Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10.
A/N: Apologies for the long wait. Suffice to say that life wasn't exactly kind the last few weeks, which kind of made it hard to focus on my stories. And I'd rather release a chapter late than throw out a poor one. Apologies if I missed any errors.
"Okay," Gwen's voice drifted from somewhere due east of where he lay. "your turn. Ask away."
Ben stirred in the shade, not bothering to open his eyes. It was way to comfortable under the tree they'd claimed, the grass tickling his bared back comfortingly and the breeze a pleasant coolness on the otherwise ridiculously hot day.
"Would you rather," he cracked a yawn, "fight one horse sized duck, or ten duck sized horses?" He finally managed, lazily. Inwardly, he laughed. Good thing Vilgax had never attacked on a hot day in Virginia; they'd have been completely useless.
Gwen hummed. "Considering the square cube law, it really doesn't matter. The horses would freeze to death because their cells lose heat too fast and the giant duck would melt because-"
"No, no, no." Ben interrupted, swatting around with his right arm until he heard the satisfying smack of hitting her thigh. "You promised to be cool! No nerdiness!"
She sighed loudly in response, exasperated. "Fine, fine. Uhm… I'll take the ten duck sized horses."
"Why?" He asked, dragging the vowel out.
"Have you met ducks? Temper like you wouldn't believe."
"Huh. Birds with a temper. Now there's a novelty." Ben remarked, cracking open an eye to give the bird lazing in the canopy above them a pointed look. He got a glare in return and the avian started shifting-
"You better be darn confident in your aim, Vilgax, because if you accidentally hit me with the crap, you're my lunch." Gwen warned, not even opening her eyes. The bird seemed to think better of his plan of action and settled back down. Ben whistled.
"How the heck did you know he was doing that?"
"I've dealt with youfor a decade, doofus. I can feel when someone is about to do something stupid."
"I guess that makes sense- hey!" Ben's eyes shot open and he glared at the redhead. She hadn't opened hers, instead basking in the shade with a small smirk, reminding him of a satisfied cat. A yellow cat, at that. Where Ben had opted to get rid of his shirt and stick to green shorts, Gwen had instead swapped her entire outfit for a yellow summer dress.
It looked cute. He was never telling her that. Ever.
"I'm not that stupid." He grumbled, turning his gaze back to the canopy.
Beside him, the girl stretched. "Eh, you have your moments. Jokes about eating the pet aside, I am hungry though." She rolled onto her side and put on her best beseeching look, eyes wide and warm. "Can you make us lunch?" She asked, sweetly.
...he honestly missed the days when he had been immune to her puppy eyes. He really, really missed them. Still, he persevered.
"Why do I have to make your lunch? Do it yourself." They couldn't ask grandpa, the man would be dead to the world until around five. They'd spent more time in New York than in his timeline, so they really needed to step on the gas if they wanted to get 'back on schedule.' If they started diverging too much, his foresight would become useless.
But the old man had not been keen on driving through this heat, much less at a pace, so grandpa Max had opted to switch his rhythm around when they'd left New York, driving through the night when it was cooler and quieter and sleeping through the hottest part of the day.
This did leave the children to fend for, and entertain, themselves, something that was way easier with this Gwen than with the one form his timeline. That had always felt like forced cohabitation, at least until well past the first month, when they'd actually started appreciating each other more. It was way easier now, even if this Gwen had the habit of trying to get him to do things when he wanted to be a lazy bum.
"Because you're the only one of us that can actually cook something tasty with all the weird stuff grandpa puts in the fridge." The girl reasoned, never dropping the look smoldering look. Ben had to admire her appeal to his vanity. Old Ben would have walked right into that one. Well, if old Ben wasn't too busy being a jerk to her.
"Sounds like you're just trying to domesticate me." He countered, rolling onto his side as well to face her properly. She snorted, hair shifting slightly in the breeze. She hadn't bothered with the clips.
Another thing he found cute but would never, ever tell her.
"'Ben the stay-at-home-husband' does have a nice ring to it." She snickered, red faced. The heat must really be getting to her. "What's next, an apron and a hairnet?"
