Chapter 56: Full Moon in Springtime

Song: April Moon by Bobby Caldwell

Way back in the beginning of this story, I told you that all the elemental powers took a lesson from Avatar: the Last Airbender. While I've deviated from the series pretty well, there's going to be one more significant deviation, mainly because I never understood how it worked in the A:tLA universe. Hope y'all are okay with that.

At the hospital, after school

"What did I tell you?" Gwen asked smugly.

Evan and Sam rolled their eyes. "We shouldn't have skipped class," they said in cadence.

"And then what happened after you got caught?"

"We got detention."

Gwen was having the worst time getting the grin off her face. "And what did you learn?"

"We shouldn't have gotten caught!" Sam said vehemently.

"We should've caused a distraction," Evan spat out.

Gwen stared at them for a long, incredulous moment before face palming. "You two didn't learn anything!"

"What did you expect?" Sam asked calmly.

Kevin put an arm around Sam's shoulder. "Aw, come on, they had to skip," he said in their defense. "Their best friend could see visitors for the first time in days. I would've done the same thing."

"You mean as long as there wasn't a car show or some sort of black market deal going on," Sam said dryly.

Kevin made a surprised noise. "I would do no such thing!"

Ben coughed into his fist. "Bullshit."

"You got something to say Tennyson?" Kevin hounded on him.

He held up his arms in surrender. "Oh no, Kevin. I said nothing at all."

"You liar," Evan said, smiling. He then stood up, gingerly putting weight on his wounded leg. "I'm getting a drink. You guys need anything?"

"Unless they have smoothies here, I don't want anything," Ben said crossing his arms behind his head.

"The coffee here's pretty good. You could try that," Sam offered.

He made a face. "Coffee and I don't mix."

"Especially after that thing when we were thirteen," Gwen began, an evil little grin spreading across her face.

"I admit, that was not my best idea," Ben said. "And we promised never to mention it again," he added in a hiss.

Gwen gave him an innocent look. "I don't remember any such promise."

"Gwen!"

"I'm kidding," she said, holding her arms up in mock surrender.

"Now I'm curious," Evan mused, still standing.

"Go and get your coffee," Ben ordered him tersely. Evan shrugged his shoulders and meandered off, his walk jerky from residual pain. Sam rolled her eyes before walking after him.

"I'll go with you," she explained as Evan slowed down. "Someone has to make sure you don't hurt yourself on the way there."

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much," he said pettily.

"Tell that to your leg!" Sam argued back. They yelled at each other back and forth until they rounded the corner and out of sight. At that point the remaining three couldn't hear them.

"They shouldn't have taken away his crutches," Kevin thought out loud.

"Guy has to walk by himself sometime," Ben pointed out.

"Oh, I know that," the older teen said hurriedly. "It's just that I saw him trying to drive his car earlier despite his bad leg."

Gwen and Ben turned to him, shocked. "But the doctor told him not to," Gwen said.

"The guy hasn't been able to drive his own car since he got it," Kevin told them. "Of course he'd go against the doctor's orders."

"Maybe we should put him in a wheelchair," Ben muttered as he continued to think. When he saw the looks the others were giving him, he quickly amended, "Just until his leg heals!" The two of them continued to stare until Gwen went over and knocked on Carter's door.

When no one answered, she said, "Maybe there's a nurse in there, like for a last minute checkup."

"Or maybe she left already," Kevin told them. "She can go home now, can't she?"

"Yeah, but she would have told me if she'd gone home," Ben said. "There aren't many other people who could pick her up."

Gwen suddenly looked at the floor. There was a bright light spreading underneath the door space. It was a sweet honey gold color, slightly sparkly and warm.

She suddenly jerked back, memories flashing over her eyes. A smug grin, blue eyes, maniacal laughter, all entwined together in pure golden light. Sweat on her brow and in a sudden panic Gwen seized the door knob and rattled it, trying to break the lock.

"Gwen?" Ben's alarmed voice rang out. She couldn't open the door; she slammed her shoulder against it, trying to break it.

"Gwen!" This time it was Kevin. Gwen ignored them both. The door wasn't breaking the golden light was spreading through the cracks OH GOD HE WAS HERE-

"Gwen," Ben said calmly, pulling the girl away from the door. "Listen." He nodded his head to the room behind the door. Gwen took several calming breaths and put her hand to her forehead. Something was flowing out of the room, something low and soft.

