Chapter 6: Runaway

Ben jumped onto his bike and peddled as fast as he could to get across town when he finally reached his cousin's school, when he arrived at her prep school he found Gwen sitting under a tree with some of her friends. He peddled over and stopped. "Gwen can we talk for a moment, it's really important." He said out of breath.

Gwen got to her feet and walked out of ear shot of her friends and looked at her cousin "What is Ben?" she asked with a concerned voice. Ben took a few quick breaths before speaking. "I went over to Kevin's since I haven't seen him in a while and I found out from his step-dad that he took off" he said hoping that Gwen would worry.

"Kevin's a bid boy he can take care of himself besides he probably just snuck out for the day, I'm sure he's been grounded that's why you haven't seen him" she replied. Ben shook his head "No you misunderstand Gwen he hasn't been gone one day he's been gone for two months…the day you and him had that falling out he ran away" he said as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a large manila envelope that was bulging near the bottom."He left this behind for the both of us" Ben said as he opened the envelope and pulled out two folded sheets of paper one addressed to Gwen and the other to Ben.

Taking the folded paper from her cousin she held it in her hand and saw him reach back into the envelope and pull out Kevin's plumber's badge. Gwen looked at it and then unfolded the letter that was in her hands. It wasn't very long but she knew that Kevin wasn't one to pour his heart into a letter. Gwen read the letter to herself

'I can't stay in Bellwood; I know you're probably thinking how childish to run away like this but I've realized that now I'm just a third wheel. Now I didn't make up my mind just on the fact that your with that jerk Morningstar, I was thinking of doing this for some time and now just feels like the best time to do it. I know it's kind of stupid to say sorry in a letter but I am sorry for how I acted. I really was worried about you, and I guess I kind of vented my anger on Ray's car and I said some stupid things that made me sound insensitive. So again I'm sorry… but Bellwood just isn't for me anymore so I'm leaving my badge behind to prove to myself that I really don't have any ties here anymore.'

Gwen folded the letter in half and grabbed the badge Ben was holding "I'll hold onto this… I'm more responsible" she said as she put the badge into her bag. Ben nodded his head his letter was still unopened "I should get going, I'll see you at Mr. Smoothy if you're up to it I mean, and they're releasing two new flavors today." He said as his cousin declined and walked back over to her friends. When he was alone Ben opened up his very short letter.

'Don't look for me; you and Gwen don't need me anymore. Mostly Gwen, just keep an eye on her. Don't ever repeat this to her but I left so she could be happy, even if hurts me… all I could ever want is for her to be happy even if it meant letting her be with someone else.'

Ben folded up the letter and put it back into his bag and climbed back on his bike and began to slowly peddle out to the main road that led into town. Sighing loudly Ben thought back to the day when Kevin ran off. He saw how upset Kevin was when he saw Gwen with their rival and kissing him. I knew I should have made sure Kevin was all right before having him drop me off at home. Ben thought as he pulled into the parking lot of the smoothie shop.

-------------

"Class five alien technologies some of the best around and I'm going to part with it for no less than seventy-five… thousand." Kevin said holding the lid of the crate up as they aliens looked at the weapons that filled the crate. In the past two months Kevin had bought, traded and sold more alien tech then he ever did in the past. In the short span of time Kevin was making quite an impressive name for himself especially because he never stayed in place too long for safety reasons and personal reasons. The aliens chattered quietly and pulled out a large case filled with money.

Kevin smirked as he took the case and opened it and whistled at the money "Pleasure doing business with you guys" he said walking out from under the overpass to where he had parked his car. Pulling his keys out of pocket and unlocking the driver's side door, he climbed in and slammed the door shut behind him.

Resting his head back against the headrest he sighed and looked toward the passenger seat where Gwen always sat. Putting the keys in the ignition he drove off till he was outside of the city limits in an area that was completely empty. Pulling onto a dirt road Kevin pulled behind a large overgrown bush and turned the engine off. Turning the key once notice he had the power back on. He turned on the radio before grabbing a blanket from the backseat and draped it over him-self.

Listening to the song Kevin started to feel a heavy tightness in his chest when he realized that the song was the same song he and Gwen danced to in front of his car. Reaching out from under the blanket her turned the car off and reclined his seat back to allow him to sleep. Sighing lightly Kevin shifted a bit before looking out the windshield at the stars above his car.

No matter how much distance he put between himself and Bellwood it didn't help him at all. Every night it was the same, before he fell asleep he always wondered what Gwen was doing at that moment. He couldn't stop himself from caring about her in every waking moment of his day he thought about her when he woke up in the morning, when he was in the middle of a trade, at night he dreamt of her and some of the few times they were actually alone together.

"Good night Gwen" he whispered softly as he closed his eyes and drifted off to another night of restless sleep. Right away his dreams were centered on the half Anodite girl that no matter what his faults were she always accepted him after she reprimanded him for doing something. His dreams were a collage of memories of all the times he and Gwen were fighting aliens or alone in his garage.