Old Ben would've been offended at the dig at his masculinity. Heck, he'd probably have taken issue two weeks ago. But if anything, he'd learned that whenever he recalled how his old self would have reacted to something Gwen did, it usually worked better to do the opposite. Also, with the embarrassing amount of times where either Gwen or grandpa literally had to help him move about the RV if the heat became too much, he didn't have any masculine dignity left anyway.
"Only if it says 'kiss the cook.' And of course, gotta protect this coupe; it's my best feature." He winked at her, the effect ruined when he coughing up some steam. He wasn't sure whether his heat problem was making the summer day worse or better. On the one hand, it was more heat. On the other, he was so used to being cooked all the time these days that a little sunshine hardly fazed him.
Gwen didn't seem to notice his mishap, or at least she paid it no mind, opting instead to give him a thoughtful look. "I'd say your best feature is your eyes." Gwen mused before slapping a hand over her mouth. He grinned. She groaned.
"Can we add that one to the list of things that we pretend I never said?"
Ben chuckled. She had a list of things she wished she never told him, he had a list of things he'd never tell her. He suspected that their list was disturbingly similar. "Fat chance, cootie queen. I gotta go mark the calendar; another compliment! First my butt is hot, now this. You're on fire, dweeb."
"No you!" Gwen responded, not to be outdone, childishly poking out her tongue and causing them both to snicker like a bunch of five year olds, a snicker that turned into a helpless fit of giggles moments later.
Yup. Totally useless, the two of them. He loved every second of it.
Ben rolled back onto his back, laughter fading into a contend smile. Either Gwen would keep the ball rolling, or she'd go silent for a bit as well, just enjoying the company. He'd done a lot of that with his Gwen, by the end of their trip. He could recall that much. Entire days spend with the bare minimum of words passing between them.
Ben didn't like quiet at all, as a rule. Quiet made him think, and thinking made him miserable. But he hadn't minded the quiet with Gwen then. He still didn't know why that silence was companionable whereas all others were not. Maybe he could figure it out this time around.
This Gwen also had a way with silence, but it was, strangely, different. Whereas silences with his Gwen had been empty save for a feeling of comfort that he couldn't put a finger on-
"My turn for a question, right?"
Ben's lip curled. With this Gwen, silence just meant he was waiting for the next round of fun. It seemed she had given up on her quest to get him to make her lunch- for now. "Sounds about right."
"Let's see…" she mused, a finger on her lip, brow scrunching in thought. He found it enormously endearing, even if he knew it was a ruse; she'd thought of something ten minutes ago, he was willing to put money on it. "What do you like in a girl?"
Ben's brows quirked, giving her an amused look. Gwen was looking straight up at the canopy though, even if her face was a little red from the heat. Not exactly what he thought she was going to use her well planned question on but...
He shrugged. Fine. Gwen's head worked in mysterious ways, and while he prided himself in understanding what was going on in there most of the time, he'd never completely understand the girl. The girls in his class were always talking about that stuff too though, so maybe Gwen was just being typical for a change. Gwen always toed the line between being obnoxiously girly (as far as he was concerned anyway) and being so not girly that it was it's own brand of confusion.
Before he could answer to figure out what she was up to, his stomach decided to voice its own opinion. Loudly at that.
Gwen sat up, grin triumphant, pointing at him. "A-ha! You're hungry too! Knew it!"
Ben rolled his eyes. "Still not making you lunch, dweeb…" Aw, she looked genuinely sad for a second. Well, here was his cue. Old Ben would have reveled in that, so that left only one course of action. "unless you help me." Because really, he didn't mind making her lunch, but he also didn't want to look like she could walk over him. She'd start thinking that he was a wimp.
And if it gave him an excuse to spend more time with his friend, well, was that so bad? He fought back a grin. Friend. He had a friend; officially this time. He still felt giddy about that, even if it was just the nerd queen.
Don't kid yourself, Tennyson. You're happy because it's the nerd queen.
"Aw, can't do it on your own, old timer?" She teased, getting to her feet and holding out her hand to him. "Do you need help getting to the RV too?" Ben resisted the urge to snicker. Leave it to Gwen to turn one of his finest past victories into ammunition for teasing.
