Ben could only stand there at the caves entrance as he watched Gwen's silhouette against gold colored sky. Somehow, she looked different, yet as far as Ben could tell she was the same as the last time he had seen her. Ben could only continue to stare at her as the seconds passed like pedals in the wind.
"Oh Ben, there you are, I was wondering if you were here yet," Gwen said as she turned around to finding him staring at her.
Gwen quickly ran over to where Ben was standing near the caves mouth, stopping only a few feet in front of him.
"Ben, you okay?" Gwen said, noticing the odd look on Ben's face. Finding no response she then attempted to get his attention, "Hello! Anyone there! Earth, uh, dream to Ben."
"Huh? Oh, sorry Gwen I must still not be feeling too well." Ben said shrugging off the odd sensation he had experienced only a few short seconds ago. "Guess I should stay in the hospital a few more days to be safe." He muttered before realizing his mistake.
Instantly Ben knew he was in trouble. Gwen knew nothing about how he had stayed up on the roof the only a short time ago and if there were two things in the world his cousin loved to harp at him over it was his recklessness and his stupidity. His body instantly tensed, sensing the danger that now enveloped him.
"Hospital. Ben, why are you in the hospital?" Gwen said in a tone both concerned and dangerous. She had one eyebrow raised and both arms crossed in a stance that ultimately signaled grief for Ben.
"Well, um, its nothing really" Ben said trying in vain to avoid the pain he knew would ensue if he were to tell her his actual reason. He quickly turned his head trying to avoid the eye contact, knowing his poker face was as poor as it had been since their last summer vacation over eleven years ago.
"Ben." said Gwen, her voice laced with venom, no longer lacking the concern it had once had.
He knew he had only to not make eye contact, if he could manage that he'd be safe. But Gwen was prepared to wait, that summer road trip had taught her how to pry the truth from her cousin, much to Ben's dismay.
Ben's eyes started to drift, wanting to move, or to somehow try alleviating the friction between them. Still, he was trying desperately to keep them in place. It was because that stare Gwen used was almost perfect; she'd spent years cultivating its effectiveness to use against Ben. Don't look, don't look, don't look, don't look!
He looked.
"Damn it." he muttered. "Fine, fine, you know that night we first met in, um, whatever this place is."
Gwen nodded, waiting to hear the rest.
"Well, you see the thing is, I may have fallen asleep in the rain on my roof that night. And I might have ended up in the hospital in a fever induced coma for a little while..." he said, his voice trailing off as he saw the anger building in Gwen's eyes reaching its zenith.
If there was one thing Gwen hated it was when Ben did something so stupid that it endangered his life. Ever since Ben first got the Omnitrix he'd done a lot of stupid things with it in which he'd almost lost his life, Gwen in turned had developed what Ben called "worried mother syndrome." Every time he did something she deemed unnecessarily stupid, she'd harp on it until Ben went almost insane, be it through physical or verbal abuse. Unfortunately, this time it looked like it'd to be the physical kind.
"You idiot!" she screamed as she proceeded to smack him upside the head. "God, I can't leave you alone can I! Even being a straight A student your still a moron!" she said, delivering blow after blow as she spoke.
"Ow, Gwen, ow, will you, ow, stop, ow, hitting me, ow!" Ben said as he tried to fight off his scarily angry cousin.
Ben was about to try to open his mouth again to try and calm Gwen down when she suddenly gave him a huge push. Ben quickly lost his footing and started to fall backwards down into the cave. Grabbing Gwen's hand in an attempt to stabilize himself he only managed to drag them both down into the depths of the cave.
"Ahhhhh!" they screamed as they tumbled down the tunnel, rolling down till they reached the bottom.
"Ugh, jeez Gwen you have to push me down hole in order to vent your anger?" Ben said in a sore tone as he tried to sit up only to realize that something was laying on top of him. She was awake, but not moving.
Gwen felt odd, and it wasn't because she had just fallen down a hole and landed sharply at the bottom. Somehow, lying on Ben's chest made her feel odd. She lay there listening to his heartbeat, it sounded strangely erratic, probably due to the tumble they had just taken, but she felt almost hypnotized by its beat. Caught by its rhythm, she almost wanted to just lay there and listen to it forever.
"Um, Gwen can I get up now?" Ben spoke, a little worried at the fact that Gwen had probably spent a whole two minutes on top of him.
"Are you okay?" Ben was skeptical of whether or not they could come to any permanent harm here, but concern had overwhelmed him into asking.
