to answer, but Frank motioned for her to wait. "You two come down and have breakfast, and then we'll talk about it."

During breakfast, Gwen glanced at the living room and saw her parents were talking, certainly about what they would do to Ben and Gwen.

"Sorry, Gwen, I messed up," Ben whispered.

"Don't worry, Ben. It's not your fault," Gwen whispered back with a smile. She'd woken Ben late at night because of her nightmares, and she agreed that he would stay there until she slept. Gwen would never blame Ben for the situation they were in.

After breakfast, Ben and Gwen vehemently denied that there was anything more between them than 'family love', but Gwen's parents didn't care, and the scolding began. There was a long speech about how romantic relationships between cousins are harmful to the family, how shameful it would be if friends and the rest of their family thought they were together, and that it could even ruin the future professional career of the two. Gwen's parents also insisted for Ben and Gwen to reduce their time together, and they didn't want them alone with each other at any moment. Obviously they also called Ben's parents and told them everything.

Fortunately, Ben's cell phone rang, giving them a little break.

"Uncle Frank, Aunt Natalie, it's my friend Hope. Please let me talk to her?" Ben said.

Gwen was surprised. Grandma Verdona was very worried looking for Charmcaster, and she was unable to get in touch with her at all.

"You can go," Frank said. Ben thanked him and went to the back of the house. Meanwhile, Frank and Natalie continued to punish Gwen's ears with that boring talk.

A few moments later, Ben came back with a smile on his face. "Uncle Frank, Aunt Natalie, I think we can leave this misunderstanding behind us. My girlfriend is coming here. "

Frank and Natalie were very surprised that Ben had a girlfriend. Gwen figured that Charmcaster would pretend to be Ben's girlfriend to help them out of that situation. At this point, Gwen would accept anything to make her parents stop whining. Gwen only hoped that Charmcaster wouldn't get "too comfortable" in the role of Ben's girlfriend.

When Hope arrived, she looked quite different from the Charmcaster with whom Gwen was used to. Although her long hair was still tied up in a ponytail, she was now blonde, no longer silver-haired. And her eyes were blue instead of pink. Her usual outfits - a magenta coat and long purple boots - had been replaced by a purple shirt and black jeans.

"Hi, Ben." Hope kissed Ben on the cheek.

First, Gwen was glad that Hope didn't try to kiss Ben on the mouth. Then she realized it was actually strange. Hope liked to tease Gwen by hitting on Ben right in front of her, and now she had a golden opportunity, she could do whatever she wanted and Gwen would have to watch without saying a thing. Hope was not even taunting Gwen with a smile, she had a neutral expression on her face. Something was not right...

"Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson, I want to apologize for getting Ben in trouble," Hope said, holding Ben's hand, "I got interested in Ben when I saw how kind he was to his cousin. I thought it was very sweet and I told him that he should treat me the same way he treats her. When he told me that Gwen was having nightmares and couldn't sleep, I asked him what he would do if I was in that situation. He said he would come to me and keep me company. I told him to do the same for Gwen as a joke, but he took it literally," Hope laughed, and for Gwen who knew her for quite some time already, it seemed like it was a forced laugh.

Frank and Natalie seemed to accept the explanation.

"Ben, Gwen, why didn't you tell us about Hope earlier?" Frank asked, after a few seconds of silence.

"If you had heard the same story from us, you would've thought it was just a big fat lie, wouldn't you?" Ben said, scratching his head and faking a smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Frank agreed.

"I'm glad the misunderstanding has been resolved." Hope said, "Let's go, Ben?"

"Of course. Goodbye, Gwen, Uncle Frank, Aunt Natalie." Ben and Hope walked out of the house, and from the window, Gwen and her parents watched the two leaving in Hope's car.

Gwen couldn't shake off this feeling that something was not right. A few minutes later, in her bedroom, she tried to call Ben's cell phone, but no one answered. She then dialed Hope's cell phone, but no one answered either.

Gwen immediately called Grandpa Max.

"Grandpa, I need your help."


Inside the Rust Bucket, a few minutes later …

"Grandpa, I don't believe S.E.C.T. didn't put some tracking device on Ben's watch." Gwen said, "And I need you to track him down."

"You're right... There's actually a tracking device on it..." Max admitted with a lot of embarrassment, giving Gwen a tablet.

"They're leaving Bellwood ..." Gwen said in a worried tone, watching the dot moving on the map, "We have to catch up with them, Grandpa. I feel Ben is in danger."

Max drove the RV as fast as he could, also looking for shortcuts to save time.

"Oh no. They left the road and stopped," Gwen said, startled, her eyes glued to the tablet's screen. Fortunately, the Rust Bucket was already quite close to Ben's location.

When Max and Gwen finally reached Charmcaster, they saw a small alien spacecraft and two Vilgaxian soldiers carrying Ben, who was unconscious, towards it.

Grandpa Max grabbed his weapons, "Gwen, take care of Charmcaster. I'm going to save Ben. "

Gwen - or rather, Lucky Girl - spotted Hope - who was now in her usual Charmcaster costume and looks.