"I can manage just fine, whipper snapper. Just want you there so I can show the babies how we did it in my day." He countered as she hauled him up.
"So you're gonna show me how you hunted dinosaurs for food?"
"Already did that. It's how we met the bird." Vilgax squawked in agreement from the canopy.
Gwen grinned, a sunny little thing that made him want to smile till his face hurt. "Pretty sure one of the things in the fridge is dinosaur meat." she started for the Rustbucket, turning her head to give him cheeky wink as she went. "You can show me how it's prepared, old man. If we wait any longer, I'm really gonna eat Vilgax."
"Should just let her do it..." Ben muttered to himself when she disappeared into the RV, following at a more sedate pace. Glancing up, his lips quirked at the warm weight settling on his head, he smiled ruefully. "Yeah I know, I do kinda like you, but she can't know that. She'll never let me hear the end of it. And there's like a ton of things that I'm never going to hear the end of already."
The bird squawked as they started to move to the RV as well.
"Yes, I am talking about you. Not her."
Feather rustling.
"Of course I like her. She's my friend. Kind of in the job description- oh for- not like that, you crazy bird. We've been over this."
Entering the relative coolness of the RV (surprising, really, but it seemed the shade had done its job), he quickly spotted Gwen putting two pans on the stove before opening the fridge. "C'mon doofus! Move your butt!"
"Sure." He shook his hips. "Like that?"
Gwen's face twisted at if she'd swallowed a lemon. "That was a lame dad joke. Have some self-respect." Neither of them really minded their volume; if grandpa's snoring wasn't waking him up, their banter wouldn't either.
Ben snickered, joining her at the fridge, peering in. Yup, eggs and locusts it was. Unless they wanted to chance the squid. Vilgax hissed on his head at the tentacly mass. Yeah that was a no. But…
"Is that bell pepper?" He asked, leaning in directly beside Gwen to get a closer look. She gave him a look askance.
"Why hello there kids, today we're going to talk about this thing called 'personal space.'" She grumbled. "How the heck did you and other me get this comfy anyway?"
"I thought you wanted to discuss my non-existent love life. Choose wisely, brainiac." He reached in and found he'd been right. Bell pepper, three kinds. Sweet. "We're tossing these in. Oh," he stood and reached into the cupboards, pulling out-
"Chicken spice?" Gwen asked, giving him an odd look. "For locusts?"
"Nope." He grinned at her, waggling his brows. "For the eggs."
"...you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention."
Ben just grinned shooing Vilgax off his head before lighting a fire under the pans and getting started on cutting the peppers while Gwen kept a weather eye on the stove. At around the two month mark of traveling with grandpa, Ben and Gwen had decided that if they were going to survive, they needed to learn how to cook, if only so they could beat grandpa to the punch and make sure that whatever he served was actually dead.
Several online courses and a few false starts later and they were good to go for most simple things. It had been a surprise to both of them that Ben in particular had actually liked cooking. It gave him something to do with his hands, occupied his mind and got him something tasty to show for his efforts, what more could he want? Gwen had liked it too, so much so that-
"We gotta do this for our parents when we get back, doofus."
"Can you imagine the look on your mom's face? How's that for 'never gonna amount to anything'?"
Ben felt his smile dim, his cutting slowing to a stop.
...they were never going to do that, were they? Not with him here, not with her there. Not with her gone, or as close to gone as you could be while technically still being alive. His shoulders sagged and he sucked in a steadying breath, leaning on the counter. He was not going to cry. Not when the dweeb was right there. Not ever-
Warmth engulfed him from behind, circling around his shoulders, and equally warm breath tickled his neck. He couldn't stop a smile at the gesture, heartened even through his misery. His Gwen had been great at knowing when he needed a hug, but it taken her months before she'd learned that.
This Gwen had needed a little over two weeks.
"Sorry." He muttered, taking a quick glance at the stove to find that the dweeb had quickly shut the gas off before glomping him. Leave it to Gwen to think of everything. "Bit melancholy today."