Gwen quickly snapped back into reality. "Yeah, I'm fine thanks, just a little sore." she said as she got up off of Ben and stood to look around the dimly lit cave.
"Where are we?" she almost mouthed in awe of the massive structure filled with glowing crystal and water filled pools.
"This is what I was trying to show you before you started attacking me. See each one of these pools, there memories." Ben replied.
"What?" Gwen said turning to Ben with a puzzled look on her face.
"Well you see all these pools of water, if you touch the surface you can see one of the memories we have. It's pretty cool actually, the sounds come in the form of echoes and you watch the memory in the pool like a TV. Come on I'll show you!" Ben said, grabbing Gwen's hand in excitement, as he dragged her to the nearest pool and touched the surface with his open palm.
Instantly the memory started and Ben saw an image of Gwen crying as she lay on her bed, face pressed into the pillow. Her sobs echoed through the cave and reached them as if they were actually standing in the room, listening only a few feet away. Ben glanced at Gwen who was in part shocked and a maybe just a little uncomfortable by this scene depicting a torrent of unpleasant emotions.
All of the sudden the phone in Gwen's room rang and she slowly turned to pick it up, wiping away her tears and clearing her throat.
"H-hello?" The almost timid sounding young Gwen answered between sobs.
"Gwen? Hey, what's wrong, you sound…well, like you've been crying." Came Ben's voice across from the other end of the phone, concern clearly evident.
Gwen, despite her emotional state was too proud a person to simply acknowledge that her goofy brain dead cousin had actually gotten something right for once. "Its-its nothing Ben, I'm just not feeling so well okay, now what is it you wanted…" a few tears dripping down her porcelain cheeks to land softly on the floor below. Ben was quiet for a moment before responding. "Gwen, I heard" Ben paused again, "I heard from a friend that Tommy dumped you to go out with another girl for prom…I wanted to make sure you were okay."
At this Gwen couldn't contain herself anymore, she simply wasn't able to in the face of her cousins kindness. "Ben I…I'm sorry, it's true, Tommy did dump me to go out with Sarah, I just, I feel so…" However she was unable to finish her sentence as another set of tears caused her to simply sob instead.
In truth Ben had only met Tommy once, but he had known the type of guy he was after only a short amount of time in his company. Gwen has started dating him not to long after their road trip ended and the school years started. He was the classic example of the pretty boy, good looks, wavy hair, the lead in every play and lacking any kind of moral character. If you had asked Ben back then, he would likely have laughed at the thought of his cousin dating such an obvious fraud, but Gwen was young then, hormones were strong enough to block out common sense and even someone as intelligent as Gwen was susceptible to the fanciful whims of first love.
Ben was quiet for a short time before he said anything, "I'm sorry Gwen, I know that you really like him and I wish things had gone better for you…"
"It's not even that, it's just, just I really wanted to go to prom tonight and dance with him alongside all my friends. I just wanted to have a little fun for a change instead of studying all the time" Said Gwen, practically hiccupping from the tears.
Silence followed for few seconds before Ben replied, "Gwen, put on your Prom dress okay," His voice very calm.
"Huh, but why?" Gwen said slightly more composed than she was a few seconds ago.
"Just do it okay." Ben said, and with that the phone clicked off.
A few minutes passed as Gwen brought the prom dress out of her closet and tried it on, hoping if anything to find a smile in the comfort such a beautiful dress brought her.
Back inside Ben and Gwen's dream however, Gwen upon realizing her younger self was about to change quickly cover Ben's eyes, startling him. After her younger self had changed she removed her hands from Bens face.
All the sudden the doorbell rang and the point of view shifted to that of the young looking Ben, dressed in a tuxedo that was perhaps a size too big for him. His speedy arrival at Gwen's house of course attributed to his handy alien DNA watch.
Gwen's mom answered the door. "Ben, what are you doing here? And in a tux." she said appraising the 12 year olds clean and fancy looking cloths, smirking at his lavender bow tie.
"Oh, Gwen didn't tell you? I'm taking her to prom tonight, Tommy said he couldn't go and when Gwen told me I offered to take her." Ben said.
"No, she must have forgotten. She's been in her room a while, probably getting ready for the prom, must've forgot." Gwen's mom said ushering him in. "Here, she's probably ready, why don't you go get her."
"Sure" Ben said, running up the stairs to Gwen's room.