"I bet your dear uncle Hex told you to hand Ben over to Vilgax's minions... I will not forgive this betrayal, and I will not go easy on you, Charmcaster!" Lucky Girl said, furious.

"I had no choice, Gwen. I don't want to fight you," Charmcaster said, putting her hands on her head as if she were disoriented.

"The moment you put my cousin's life at risk you also asked for a fight against me!" Lucky Girl shouted, then rushed towards Charmcaster.

"Petrus vita!" Charmcaster yelled, pulling out of her weird bag a few pebbles and tossing them into the air before Lucky Girl got too close to her. The pebbles turned into "rock bats" and flew towards the heroine.

Lucky Girl created a protective blue bubble around herself. The bats quickly charged against the bubble, trying to breach through it. At first glance it seemed that the heroine's strategy had been awful, she was surrounded, and eventually the bats would destroy the bubble and attack her. But Lucky Girl actually had a plan.

In an instant, Lucky Girl undid the mana bubble and shouted, "Tornare Ventus!" creating a tornado around her that made the bats crash into one another, taking advantage of the fact that they were all very close.

Lucky Girl took care of the few bats left with blasts of mana.

"Plantae eruptum!" Charmcaster shouted, and, distracted, Lucky Girl didn't notice roots were taking on a life of their own until they were wrapping around her.

"Give up, Gwen," Charmcaster said.

"Never! Incendia!" Lucky Girl had no choice but to set the plants on fire. It was a dangerous strategy because it could end up burning her too. As soon as she was free, Lucky Girl had to roll over on the ground to put out the fire in her suit.

"Don't worry, I'll help you ... Glacius!" Charmcaster released a freezing blast against Lucky Girl.

"Appareo Portarum!" Lucky Girl shouted, creating a blue portal in front of her. The freezing blast entered through the portal and reappeared in another portal, behind Charmcaster, hitting the silver-haired witch in the back. "You can keep your 'help' to yourself, I don't need it."

Charmcaster ended up partially frozen, and did the same trick Lucky Girl had done before, "Incendia!" She managed to thaw herself, but also had a part of her clothes burned by the fire, which angered her a lot. "Playtime is over! Unsquiera Despariot!" This spell was like an explosion of mystical energy, released from the body of Charmcaster and spread itself circularly in all directions.

"Argh!" Lucky Girl was thrown in the air.

"You started training months ago with Verdona. I've been training for years with Verdona and Hex. You can't beat me, so stay down and don't force me to hurt you!" Charmcaster shouted.

Lucky Girl realized that Charmcaster was right, she was the better witch ... Lucky Girl had to try a different strategy.

"Invisibilitas!" Lucky Girl yelled, and became invisible.

"Nega Invisibilitas!" Charmcaster shouted, nullifying her spell. But all Lucky Girl needed was a few seconds to get close enough to Charmcaster, and she got it.

Without giving space to her opponent, Lucky Girl began to deliver a combo of punches and kicks. Charmcaster tried to defend herself, but without much success.

"You might be the better witch, but I've been practicing karate since before I was 10, and I'm the better fighter!" Lucky Girl said, attacking Charmcaster with a roundhouse kick that knocked her out cold.


Back on the Rust Bucket, Gwen woke Ben up.

"What's going on? My head hurts," Ben said confused, and then looked at Lucky Girl and the still unconscious Charmcaster. The two girls' costumes were in tatters thanks to the fight from before. Ben gave her a silly grin and said, "I won't feel jealous this time, but you have to promise to include me the next time you and Charmcaster are having fun together."

"We were FIGHTING, not having fun, you big doofus!" Gwen said angrily, putting on normal clothes over the remains of her costume, "Or didn't you even realize that Charmcaster kidnapped you?"

"The last thing I remember is that I was in the car with Hope, she offered me a grape smoothie, and I felt sleepy after..." Ben said.

"She drugged you, Ben. She was going to hand you over to Vilgax. "

"What?" Ben was shocked, "Why?"

"I'm sure she was obeying orders from Hex. She probably had to choose between us and Hex, and she chose Hex. We should never have trusted Charmcaster," Gwen said disappointedly. Even though she and Charmcaster had a rivalry, she still regarded her as a friend, and she didn't expect that treason.

"What are we going to do now?" Ben asked, looking equally hurt by Charmcaster's betrayal.

"I called Grandma Verdona. She asked that we bring Charmcaster to her first. But we will turn her in to S.E.C.T. after."


Later, at Verdona's house ...

Charmcaster was still unconscious and lying on Verdona's bed, restrained in iron chains.

Grandma Verdona made cuts on the palm of both her hands, held Charmcaster's head, and began to recite several incantations that Gwen didn't know. After a few seconds, Verdona cried out in pain and fell to her knees on the floor.

"Grandma, what are you doing?" Gwen asked confused.

"A very powerful spell, Gwen. If Charmcaster is under Hex's mental control, this spell might set her free." Verdona replied, having to lean on Gwen to stand up. "But I'm going to need to rest for a good time now."