She huffed a laugh. It tickled his neck. "Now there's a four dollar word." He couldn't see her face, but he felt her turn serious. He could tell by the shift in her stance, by the way she tensed. "Do you want to talk…?"
Honestly, he didn't. Not really. It would just be picking at the hurt, and he didn't think it would really matter much anyway; Gwen was clever enough to figure it out. But he didn't want to linger in this mood, either.
He turned around, causing her hold to slip, even if her hands still lingered near his elbows. He'd guessed her expression right, worried green eyes meeting his. He smiled at the sight. Worried, but sharp none-the-less.
It made his mouth go dry. Though that could've just been the heat. "I..." He swallowed. "I don't. Wouldn't make it better, anyway."
For a split second, Gwen looked like she wanted to push it, worrying her lip between her teeth, but instead she nodded. "Okay, doofus." She agreed, voice soft, tender even.
He could tell there was something else. She was shifting back and forth on her feet. She felt antsy. He could feel the indecision-
Something tugged at his mana, hard, as if something had grabbed hold of it and was trying to wrest it out of him forcibly and he gasped. What the heck-?! He clutched his chest, frowning.
"Ben?"
That hadn't happened before. His gaze snapped to the window, looking past the tree they had been lazing so comfortably under, to the forest. Yes, there. Not in it, but beyond it. He could feel something… calling. Something big, writhing and hungry. It filled him with a familiar dread but he couldn't quite pin it and would it kill his memory to be a little more consistent at times like this-?!
Fingers pinched his cheek and pulled his gaze back to his cousin. "Cut it out, doofus. You're scaring me." ...funny, how an admission of fright sounded like she was scolding him. Sometimes, Gwen was living proof that attitude could matter more then substance. "What's up?"
Ben swallowed, gaze slipping to where he felt the distant… hunger. And cold. Colder than he'd felt in months. "There's something out there. My mana is... drawn towards it, but it doesn't like it." Honestly, Gwen wasn't the only one who was scared. This feeling frightened him, in a way he couldn't put his finger on.
Fingers brushed his elbows and he turned back to the girl- had they been standing this close all this time? He was pretty sure there was a quip about personal space to be made, especially after she fuzzed about it, but the words died on his tongue at the sight of Gwen determined expression.
Sometimes, he forgot how incredibly reassuring it could be to have that determination at his back.
"You stay put." She told him. "I'll go check it out-"
"Absolutely not!" He cut her off, finding his words. She rolled her eyes.
"I'll just go XLR8 and scout it out. I'll be back in a second, grandpa will never know you didn't babysit me properly." ...right. She was still under 'house-arrest' for her stunt in New York. He'd honestly forgotten about that.
Still. He grasped her right hand to ensure that she wouldn't pull a fast one on him and ram the dial, ignoring her protesting squawk and red face. The bird on the table laughed at them for some reason, but Ben didn't care about that either. Instead, he found his own determination.
"No. We'd do this together, remember?" Completely irregardless of grandpa's punishment, Ben was not letting Gwen out of his sight. Not after Kevin. And that had precisely nothing to do with any trust in Gwen's capabilities, but everything to do with wanting to keep her save. Despite knowing that she could beat the pants off anything she could possibly come across.
And yet. "Stay right there. I'm gonna get my blaster. And a shirt."
By some miracle, Gwen actually listened. He'd honestly been worried that she would just slam the dial and race off, but clearly some part of her hadn't wanted to risk it. He liked to think that she stayed because she really did want to do this together, but it was just as probable that she was afraid he'd tell grandpa if she pissed him off over this.
Either way, it hadn't stopped her from grumbling as they trekked through the forest in the direction of where Ben felt the hunger was coming from..
"Kick butt for weeks on end but doesn't trust me to do anything on my own because I messed up once..."
Ben sighed, exasperated. "I told you, it's not like that."
"Then what is it like, lame brain?" She snapped, crossing her arms and for crying out loud had she always been this petulant?
...well, yeah. She had been. But he couldn't give her grief about it as he'd been in the exact same mindset when she'd complained about him having to babysit her three days ago. And he got that she still didn't like the idea, and that that had nothing to do with him. She explained that.