Once again within the memory the point of view shifted and revealed Gwen standing in a full gown in her room. A sudden knock on her door startled her as she turned to see the door open revealing a somewhat classy looking Ben Tennyson.
"Hey, you look pretty good, for a dweeb." He said, an arrogant smile lighting up his face.
"B-Ben! What are you doing here?" Gwen almost shouted out of shock.
"Well, I'd like to, if you wanted, I don't know, um go to prom with you." he said scratching the back of his head with embarrassment and scuffing his shoe against the floorboard.
Gwen stood in shock, her dweeby, self centered, geek of cousin, was openly offering to take her to the prom.
"I mean I'll understand if you don't want to go, I just figured since nobody really knows were cousins that I could take you or something" Ben said his voice getting to be more of a mutter every second, cheeks turning scarlet,
Gwen was almost speechless at this, here was her doofus of a cousin, known for his selfishness and idiocy actually performing a thoughtful and generous act. He was actually doing something that not only embarrassed and discomforted him, but he was also doing it to make her feel better. Had she not seen how nervous he was asking her this, she might of poked fun at him, but seeing the honesty that shown openly in his eyes all she could do bring him into a gentle hug.
"Oh Ben, that is so sweet, of course I'll go with you." she said, Ben standing awkwardly in the embrace, apparently unaccustomed to the fluxing emotions of the female species.
The next thing either of them new they had made it past Gwen's mother and her camera, posing for no less than 34 prom pictures, much to Ben's chagrin. Eventually they made it to her father's car and they had to listen to Gwen's father remark on how sharp Ben looked in his Grandpa Max's old tux, the same old suit Ben had worn for Camille's wedding.
After getting out of the car Ben and Gwen soon made it inside and thusly onto the dance floor, Ben keeping his promise to make sure Gwen had a fun evening.
"Wow Ben, how'd you get so good at dancing?" Gwen said laughing as old memories of their summer vacation arose within her memory.
"Oh you know, just repeating some moves my dweeby cousin taught me once." he said jokingly.
Gwen only smiled at this as the music started to shift into a different song.
However several other girls soon appeared behind them, interrupting their dance. They had no time to start into their next dance as a trio of girls came over, hoping to entertain themselves with a bit of mischief.
"Hey there cutie, want to come dance with us? I'm sure you'd have a much better time than you would with that loser girlfriend of yours." the leader of the group of girls said snidely while the other girls behind her laughed.
Gwen might not have noticed it before, seeing nothing of her dance partner but the image of her goofy cousin in a tux, but Ben actually looked rather handsome under the lights of the dance floor. His body unusually muscular for his age, a kind yet handsome face with rebellious hair, blazing green eyes, and a soft whimsical smile He exuded what most popular girls looked for in a boy toy. In truth Ben almost looked even more attractive than Tommy, the kind of guy that would attract any number of girls, both good and bad.
Gwen was admittedly a little worried; despite their nasty attitudes these were the type of pretty girls Ben always went after. They had the same build of Ben's last two previous crushes, Kai, and Lucy. She was just about to tell the girls to take a hike before Ben gestured for her to stop.
You could see all the hope fly out of Gwen as she readied herself for the disappointing blow, when surprisingly, Ben did what was perhaps the second most courteous thing he'd done for her since the night began.
"Sorry ladies, but I'm Gwen's date." He said looking back to see her face lighten. "Besides, she's the only girl here worth dancing with anyways." flashing once again that almost arrogant looking smile, this time directed at the gaggle of popular girls.
"Hmph, fine. Losers belong together anyways." replied the leader of the girls, pumping herself up as she walked across the dance floor in her overly-poofy dress.
Ben turned to look back at Gwen only to find her trying to sort out the large amount of mixed emotions, her face slightly red.
Finally after a few seconds of Ben waiting for Gwen to say something she found her voice."Ben, did you all mean that, you know about me being the only girl here worth dancing with?" Gwen said, her face getting redder as she stared at the floor, avoiding direct eye contact.
The question struck Ben as odd and the look even odder, but he figured he'd just answer honestly. "Yeah, 'course I did. What, did you think I'd do the same thing Tommy did to you? You're a really nice girl Gwen, way better than they'll ever be, you don't deserve to be treated like that." He said smiling, somehow not embarrassed by that blatantly affectionate comment. And for the second time that night he was bombarded by yet another hug, except this time he also received a kiss on the cheek.