Charmcaster woke up a few moments later, "I'm feeling in control again ... am I free?" She smiled. "Thank you so much, Aunt Verdona! I should have listened to you about Hex, you were right-"

"What was the spell he used on you?" Verdona asked with concern.

"The Imperius Maledictum."

"I'm sorry, dear ..." Verdona said, "What I've done won't be a permanent solution. If Hex gets close to you, he can trigger the spell again."

"Oh, no ..." Charmcaster lamented.

"CC, I'm sorry," Gwen said, "I thought you'd betrayed us, I didn't know that scoundrel uncle of yours was controlling your mind."

"You don't have to apologize, Red," Charmcaster said, "Until yesterday, I was an idiot who talked about my uncle with the greatest admiration and respect. And because of the spell, I couldn't tell you that I was under the influence of his magic. You had every reason to believe that I was betraying you of my own free will. I'm the one who has to apologize for putting you and Ben at risk."

"I'll release you, CC," Gwen said, already approaching the iron chains that were holding her to the bed. But Grandpa Max stopped her.

"Not so fast." Max was still suspicious, "Tell us everything you've done. We need to make sure you're not just pretending to be under the influence of a spell. Did you reveal Ben's and Gwen's identities to Hex? And who else did he tell? "

Gwen felt a chill through her spine at the thought that Hex and Vilgax knew her and Ben's secret identities. She realized that Ben was equally worried.

"Uncle Hex knows everything, I told him when I was under the spell," Charmcaster lowered her head in shame, "Vilgax doesn't know anything. Uncle Hex doesn't want to put Gwen and her mother at risk. And since Ben is Gwen's cousin, exposing Ben's identity would also put them at risk, so he'll keep Ben's name a secret. And the only ones who saw Ben's face are a few of Vilgax's minions that I met near the road."

"It won't be a problem, they died in the exchange of fire with me," Max said.

"Did you kill Vilgaxian soldiers? You really are an impressive man, Max..." Verdona smiled seductively at Max, who blushed.

"Wait a minute! Why would Hex care about putting me or my mother at risk?" Gwen asked, with her arms folded.

"You know the answer, Gwen ..." Charmcaster said, almost in a whisper.

"No," Gwen shook her head, "My mother is not Hex's daughter. I'm not Hex's granddaughter."

"I'm sorry, Gwenny," Grandma Verdona said, putting her hand on Gwen's shoulder, "My relationship with Hex was a mistake. But you and your mother were not. You are wonderful people-"

"You said I wasn't Hex's granddaughter, Grandma!" Gwen spoke, almost yelling.

"I lied."

"No ..." Gwen was almost crying.

Ben wrapped her in a hug. "I don't care if you're Hex's granddaughter, Gwen. You're still my cousin." He kissed her cheek, then whispered in her ear, "and the girl I love."

"And my granddaughter," Max said, smiling.

"And mine too," Verdona said.

"Thank you folks. My family is the best," Gwen said, still wrapped in Ben's arms.

Gwen noticed that Charmcaster was looking at her with a smile on her face, but sad eyes. She finally pulled away of Ben's embrace and approached the bed, "And I won't forget you, CC." Gwen released her from the chains, "If there's one good thing I can get out of being Hex's granddaughter, is that you and I are cousins too." Gwen hugged Charmcaster very tight.

"Thank you so much, Red," Charmcaster said, returning the hug.

Soon after, Ben also hugged Charmcaster, "And if you're Gwen's cousin, I consider you my cousin too!" then he kissed her on the cheek.

"You're the cutest boy in the world, Ben." Charmcaster smiled at him.

Gwen obviously got jealous and pulled Ben away from Charmcaster, "Everyone knows that you have a weakness for your beautiful witch cousins, Ben, so you better not think of CC as your cousin."

Suddenly the expression on the face of Charmcaster shifted from joy to dread, "Gwen, your parents. Hex wants to go after them."

Gwen immediately picked up her phone and dialed her mother's cell phone number.

"Mom?"

"Gwendolyn, it's a great joy to talk to you," The voice that answered was somber and masculine, it was certainly Hex. "Your mother and grandmother probably haven't told you about me, but I'm your grandfather, and I'm looking forward to meeting you. We have a lot of things to talk about and…"

"You're a monster, Hex, and I don't give a crap if we share some genes. I don't want anything to do with you. Now, give the phone to my mom," Gwen said angrily.

Hex sighed, "Surely, you've heard negative things about me. I hope to change your opinion about myself over time. Fortunately, we'll have plenty of time on Anodyne. "

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Gwen said dryly.

"Considering your voice tone, I'll have to come up with a compelling argument for you to change your mind. You probably already imagine that I have your parents here with me," Hex said.

"If you hurt them, I swear-"

"I'd never hurt my daughter. But what will happen to Frank Tennyson is entirely up to you..." Gwen heard a scream of pain on the other end of the line. The voice was from her father Frank.

To be continued…