But it was a bit harder for him to explain that the reason he wanted her in his sight had nothing to do with her or her abilities, but everything to do with him and how he remembered nearly losing her far too many times. It was terrible to remember, let alone share. He wished those things had never happened, even as every single one of those times had driven home how much he actually cared about his stupid cousin.
He already knew now, and had no intention of relearning that lesson the hard way again.
But for all that, he didn't want to explain himself. Not extensively, at least. But that didn't mean he couldn't be truthful.
"What part of me trying to be your friend was unclear?" He grit out, turning to her in full when she stopped to give him a stunned expression that really had no business being there. Whatever. He needed to be clear on this. Gwen feeling like she had something to proof led to things like Lucky Girl, or the debacle with Kevin. Both of those had turned out way better than he could have imagined, but he didn't want her to feel like she needed to go off.
"I'm not here because I think you can't do this alone; I know you can. Same way you could've handled Kevin alone." Likely not without using the watch, but that was beside the point. Scared as he'd been for her that night, he knew, even then, that she didn't need him there. "I'm here because I care about my best friend and it makes me feel better. And you did promise we'd do this together." He reminded her, pointing an accusing finger at her.
Gwen's face shifted from surprise to something so tenderly hopeful that it hurt to look at (which possibly meant that he was completely enraptured), but then she dropped her face into her hands and sighed.
"I'm doomed." She said, and Ben was pretty sure if the stunned realization in her voice meant anything, it was that she wasn't talking to him. "I'm so, so doomed."
"Err, Gwen?" He asked, distantly hearing the bird laugh uproariously somewhere above them. Stepping forward, he placed a hand on her shoulder- did she just shudder? "Gwen, you okay?"
She knocked his hand aside and pushed passed him and the undergrowth. "Just fine. Let's get this over with-" She gasped and Ben immediately shot through the last of the forest, joining her in the clearing beyond to find-
The boy felt his blood freeze in his veins. He knew what town they were near. He knew what day this was. He knew they needed to get back to the Rustbucket-
"It's a circus! Awesome!"
...he'd forgotten that Gwen loved the circus. Coming up beside her, he grasped her elbow to get her attention. "We gotta get back dweeb, right now." He said in a rush, already making to pull. He could feel a gnawing, roiling hunger coming from the main tent, he could feel his mana being pulled there, not out of him. Not yet. But it wanted to and he knew those tents he knew this feeling of dread-
Gwen dug her heels in. "No way!" She snapped as he stumbled, recovering quickly and gritting his teeth. "We gotta check it out at least!"
Breathe in, breathe out. You're spooked because the clown is here, somewhere. No taking it out on the dweeb. She can shove your foot up your butt… or make a sad face. Just as bad.
"Seriously dweeb." He got out, giving her an imploring look that he hoped conveyed how much they needed to get out of here even if his words fell short. "I know this troupe. They're bad news. We need to go."
His stomach chose that moment to remind them that they'd walked out of the RV without lunch. Ben gave it a foul glare, one he turned onto his grinning cousin when she giggled. "I'm sure they have lots of food stands here." She remarked, offhandedly inspecting her nails. "Lot's of tasty unhealthy stuff. You know, the sort you love."
Darn girl knew him too well. Still. "What part of 'these guys are a major threat' did you not get? Also, we've got no money-"
She pulled a handful of cash from the dress' lone pocket, quirking a brow. He just stared at it for a long second before looking her dead in the eye. "Did you seriously rob grandpa? Why?"
"Uhm, I figured that after we were done here, we could go into town and get some normal food. You know, just the two of us." Well, at least she seemed properly ashamed, red as her hair. "Are we really going to be in any trouble if we go scout the place out more thoroughly and get something good?"
It was, he realized, a genuine question. She wasn't making the same mistake as with Kevin it seemed, and seemed to trust his judgment call on whether or not to stay. That felt kind of odd, to be honest, cuz while he wanted to be taken seriously in these things by Gwen, he hadn't actually expected her to. It was also the perfect opportunity to get them out of there because he knew she'd follow him he said 'yes' but…
He sighed. The circus grounds were full of shops, tons of people milling about. They'd only be in any real danger if they attended the show, which wouldn't be until tonight, and they weren't going to. As long as they avoided the clown, which shouldn't be hard considering how small they were in the crowd, they should be fine.