"This is a story I've wanted to tell
I was left for a handsomer guy"

Kevin clamped a hand on the doorknob and absorbed the metal. He then crushed the knob and gently pushed the door open.

"All I could do was wish them both well
and gaze at my friend in the sky"

Newt was glowing, a sweet golden aura surrounding him. His eyes were closed and his hair was moving, gently brushing past his face as if he was in a stream. His hands were gently surrounding Carter's neck, who had thrown her head back, eyes closed as well.

"April Moon
you know me
I have wept here before"

Everyone stared as Newt stretched out his mouth, singing in a voice that seemed too old for his youthful appearance. Carter suddenly picked up her head, eyes open. Newt jerked away slightly, opening his own eyes, his hands loosening. The golden aura was receding, the color dying.

And then Carter sang herself, in a pure, clear voice that seemed too old for her age:

"Can you believe I went back to her for more
I just hate that side of me"

Newt smiled, the last of the aura fading away. He let his hands go, keeping them in front of them nervously. And together with his cousin, they finished in perfect unison, dragging it on for as long as they can:

"April Moon"

Kevin slow clapped as their voices died away. Startled they turned to their audience, who were all clapping and wolf whistling. Carter gave a mocking curtsey while Newt awkwardly waved.

"Now I see why you didn't want us to hear before," Gwen said once she finished clapping. "That was just…amazing."

"Well, we are Valentines," Carter said, knocking her shoulder against her cousin's. Newt could only smile weakly, his face now with a gray tinge. Carter grimaced.

"I told you not to heal me. You aren't any good at it."

"It's not like I can practice back in D.C.," Newt protested. "I have to sing to activate it. That draws attention."

"So you sing to heal, while your hands just glow," Kevin noted, pointing at the cousins separately. "Yeah, that makes perfect sense."

"Well, it makes sense when you know our lineage," Newt pointed out.

"Your lineage," Gwen stated, arching an eyebrow.

Carter nodded. "I'm the vessel for Aquaria; he's the vessel for Lyrica. Our grandparents interbred despite protests from the other Immortals."

"Why'd they protest?" Kevin asked curiously.

"Aquaria is one of the Big Four, Lyrica is a fairly minor god," Newt explained.

Carter scoffed. "He's the god of the arts. Seems pretty important to me."

"He doesn't have strong elemental powers, thus making him minor." Newt frowned. "Though from the way he acts you'd think he'd be higher up the social ladder."

"So why did they get together?" Ben asked. "Your grandparents, I mean."

"They were in love," they said together, like he should already know this.

"Uh-huh, right, love," he muttered in a disbelieving tone.

"So where did you get your healing powers from?" Gwen asked quickly, trying to divert a potential argument.

"Lyrica, actually," Carter admitted. "Water was always used for fighting, so it wouldn't make sense for it to have healing properties."

"And I can actually do some minor water manipulation," Newt said suddenly.

"No way," Kevin said incredulously.

"Oh yes way," Newt said haughtily. He grabbed the water bottle on Carter's table and, to everyone's sudden shock, promptly dumped the contents right over his head. His hair and shirt sopping wet, he closed his eyes and screwed up his face in concentration. To almost everyone's surprise, the water slowly lifted off of Newt's person and fell to the floor with a loud splash.

Looking down at the ring of liquid surrounding him, Newt grinned and said, "Suck it, bitches."

"And now you got my floor wet," Carter huffed. "Nice going genius."

"Still though, that's pretty incredible," Ben admitted. "We didn't think you could honestly do it."

"Would I dump an entire bottle of water over my head if I honestly couldn't do it?"

"…Good point." Ben turned to Carter, who was rubbing at her throat. "Something wrong?"

She put down her hand. "Err, no, it's just hard to get used to not feeling the scars."

Newt tilted her head back so everyone could see the clear white flesh of her neck. "Well, get used to it, 'cause they're gone."

Putting her head back up, Carter waggled her finger in his face. "Now look who's smug."

"I have a reason to," he said pompously.

Kevin eyed the water still around Newt's feet. "So is anyone going to clean that up or what?"

The door suddenly burst open, and Sam and Evan walked right in-or limped in, as was Evan's case. Sam held two cups of coffee and was leading the two. She saw the ring of water pooled around Newt and stopped short. Evan, who had walked right behind her, bumped into her and nearly made her spill the drinks.