------

By the time Gwen finally got home it was late, instead of hanging around the house she ran up the stairs to her room and tossed her bags onto her bed and pulled Kevin's plumber's badge out of her bag before climbing out the window and onto the roof. Putting her arms around her legs Gwen looked at the badge in her hands and sighed. Tracing her finger over the top she looked at the badge. It was a clear night and the stars were shimmering in the ink black sky above her head.

"You're such an immature idiot sometimes Kevin" she whispered as she kept tracing her finger over the top of the badge. She sighed softly and put the badge down beside her as she lay back against the rough shingles. Closing her eyes she tried to remember his smile and his voice even his touch. At that moment it was official she had forgotten the fact that she was still mad at Kevin for whatever her reason was two months ago. Bolting in an upright position she gasped "Oh my god…I think I'm in lo-" she cut herself off at the last second as she felt her cheeks heat up at the thought of finishing the sentence. As she got to her feet Gwen walked to her bedroom window and started to climb in, while she was climbing in her cell phone began to ring.

Grabbing her phone from her bag she read the text message 'Tomorrow night, dinner at six, I'll pick you up at five-thirty- M' Gwen gave a weak smile at the text message, she laughed softly. "How can I say that I have feelings for Kevin when Michael has been nothing but a gentleman to me" Gwen said softly to herself as she sent a text back saying she would be ready. Putting the phone and the badge on her nightstand she began to get ready for bed.

As she climbed into bed Gwen looked at the badge sitting on her nightstand before burying herself under her blankets. Her first thought before falling asleep was where Kevin was at that moment. For the first time Gwen realized how alone she felt in her room. Reaching out from under her blanket she grabbed the plumber's badge and held it against her chest as she started to fall asleep.

Her dreams that night were much darker like the movie Julie had forced her to watch on their movie night. She couldn't remember much about the movie just that the settings had made an impression on her. As she was walking down a dark road branches creaked above her head and a dark figure was walking toward her, at first it looked like Kevin but then it started to change into a large monster. When the monster reached her Gwen stood her ground. The monster in front of her was Kevin when he was younger. Just then Michael appeared beside Gwen and started to fight the mixed alien form of Kevin and finally was standing over him getting ready to finish him off.

"No!" Gwen screamed and opened her eyes and saw that it was still dark outside; she glanced over at her clock and saw it was only five in the morning. Sighing loudly she climbed out of bed and went over to her computer. After a few minutes of searching the files that her grandfather had left behind she started to look into his programs to see if she could find one that tracked down alien technology of any kind. When she had searched all the files she wanted to scream, the files were useless. Getting up from her chair she dressed in a long sleeve black shirt and a pair of black pants when she was done she climbed out her window and down the mana stairs she created till she hit the yard below.

When her feet hit the grass she looked around at the early morning world. Everything was so quiet and peaceful. Gwen headed out of her back yard and started to run down the sidewalk as she headed for her cousin's house. By the time she arrived she was almost out of breath.

"What a workout" she said to herself as she snuck to Ben's bedroom window, using her mana she unlocked the window and pushed it open. Climbing in the window Gwen looked at Ben as he slept he was chewing on his pillow and mumbling something about chili cheese fries. "Wake up Ben…I mean it Ben right now" she hissed getting ready to hit him.

Ben sat up the pillow hanging from his mouth. "Gwed…what are you doing here?" he asked as he pulled the pillow out of his mouth. He looked around the room and saw the clock on his desk. "Gwen it's almost six in the morning…" he commented as he wrapped his blanket around himself.

Gwen looked at her cousin "I just couldn't sleep well and I'm also confused about some things. Like why did Kevin really leave? He wouldn't leave just leave… he said he was sorry in the letter he left for me but why would he say sorry and that he was a third wheel. Ben I want to know what he said to you in your letter." Gwen asked taking a seat on the chair by the desk.

"Well he said that he wanted me to not touch anything that he had in any of his storage building but I just had to make sure no one touched anything" he said as his left eye began to twitch. Gwen huffed "Ben, tell me the truth" she said raising her voice a bit. Ben looked at Gwen and gave a defeated sigh. "He told me to keep an eye on you and not to tell you that he left because he wanted you to be happy even if you weren't with him." He said.

Looking down at the floor Gwen realized after a moment that her vision was blurred by tears. She wanted to cry but she didn't want to cry in front of her cousin. Ben climbed out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt that had been crumpled into a ball and put them on before going over to his cousin. "You care about him, and he cares about you… I know this will sound weird but you two are perfect for each other." Ben said trying to push his hair down into place.

"I want to find him and bring him back to Bellwood" Gwen whispered as she looked at the floor a few stray tears finally escaping and hitting the floor. Ben smirked "I was wondering when you were going to say that. Don't worry, Kevin is a guy of habit he's going to be somewhere where there are good car shows, great alien tech and terrible junk food." he said standing up and holding his hand out to his cousin.