She must've read that sigh correctly, because she doubled down, stepping up and giving him the biggest, saddest puppy eyes she'd ever thrown at him, not just in this timeline but the previous one too. He scrunched his eyes shut, but the image was burned into his brain. "No. No. Absolutely not-"
"Pleeeeeease?"
He sighed again, louder this time, shoulders sagging. He opened is eyes to glare at her. The look of unholy glee on her face should have broken the spell. Instead, he wanted to give her what she wanted even more. Not because she deserved it, or because it was smart, or even because she manipulated him into giving in by pushing all of his weak spots. No, he kinda wanted to give it to her because it would clearly make her happy.
He was pretty sure that he had gone stark raving mad. He pointed his finger in her face, narrowing his eyes. "The second I tell you we're going back..."
"We go back, I promise. Promise. See? No fingers crossed."
"Show me the toes."
"Wow, the future's really made you paranoid, huh?"
"Toes, dweeb."
Sighing, she kicked off her slippers, wiggling her toes at him. Not crossed either. Good. His Gwen had gotten him with that trick once. He hadn't even known toes could be that flexible; then again, the cross she'd made with them hadn't been very good. They'd spent two hours debating the validity of that one. He couldn't recall what the final verdict had been; he'd gotten distracted when he found out that the foot Gwen had proudly displayed crossing its toes was ticklish.
"...fine." He grit out. The resulting squeal of excitement almost made it worth it. The subsequent hug definitely made it worth it a hundred times over. "Stop it, you're gonna make me stop regretting this." He groused, fighting very hard to contain his grin and to not hug her back.
He may have failed on both counts. Spectacularly.
He really should be telling Gwen about Zombozo. About his circus freaks. About their strengths, weaknesses. Anything she might need. Because he was certain that both she and grandpa would agree that these guys needed to go down.
But he hadn't exactly counted on the circus grounds being so fun. He still didn't like clowns, and every time he spotted one his heart jumped in his throat for fear it was Zombozo, but he didn't dislike them as a rule anymore. Not enough, at least, to try to hurry Gwen out of there.
They ate horrendously greasy food (seriously who puts sausages on a stick?), Gwen moaning all the while about how it was going to make her fat. She still ate with relish though. Finishing his own sausage on a stick, he was mentally preparing to leave. They'd gotten what they came for, food, and scouting further wasn't needed.
She bumped his shoulder as he chewed. "Wanna go check out the games?" She asked, sweetly. He gave her a flat look because he knew what she was doing. She was just going to keep piling on things every time something new 'occurred' to her (as if she hadn't been planning this) and guilt tripped him into coming along. She'd done that lots on grandpa in the previous timeline; something that had become very effective on him as well when he'd lost the ability to say 'no' to her sad face.
Not that she was giving him that. It seemed to, again, be a genuine question and he had no idea what to make of that. Deciding that he didn't want to spend all day fighting her over these things, he simply shrugged. "Lead the way, dweeb. But I'm warning you: I'm gonna beat you at all of them."
He fell into step beside her as they eyed the crowd, the afternoon sun beating down harshly on them. He puffed out some steam, but waved off her concerned look. Yeah, it sucked, but it wasn't as bad as it had been in New York. He'd need at least three more days of build up before it got that bad.
Gnawing on the stick that was all that remained of his sausage snack, he made to step forward, but his brain fizzled to a halt when fingers threaded through his. His glanced first at the hand entwined with his before turning that gaze on the girl beside him, but she was just looking ahead, a faint, shy smile on her face.
It had no business being adorable. It hadn't ever been adorable on his Gwen, save for perhaps the time she asked him to dance at Joel and Camille's wedding with that same smile. But that had been different. She'd had a cuter dress working in her favor and wasn't melting. And yeah, he could admit (under pressure) that she'd looked good. Better than he had at least, with grandpa's old doofy tuxedo.
