Midnight Sun
'Sun' Mini-series, Part 3.
"I'm sorry Ben…" Cherry looked down to the ground, trying her hardest to avoid Ben's gaze "It just happened…then she came and I…"
"You knew she was watching didn't you?" Ben asked in a quiet tone.
"…I'm sorry," Cherry apologized "But I really like you Ben…"
"Ugh..." If he spent anymore time here Gwen would eventually run away to who knows where. He had to get out and look for her but he couldn't just leave her. Oh man, I really don't need this right now Ben groaned mentally.
Cherry sighed and let his shirt go "Go." Ben didn't need to hear anymore. He turned the dial on the Omnitrix, and slammed it down. When the green light had cleared, a black-suited humanoid lizard emerged and dashed out of the room with a large burst of speed. Cherry got up and dragged herself to the front door then outside. Her eyes glowed white as she lifted herself gently through the air and set herself down on the roof top. She plopped herself next to a sobbing red-haired girl and just stared out into the wilderness.
"What do you want? Did you come to rub it in my face?" Gwen wiped the tears out of her eyes, glaring at Cherry.
"No, I'm just here to talk." Cherry stared off into the sky not entirely paying attention to anything.
"There is nothing to talk about."
"Ben really likes you, you know."
"Obviously he likes you more."
"I wish, the entire time I was with him he wouldn't stop thinking about you," Cherry sighed and glanced to Gwen who just stared but surprised at Cherry's words "I was like a substitute for you."
"He still kissed you." Gwen pouted turning her face away.
"You and I both know I kissed him." Gwen didn't reply. She only put her head to rest on her knees "You know, my entire life I wondered what it would be like to have a boyfriend. To have someone love and care for me, to play with me, to…just have fun with. Like what you and Ben have. I have to admit I am jealous, really jealous."
"It's not all fun and games you know…"
"Don't try to be all mature on me. You and Ben haven't had any 'rough' patches in your relationship, well besides me and I'm not much of a problem anymore. You've been having a blast, and I want to be like you. Maybe I just needed a friend. I don't know, I just don't want to be lonely anymore."
"Hey…well…if you promise to not hit on Ben…"
"Sorry, can't promise that." Cherry replied curtly.
"You're a stubborn girl aren't you?"
"Not as stubborn as Ben though," Both girl's looked to each other and laughed "My mom and Ben would get along, they are both horribly stubborn."
"Speaking of your mom, she kinda busted you didn't she."
"My mom wasn't always so harsh. She only became like this up until a week ago. She didn't even want you guys here. She kept mumbling 'It would ruin the plans' or something. Then out of nowhere she was ordering me, like her own little slave or a puppet on her strings. 'Cherry lift up that generator' 'Stop complaining and move that particle accelerator! I don't feed you just to hear you complain'. Honestly she became a tyrant overnight. But hey, that's life."
"Why does your mom need a generator? And aren't particle accelerators huge?"
"Dunno, she won't tell me anything anymore," Cherry sighed "I miss the good old days where she would actually talk to me and not order me around. By the way, yes, yes they are." Cherry squinted her eyes and rubbed her temples remembering the strain she endured lifting that large hunk of metal up.
"So friends?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah…friends." She paused "I still get to hit on Ben though," Cherry laughed. She whipped her head to the forest when she saw a familiar lizard "Seems like someone misses you." While Gwen looked over the edge, she pushed Gwen off the roof. While she screamed, Cherry carried her gently through the air with her powers until she landed softly on the ground.
"Gwen!" XLR8 shouted as it raced through the forest at hyper speed. Soon enough the Omnitrix began blinking red, and released the alien form leaving Ben in his human form flying head first into Gwen tackling her to the ground "I'm sorry! Cherry kissed me and I didn't know what to do! I like her but I like you way more so please don't cry! I'm sorry…and I won't do it again and and…"
"Ben! Ben, calm down…" Gwen winced in pain and looked closely at Ben. A small smile crept up her face as she gently stroke his "Geez, Ben you should see the look on your face" She was surprised at how frantic he looked. She had to admit it made her happy to see him so worried about her "I forgive you."