Evan peered over Sam's shoulder and said, "You used those powers, didn't you?"

Newt nodded. "Uh-huh."

Sam looked at Carter's neck and gave a low whistle. "You've really outdone yourself this time." She handed the cups to Evan and went over to her friend. She pulled her head back to examine her throat.

"You guys knew?" Gwen asked.

"Of course we did," Sam said, looking over at her.

"Don't you think this information could have been helpful to us before?" Something was off with Gwen's tone. She sounded almost indignant, despite the wording being so factual.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Newt's in D.C. most of the time. Even if we did tell you it wouldn't help us."

"She's right," Ben said.

"Wait, if you're healed, does that mean you can fix my leg?" Evan asked, making his way over. He went around the pool of water and sat down on the hospital bed.

Carter smirked. "They took away your crutches, didn't they?"

"They did, and they won't give me any more painkillers," he whined. With a roll of her eyes Carter sat down next to him and put his injured leg in her lap. Her hands glowing blue she immediately went to work on his wounds.

"Evan, are you still on painkillers?" Newt asked suddenly, a funny look on his face.

Evan gave him a look. "No, why?"

He suddenly looked away. "No reason."

Carter snorted and tried not to laugh. "Do you want me to heal that burn too?"

Evan looked at her bewildered. "That was a burn?"

Later in the day, when everyone went their separate ways, Sam found herself on the phone. Now, nothing about that was strange. She was usually using her cell phone, texting her friends or calling Kevin or getting orders from Cordelia. What was strange about this time was that she was getting information from Isaac himself.

"Why did you call me?" Sam had stammered out when he revealed the nature of the call.

"Because you weren't hospitalized recently," he had answered back smoothly.

And now here Sam was, in her disaster zone of a bedroom, taking down as many notes as possible as Isaac rattled out the facts. She didn't trust herself to remember all the little details.

"…we may have an inkling on why the High Breed need the abandoned quartz mine," Isaac continued, "and it might have something to do with the time experiment our friend Paradox used back in the fifties."

"I'm guessing quartz is the power source for the hyperspace gate," Sam noted as she continued writing.

"Pretty much. We've also seen some strange activity going on in those parts."

Sam stopped her pencil. "How can it get any weirder?"

"An alien seems to be stealing random parts of the town since last night," Isaac explained. "Stop signs, drive-thru signs, lamp posts…"

"I get the idea," Sam said, leaning back in her chair. "You want us to check it out."

"I wouldn't be calling you if I didn't."

"I'll get the others and we'll be on our way," she said hanging up. She then sighed, staring wistfully at the pile of books and folders full of notes which she could be using to study. Unlike Evan and Carter she actually needed to review for most subjects. But knowing the mission came first she took the subspace card out of her boots and quickly slashed the air beside her. The familiar green door with angel and devil wing motif instantly appeared. She quickly went through the doorway and ran down the lime green highways until she reached a familiar bedroom door.

Sam quickly opened it to see…the ceiling? She poked her head out and saw the floor right beside her. She then looked up to see everyone in Carter's bedroom, sketch paper in their hands.

"That's…never happened before," Carter stuttered out as Kevin helped lift Sam out of the doorway. She used her foot to close the door and it soon disappeared.

"I forgot we could use subspace," Evan admitted out loud as Sam peered at the drawing in his hand. It was a colored sketch of Erda, the earth god. He was dressed in his long green toga and purple cape with the Civic crown resting on his hair.

"Newt, did you draw these?" Sam had to ask.

He nodded sheepishly. "Just one of the perks of having art powers."

"Well, it's beautiful," Gwen told him as she looked at a different drawing. "Hey, Sam, is this supposed to be Kirche?" She made her look at the drawing in her hands: it was of a beautiful, angry woman with fire for hair and a slashed red toga.

"It is, but it isn't quite right," Sam said. "The hair's supposed to be longer, her dress isn't slashed like this-it's supposed to be slit up the leg- she's a lot more muscular with some scars on her arms…and she's supposed to have daggers strapped to her thighs."

Ben blinked. "How come we've never seen her?"

"She never had to come out."

"So, wait, she has weapons under her skirt?" Kevin asked guilelessly. Everyone turned to glare at him. "…I said something bad didn't I?" he added quietly.

"Yes, you did," Sam said sternly.