But she wasn't looking half as good now. Sure, the yellow dress was cute, but the fine sheen of sweat that covered both of them did it no favors. Nor did it help her pinless hair, which was a shade or two darker than it usually was on account of it and way messier than usual.
Her smile had no business being adorable so why was he gaping like a fish?
"Just making sure I don't lose you in the crowd." She explained, sounding almost nervous. He swallowed and licked his lips, mouth dry again. That made twice in under an hour.
"That's fair." He agreed, voice hitching a little. He may have imagined the tension in her shoulders relax.
She moved forward and he didn't resist her as she pulled him through the crowd, letting her guide him. He was glad that she was more level headed than he was, because he wasn't quite there. Above them, Vilgax circled, following them at his own pace.
Ben could feel the smugness though. He pulled the stick out of his mouth and hurled it at the bird, smirking when he heard an indignant squawk above. Gwen giggled, looking over her shoulder with a grin. "Nice one."
"He was being unbearably smug. We nearly there?"
"I thought it was around here- oof!"
Turning the corner, they ran into a wall; at least it felt like a wall to Ben. A solid wall of cold and hunger-
"My my, what have we here?"
Ben felt his blood run cold. He trailed his gaze slowly from the oversized shoes, up to pants and buttons of the man's outfit, seeming completely unbothered by the heat. In fact, Ben considered as the man -monster, it's a monster knelt to his eye level, he seemed to not just to ignore the heat, but suck it in, draining the world around him off light and joy where he passed. The grin the clown gave them and the gleaming of the blue orbs on his sleeves and in his hat equally menacing to the boy.
"Why, aren't you two just the most precious little children. So full of joy." Zombozo coed. Beside Ben, Gwen seemedpolitely curious, even smiling faintly, if bemused. Ben knew her well enough to spot the way she steadied her stance, the way she flexed her fingers, to either bring up her hands in an attack or to slam the dial of the watch.
Ben didn't do any of those things, mind instead flashing to images of grandpa slumped over the steering wheel, of Gwen prone on the ground, of being trapped in a nightmare of the clown's making-
"Especially you, my dear boy." The circus master grinned, bringing up a hand, beckoning with a clawing motion. Ben instantly felt that hard tug on his mana again, but this time it left him too, disappearing from inside him and sucked into the orbs on the man's clothing- and he felt cold. Colder than he had since he activated his mana, and not just metaphorically for a change. The monster grinned. "So full of joy. I could feel you from a mile away."
The cold lasted only a few seconds though, as his mana resurged with a vengeance, heating him to normal levels moments later. Ben felt better, and stronger, for it, but the gleeful smile the clown gave at his second wind dashed any confidence he might have regained.
"So very, very full of joy." He mused.
Ben realized his mistake then, and felt like punching himself for being so stupid. He knew they'd met Zombozo around this time, in this area. He knew the clown powered himself by stealing joy, and he knew that mana was pretty closely connected to the essence of who a person was, including their emotions. He should have known that the gnawing hunger pulling on his mana was the clown and his machine.
And he should have known that if he could feel them, the clown could feel him as well.
"I'm sorry sir," Gwen said, coming up beside him and putting comforting hands on his shoulders. "I think we better go. My cousin's not feeling well." That much was true, he was feeling like he was freezing, boiling, and at the bottom of a lake at the same time. Glad that Gwen still had the presence of mind to be useful-
"Aw, I'm so sad to hear that." The clown admitted. "Perhaps this will cheer you up!" He waved his hands, and in a puff of smoke two tickets appeared. He held them out for the children. "Two tickets to tonight's show." The circus master explained with a grin. "And the after show, only for our special guests."
Ben wanted to scream that they weren't coming to his soul sucking show, and that they were going to burn his tent to the ground before he'd ever think of hurting anyone like that again. But nothing came out.
Gwen came to his rescue again. "We didn't bring any money..." A patent lie, but she sold it well. The monster waved her off, though.
"These are for free; what sort of clown would I be if I didn't try to cheer the little one's up? Just be sure not to tell anyone I'm passing out free rides." He grinned, leaning in, whispering conspiratorially. "It'll be our little secret, okay?"