"R-really?" Ben eyes began to tear but he quickly wiped them off and began his rant "Where were you? I was scared you know! I thought you were kidnapped by Vilgax or something! Do you have any idea how long I looked for you?" Ben quickly went from apologetic to full blown angry. Gwen slightly taken aback smiled and simply wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I'm sorry," was all she whispered. It was all she needed to say. Ben sighed, with it releasing all of his frustration and returned her hug. He was never letting this girl out of his sight ever again. Cherry who was still on the roof watched the scene and bitterly smiled as she jumped down to the ledge of her room's window and hopped inside. She gave one solemn look to Ben and Gwen before she shut her window.
For the remainder of the weekend visit Cherry locked herself in her room. She didn't respond to anyone's calls not even Ben's. The two worried about their new psychic friend. All her mother had to say about it was that 'Don't worry. She does that from time to time. Give her a few days and she'll be as good as new.' Those words didn't exactly reassure the cousins but what else could they do?
The night before they were supposed to leave, Ben was woken up by Gwen's insistent shoving. Gwen pressed her finger against her lips begging Ben to be quiet as she dragged Ben along with her. Still dazed and half asleep he didn't know what was going on. All he could feel was Gwen pulling him somewhere.
"Gwen, where are we going?" Ben asked still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"I saw Cherry's mom go into some secret room," Gwen turned to whisper making sure that no one could hear them "I thought we should check it out." Ben looked at her disbelievingly.
"I'm going back to sleep," Ben said curtly shaking Gwen's grip on him before making his way back to the bedroom.
"Come on Ben! She looks suspicious, and Cherry's been uneasy about the way her mom acts lately!"
"So what?" Ben yawned loudly.
"I thought that she might be an alien shape shifter."
"I'm going to bed."
"Ben!" Gwen grabbed his arm and thought for a bit "If you don't come with me I'm never kissing you again."
"What are you waiting for? I haven't got all day," Ben had already made his way past Gwen to the living room. She giggled, he is so easy. Gwen then pointed to a small statue on the shelf and Ben nodded. He pulled on the switch and the shelf slid to the side and opened up a flight of stairs. The two tip-toed their way down the stairs through the darkness until they came to a cold metallic door. Ben slowly opened in enough so he could peek through. When he did he saw Cherry's mother mixing a variety of chemicals before she moved over to a large machine. The room was coated in white, furnished with only a few desks and chairs with large complicated machines crowding the room. There was a window that showed another room, but it was pitch black and Ben couldn't make anything out.
Gwen pushed over Ben and watched Jessica make her way to the large particle accelerator where she pressed a few buttons and turned it on. Just then, the dark room lit up when a small yellow sphere that resembled the sun emerged from the darkness.
"Project Midnight Sun is a success! With this all my plans are finally coming together! And with this Sabrina can get what she finally deserves." The contrast of colors that radiated from the tiny sun, made it appear as what she described. The cousins were horrified.
"You were right…" Ben shook his head in disbelief "What are we going to tell Cherry?"
"The truth, we will settle this when everyone is present," Gwen got up from under the table and pulled Ben out "We'll settle this tomorrow."
"Well Jess…I don't know what to say about the kids…" Max scratched his head as he eyed Ben and Gwen who looked away to escape his piercing gaze.
"No Max its fine, I have to apologize about Sabrina's behavior…she isn't normally like this." Jessica looked over accusingly to Cherry who just looked forward not really focusing on anything. "Don't worry; I'll straighten things out with her."
It had been a while since they had seen her. She was either deep in thought or just really out of it. Either way, she didn't look too happy. Ben and Gwen noticed Cherry's lonely gaze and nodded. Ben spun the dial on the watch and transformed into a large red four armed creature and grabbed Cherry's mother. Gwen projected a Sphere around Cherry and pulled her over to the Rust bucket.