And like before Ben's only response was to stand there and blush profusely as the music changed to slower pace, made for more intimate dancing. Ben found that he had put his hands on Gwen's waste and that they had started to dance in this state of hugging. The result as many would guess looked a lot like a young couple in love, slow dancing.
Meanwhile back in the cave the feelings that the memory showed seemed to be renewed within Ben and Gwen's present self, each caught up in its nostalgia. Ben stood next to the pool, blushing profusely and thinking that, looking back on that now, that they had played that perhaps a little too risky for cousins. Gwen on the other hand, was thinking that Ben's gestures were as sweet and innocent as that had been that day. She oddly enough didn't see anything strange about it at all.
The music was still playing as the memory of their dance continued.
"Hey Ben, can you still dance like that?" Suddenly asked the real Gwen, hoping to recapture a bit more of that nights feelings.
Ben took a moment to pause, only returning from his thoughts to reply that yes, he still could "huh, yeah of course I can, it's one of those things you don't forget." wondering what brought up the sudden question.
"Then let's dance like in the memory!" Gwen said smiling excitedly as she turned to face Ben, the sudden flux of old emotions making her sound as giddy as when she was ten.
"I, yeah, sure I guess." Ben said somewhat nervously, his thoughts still causing him a constant blush.
Gwen, quite excited came over to him and placed her arms around his back, allowing Ben to notice how mature she had become as her body pressed up against him. Ben's body immediately stiffened from the shock, he hadn't realized how much she'd grown since then. This defiantly wasn't a problem he had to deal with at prom. However, nonetheless he placed his arms on her hips and started to dance.
Despite being very awkward at first, though mostly just for Ben, they both soon found a natural rhythm and began to just shift back and forth to the music, mirroring their younger selves.
Gwen was now so relaxed that she nuzzled into Ben's shoulder, resting her head against it, forgetting how very odd the average person would see this as being. Ben too had done just about the same as he had forgotten all his thoughts about Gwen and the oddness of the dance as he just sunk into the motion.
Neither wanted the music to stop, for some reason they both just felt at home with the other like this. Gwen listening to Ben's steady heartbeat as her head lay against his chest, and Ben with his hands wrapped around her. If they had bothered to give any thought to this situation, they might have realized the oddity of such a feeling, but in each others arms, all manner of thought disappeared. With bodies pressed against each other, and arms conveying a dreamlike sense of safety, only the feelings of warmth and comfort remained.
Slowly, the music started to stop as the memory began to fade out, the pool becoming clear water again, leaving an aged reflection of what once was. Ben and Gwen stopped their swaying as the lingering notes of the song got softer and softer until they until it almost disappeared. Still pressed against each other, Gwen tilted her head to look up at Ben, his Green emerald eyes glowing in the dark. And slowly, unbeknownst to either of them, their heads started to drift gently towards one another.
Voices flared up on both sides, signaling that each was going to wake soon, but still their lips crept ever closer. No thought, no mind involved, just the simplicity of two people caught within the other's eyes, hypnotized by rhythmic heartbeats. and just for a second right before the last of the music disappeared, their lips touched. The soft sensation of their kiss electrifying their bodies, as if truly breathing for the first time and intoxicated by the sweet release. A soft, gentle kiss, broken like a waking dream as they each vanished from the tender glow of the cave, leaving only the passionate feelings to linger in the almost perfect darkness.
Meanwhile back on earth at Belleview Hospital, Ben was slowly regaining consciousness after another day spent asleep. His eyes slowly fluttered open as he tried to force away his blurry vision. Trying to remember where he was and what had happened when suddenly the memory of his shared dream came flooding back. His eyes shot open as his recent transgression on natures laws replayed in his mind.
"OH MY GOD I JUST KISSED MY COUSIN!" Ben half yelled throwing himself into upright position in of his hospital bed.
Just then a huge coughing sound could be heard coming from the right side of Ben's bed. Ben, looking over in horror found his roommate Ethan, sitting beside him in a chair, soda covering his shirt as he stared back with mouth agape.
Across the galaxy on the planet of Anodine, Gwen lay in her bed, covers wrapped around her softly groaning as she tried to force herself to wake up. Everything fogged about her as she tried to call up her fully awakened state. Her head laying against pillow, suddenly burst up as she yelled, "OH MY GOD I KISSED BEN!" Practically hyperventilating, she heard a rather loud cackle bellow out from the kitchen, before falling back down into bed due to shock.