"I just wanted to know why!" he quickly tried to explain. He continued to stammer out, "I mean, we never see the other gods with weapons, especially that Aquaria person-!"

Ben started towards him, but Evan beat him to it. With one long stride he quickly decked Kevin right in the chin, sending the older boy right to the ground. Stars shone out of his eyes as Kevin quickly got his bearings back.

Standing over him on strong, confident legs, Evan yelled at him, "You don't wonder what a girl has up her skirt, you pervert!"

Carter and Ben looked at each other. Both of them had stepped forward at the last minute, rolling a sleeve up in an obvious gesture of violence. She smiled while he looked away sheepishly, a luminescent blush on his features.

Newt, ignoring the moment next to him, took the subspace card out of Sam's hands and said, "I need to leave, so I'll just have Carter lead me home."

Sam looked at Kevin, who was still sprawled on the ground. "You know if this was on a sitcom I would have laughed."

"It doesn't matter; it's still pretty funny," Gwen said, an evil little smile on her face.

Later

"Isaac wants us to do what?" Evan asked as he pulled his hair back into its ponytail. Instead of the bum look he adopted days ago, he was dressed normally in jeans with a belt looped around his waist, old sneakers, and a long sleeved black shirt paired with a green t-shirt with a black dragon graphic on the front. He was sitting in the back of Kevin's car, next to Ben, with Sam in the driver's seat with the owner of the car driving.

Sam held up the note with the scribbles she had written down just hours ago. "According to him, there have been sightings of an unidentifiable alien coming from that quartz quarry into town and stealing property. He just wants us to check it out."

"Quartz quarry?" Evan raised an eyebrow. "Is that the same one we found back with the oscillator key incident?"

"Not exactly," Sam said. "That was just the main building. The mine isn't too far from it. That's where we're headed."

"What do the DNAliens want with quartz?" Ben asked.

"It's probably their power source," Kevin pointed out obviously. He slowly drove the car out onto the desert road, following a floating Gwen. She was surrounded by a pink aura, her arms and legs forced into a meditative position. She had her powers around a crushed traffic light, using the energy around it as a tracking device.

"I'm definitely picking something up!" Gwen suddenly shouted. "We'll be able to identify this person pretty soon."

"It's a DNAlien," Ben stated. "Who else is strong enough to tear down a traffic light?"

Sam pointed to herself and Evan. "We are."

"You have something against traffic lights?" Kevin asked amused.

"No, I'm just pointing out the obvious," Sam explained in an equally amused tone. Then she turned serious. "As a matter of fact any one of us could have torn down that traffic light. It doesn't necessarily have to be a DNAlien."

"Hold on guys!" Gwen shouted suddenly, the pretty pink aura fading away. "I found them." She stood on the ground and let the totaled traffic light shatter against the road. They all heard the sound of wheels scraping against the ground.

"Over there," Gwen whispered, nodding her head towards the left. Everyone turned to see a giant, green-brown lumpy…thing. It was hauling a large wagon full of clutter. It stopped before a cactus before lightly grabbing onto one of the branches. It suddenly screamed in pain right before uprooting the cactus and attempting to eat it.

"Found your DNAlien," Sam said with a smarmy grin. Ben grumbled something unintelligible as he and Kevin immediately ran out of the car in pursuit of the offending creature. "Idiots," she added bitterly as she and Evan got out of the car.

"Yeah, but one of them is your idiot," Evan pointed out with a shit-eating grin. Sam gave a cocky half smile. Then they heard the sounds of their friends screaming and they wiped the grins off their faces.

The lumpy thing had thrown something at them, using its absurd strength. Ben and Kevin had dodged to the sides to avoid the attack. The alien walked right past them and picked up the object, a pink, blue, and black oval-thing with broken cables spilling out of the bottom. The alien nuzzled it happily.

"Doesn't seem very hostile," Evan noted as the two of them walked up the scene.

"That kind of looks like High Breed tech though," Sam pointed out. "It could be working for them."

Evan and Sam walked over to the cart it was pulling and looked at the random things inside it. Ben obviously had the same idea as them. "What's it trying to build with all this stuff?" He picked up silver ornaments from the collection.

The alien instantly crept up behind him and lifted the club like weapon. Ben rolled over and dodged before he could get hit. He pawed at the Omnitrix from the ground.

"We don't want to hurt you," Ben told it. "Drop the weapon and give yourself up!"