Ben tried his best to muster any sort of response, but Gwen beat him to the punch, accepting the tickets with a big grin, glancing around as if to make sure no one had seen them receive the gift, practically oozing giddy exitement. "Thank you sir!" She enthused. He could easily read the falseness in the expression, but the clown was clearly clueless. "If this little guy is feeling better, we'll be sure to show up."
"I look forward to it." The man purred, rising to his full height and gesturing for them to pass. "Enjoy the fair."
They shuffled passed him, until Ben could no longer feel the man's eyes on them- and then he grabbed Gwen's wrist and ran. He pushed through the crowd, not caring that he stepped on some toes (literally in some cases) and ignored Gwen's protests and requests to slow down.
They cleared the circus grounds in under a minute, but he kept running through the forest because he could still feel the monster's mana and that gnawing hunger weighed on him like a physical thing- a cloak that was draped over him, dragging him down, or like a web he was caught in-
He took another step forward and it was like the sun peeking from behind the clouds on a gray day, the heavy weight of Zombozo's presence lifting off him and he could finally breathe again- which he did heartily, sucking in mouthfuls of air as he collapsed against a tree. Up in the canopy, he could hear the branches shift as Vilgax landed. The squawk send his way had a distinctly worried quality to it; though that might have been wishful thinking.
Gwen was a steady head beside him. "...you okay, doofus?" She asked, trying very hard to sound neutral but instead…
She sounded scared. And that wouldn't do; Ben was supposed to be the competent one here, not the one that melted down over a fear he'd already conquered once.
"...yeah. Yeah, I'm good." He grinned ruefully at her, straightening. "Kinda panicked there, sorry."
She shrugged, the casual gestured belied by the tension in her shoulders. "Eh, always knew you were a wimp. By the way, can I have my hand back?"
Oh right he still had that one- crap, those indentations had not been there before. Snatching the hand back as soon as he'd let go off it, he cradled it in his own and whispered a healing spell. "Sorry." He muttered. Wow. He was on a roll here, in all the wrong ways.
"It's okay." Gwen said, calmly, eyeing him thoughtfully before pulling her hand back and placing both on her hips. "I guess you weren't joking when you said these guys were trouble." She mused, ruefully.
He chuckled humorlessly. "Understatement of the decade."
"Until one of us makes a new one in the next hour or so."
He snickered, feeling the tension slowly drain from him. He looked at her and grinned. She smirked back. "That's better." She enthused, before jerking her head in the direction of the clearing with the RV. "Let's roll. We got a grandpa to wake and battle plans to draw up. Let's beat the pants of that clown."
He grinned back. Before his gaze softened, taking her in.
She wasn't scared. She was worried, but she didn't let it immobilize her. And she was gearing up to save the day. Her stance was strong, her smile was confident and her eyes were blazing. He soaked it in. It was so much easier to not be afraid of the clown when he knew how badly Zombozo was in for it.
"You asked me what I like in a girl." He mused, taking in how her expression shifted from calm determination to adorably curious with a touch of wonder. He swallowed. It probably wasn't how she meant the question, but Gwen was smart enough to figure out what he meant.
"I like it when they're you."
She froze completely, and after five solid seconds of that he was starting to worry that he'd broken her, or that she really had interpreted that wrongly- but then she sighed, throwing back her head to glare at the canopy; at the bird, to be precise. "Fine. You win."
Before Ben could ask what the heck she was on about, her gaze snapped back down and she leaned in to peck him on the cheek, so quick he barely registered it until it had passed. His hand trailed up to his cheek as his brain stuttered to a halt.
Gwen didn't pay him any mind though, instead jabbing her index finger up at the bird. "That's all you're getting, you overgrown chicken! Deal with it!" Before she stormed off in a huff. Ben watched her go, mind still reeling.
He looked up into the tree to see the bird look down on him, smug as ever. He felt his face flush, brain kicking back into gear.
"Oh, go fight a seagull or something. Gwen! Wait up!"
A/N: Hope it was somewhat worth the wait. Next up, taking the clown down.