"Wha-what are you two doing?" Jessica struggled and thrashed in Ben's grip.
"We are taking Cherry away you shape shifting Alien!" Ben claimed.
"Ben just what do you think you're doing?" Max ran up to Ben and tried to release his grip on Jessica. Ben raised his hands to a point where Max couldn't reach.
"Wha?" Cherry finally realized what was going on when she heard her mother screaming "What are you guys doing to my mom!"
"Cherry that isn't your mom! It's an alien!" Gwen shouted as she set Cherry down next to her.
"What are you talking about?"
"Think about it! She does a lot of late night prowling, she made you move all those machines all for some big plan I bet! You even told me she became a tyrant over night!"
"Kids," Max sighed rubbing his face "She isn't an alien."
"Of course she is! We even saw her working on something in her lab!"
"Yes my work, which I do for a living. I admit I've been hard on Cherry but I'm only doing to speed up my work."
"What work?"
"I'm a scientist work on a new theory that deals with dark matter, where you take the…wait I'll confuse you." She searched her mind "Let me put it like this, I deal with a lot of molecules that if they touch they go boom."
"That doesn't help your case lady." Ben remarked.
"Guys let her go." Max ordered.
"But-!"
"Jess, why don't you explain?"
"Gladly," Ben dropped her and crossed his four arms eyeing her closely "Listen kids, I'm decided to move. I know that Cherry has been cooped in this place for far too long. I want her to grow up like a normal kid, with a lot of friends so that when I'm busy she won't be bored. So I've decided to speed up my work, which usually takes years and minimized it into a few weeks so that Cherry can go to school by the end of summer."
"Wha?" Out of everyone gathered there, Cherry looked the most surprised. She was shocked. Not at the fact that her mother was only being a monster for her sake but the fact that she didn't know about her mother's plans. She can read the mind of anyone, why could she notice her mother's plan?
"What…how…why? How could I not pick up on that?"
"Is that really what you're supposed to be surprised about?" Gwen pointed out, shaking her head slowly.
"I am your mother you know, I've learned a few tricks about your powers especially how to block you out of my mind."Her mother walked slowly to Cherry and hugged her tightly "I'm sorry dear, I've been hard on you but I did it so you could be happy. I hope you can forgive me." With tears wielding up in her eyes, Cherry strongly hugged her mother.
"You kids need a vacation," Max sighed "Your imaginations are growing too wildly." Ben and Gwen could only nervously laugh.
The rust bucket's engine roared as it existed the forest. Ben and Gwen were at the back waving to Cherry who kissed her hand and blew it to Ben. As his face turned a light red Gwen smacked the back of Ben's head "Dweeb."
When the Rust bucket had finally made its way out of the forest, Gwen had to bring up something that she kept for too long. "Now that's done with," Gwen's voice became grave and serious "Grandpa don't you have something to say to us?" Gwen crossed her arms and glared at Max who continued to be silent.
"What's going on?" Ben asked getting away from the window and walking next to Gwen.
"Alright, alright," Max put the rust bucket on auto-pilot and turned to kids "Ben I came here for a reason and it's not just to meet an old friend. Jessica's husband was a brilliant scientist on his own planet. He made a lot of technology that dealt with the brain and its functions."
"So..?"
"He wanted to wipe our memory with this." Gwen closed her eyes and produced a small black device that was heavily crushed. Gwen probably took care of it.
"What? Why would you-Oh!" An image of Gwen crossed flash through his mind "Grandpa you can't do that! You said you would agree to us being together if we came here with you!"
"Ben you have to understand…" Max pleaded.
"No! I'm not breaking up with Gwen!" Ben grabbed Gwen by her arm and went to their room slamming the door as loud as he could. Max sighed as he sank back in the chair. He looked up to the full moon, full of questions. What am I going to do now…? Ben and Gwen still hadn't got the approval they want, but they were willing to prove to their grandpa just how much they loved each other.
Thank you all for reading Turn Of Tides so far. I think I'll go back to more Bwen time. Look forward to the next chapter.