Kevin put a hand on a conveniently placed rock and absorbed the stone. "You don't have to read him his rights first, Tennyson. Just take him out." He leaped and did a spinning punch right to the alien's face. It fell back; Kevin ran right up to it…

…and got hit by a giant pile of snow.

Everyone stared as Kevin fell to the ground as the heavy weight of fluffy snow fell right on top of him. He lifted his head, his hair covered in white. He attempted to lift himself off the ground, but then something heavy fell on top of him, pushing him back into the dirt, the air leaving his lungs with a loud, "Oof!"

A green door hovered in midair, the doorway left open. Carter was in the snow pile, sitting right on Kevin's back. She got up, brushed the back of her skirt off, and heaved a snowball at the door. The impact was hard enough to close the door, making it eventually fade away.

"Newt's back in D.C. in case you were wondering," was the first thing Carter said before she took in the situation in front of her. As Kevin got up and brushed snow off of him, the Goth pointed to the greenish alien and said rhetorically, "This is what's been stealing private property, isn't it."

"We don't know why though." Sam pointed to the wagon of objects. "It's got High Breed tech, but from the look of things it isn't smart enough to use it."

Carter took a look at the inside of the wagon, and then turned to the lumpy alien nuzzling its toy. Stroking her chin she said, "It's a baby looking for toys."

Taken aback, Ben cried out, "What? How?"

She gestured to the wagon. "It can't build anything out of those. He probably saw them as shiny and took them. You know, like an infant would."

"But it's got High Breed technology!"

"It probably took it from them. And can you blame it? It looks like a rattle." She pointed to the thing in the alien's hands.

"She's right," Gwen piped up. Everyone turned to her. "Oh, and it's a girl."

"Don't girls usually have big bows on the side of their head or something?" Kevin asked without thinking. Sam cleared her throat audibly and glared at him. Kevin grinned sheepishly and twiddled his fingers.

"I just keep saying the wrong thing today, don't I?"

"Just keep your mouth shut and look pretty," Sam said with a soft smile.

While they were talking the alien had been looking at Gwen, an adoring look on its face. Suddenly it grabbed her, lifting her high in the air. She gave a cry of surprise and immediately tried to break free.

"Gwen!" Carter shouted, hand clutching a water whip. "Put her down now!"

"Don't do anything!" Ben suddenly ordered her. "It'll squish her."

Despite her struggles, Gwen had the power to say, "I don't want to be squished!" She turned to the alien, who was still gazing at her adoringly and ordered, "Put me down. Now!"

With a confused grunt the alien slowly put Gwen down. "Thank you," she said once she was free. She backed away slowly. The alien reached a hand out for her, whimpering.

"If it's really a baby, then I'll feel really bad about hitting it," Evan told everyone.

"It is a baby," Carter insisted, "though I don't know why it went after Gwen. You don't look shiny," she added. The alien in question began to play with the High Breed object, spinning it around like a top.

"What exactly makes you think it's a girl?" Sam asked curiously.

"It doesn't really matter," Evan said. "We can't waste time babysitting this thing."

"We also can't leave it here," Carter pointed out. "It's too dangerous for it to wander around the desert."

"We're on a mission of intergalactic proportions," Ben said. "This creature has nothing to do with that."

"You don't think I know that?" Carter pointed to the High Breed tech the alien was now chewing on. "This thing took enemy technology. Chances are they'll want it back. If we leave it wandering the desert, the DNAliens will kill it and take the object. But if we take it with us, we've got some leverage."

"She's not some tool for us to use!" Gwen protested hotly.

"She's also not something we can waste our time on," Sam pointed out logically. "We're all teenagers, guys. We don't know the first thing about taking care of a baby."

"That's what the internet's for," Carter said exasperatedly.

"She also has a point," Ben said, nodding to Carter. "The DNAliens will come after their tool. They're probably searching for it right now."

"So, what, we're just taking this thing with us?" Kevin gave the baby alien a disgusted look. "Where are going to hide it?"

Everyone slowly turned to face Kevin. "You've got a few hideouts, don't you?" Sam asked slyly.

Kevin's eyes widened. "Oh, hell no."

About the coffee incident, let's just say that Ben used thumbtacks, firecrackers, and a Segway. No, I have no idea where he got a Segway. Let's just leave it at that, okay?

So, thoughts anyone?