--------

Kevin woke with a start his cell phone was going off grabbing it off the dashboard he noticed it was an unknown number, and to him unknown numbers meant big cash. When he answered a heavy voice spoke to him. "I hear you have some good stuff meet me at the warehouse seventy-nine North street in fifteen minutes and bring your best stuff… I have cash" the voice said before hanging up. Kevin smirked cash was good it was very good. He always kept his best stuff in his trunk since he didn't trust rental places with it.

"Hello money…it's going to be a pleasure" he said tossing the blanket in the back seat and starting his car up. He peeled out of his hiding spot and headed for the warehouse on North Street. When he got there he knew he was early so he climbed out of his car and unlocked his trunk and leaned against it as he waited.

Soon a tall cloaked figure carrying a large suitcase walked over and stood before Kevin. Moving away from his car Kevin smirked "High quality stuff all class five, so look around if you're looking for something special then it could take a couple days to find it." He said with a smirk the hum of the light above them filling the silence. "So what do you want, I got to know so I can give you a price" Kevin said crossing his arms over his chest.

"What I want is for you two get down on your knees right now" the creature said as it pulled the cloak off revealing a plumber's uniform. "Kevin Ethan Levin you are under arrest for selling class five alien technology on a class three planet." The plumber said as he moved quickly and handcuffed Kevin with energy cuffs.

Kevin growled and struggled against the cuffs "This is entrapment; you called me here and tricked me!" He yelled as he was pulled toward the Plumber's ship. He twisted his body and threw his elbow at the plumber in the throat and took off as fast as he could until he was back in his car. Peeling out of the parking lot he headed north to a hideout he had in the mountains. With his hands still cuffed together he kept driving faster and faster till he was outside the cave, pulling in quickly he killed the engine to his car and put the shield up.

"Damn…" he growled getting out of the car and making his way over to a worktable where he had tools that he used to repair weapons that he sold. When he found the right tool he began to work on the annoying binds that were starting to cut into his skin, by the time he finally broke the cuffs off he dropped them onto the ground and kicked them across the hideout till they were lying under a workbench.

Walking in a small circle Kevin looked around the small dimly lit cave hideout. He knew if he went out to sell anything he would be caught. "I guess I just have to hide here till he stops looking for me" Kevin said to himself as he climbed into his car and disconnected any technology he could be tracked by. Circling the hideout Kevin groaned and went to the food storage he kept there. The area was filled with junk food and soda there was enough food to feed ten people for a year. Ripping open a bag of chips Kevin flopped onto an old couch and sighed.

Groaning loudly Kevin dropped the bag of chips on the floor and went over to his car and started to unload the trunk of his car and lock the technology away in safe places. When he was done the first thing he thought about was Gwen and how she would chew him out for getting arrested.

---------

"Ben wake up" Gwen said giving her cousin a small smack in the head; he had fallen asleep in the passenger seat of her brother's car again. Gwen had done something she never thought she would ever do. She and Ben had decided to look for Kevin; they had flown back to Gwen's house and 'borrowed' Ken's car with a text message promising to bring it back in one piece.

Gwen knew her brother wouldn't rat her out, she was the good child she could do no wrong in their parent's eyes… most of the time. If she got caught by the police while driving with just a learner's permit she would probably be grounded for a year, then sneaking out in the early morning hours could pin a couple extra months onto that sentence.

Ben yawned and looked out the window; dark shadows flew by as the sky started to lighten slowly as the sun rose into the sky. "What are you going to say to Kevin to get him to come home?" Ben asked putting a lot of emphasis on the fact that the older teen left because Gwen was with someone else.

"I'm not sure yet, I don't want to say anything that's going to make him not want to come back at all. I guess I have to think about what I should say." Gwen said as she pulled onto the highway.

When she had tried to read his mana from Bellwood it had been hard to get a lock on Kevin since it had been two months since he had been there. They had to trust her powers and hope that they were being led in the right direction.

Gwen knew it was going to probably take all day to look for Kevin, and there wasn't even a guarantee that they would even find him. He had a two month head start he could have been anywhere. "Ben if you were Kevin where would you go to run away from your problems?" she asked keeping her eyes locked on the dark road in front of her.

"Well Kevin loves his car so it would have to be somewhere, where he could either store the car or drive it. So any place he could get gas would be a place to look first. Next he would probably go either somewhere he knows real well or pretty well and last but not least Kevin used to deal in alien technology so I wouldn't push that thought aside. If I were him I would fall back on something I know really well." Ben said sitting up "So to find Kevin we just need to find a bunch of aliens that have been ripped off and we're on the right trail" he added with a smirk.

Gwen looked at her cousin "Yes really funny Ben, keep it up and I'll tell Julie you still suck your thumb." She threatened as they took the connector and started to head north east. Pulling the car to the side of the road Gwen grabbed the badge again and started to track Kevin. "It's hard to tell but he's pretty far, but that's expected after two months" she said softly. Then it dawned on her that it would take all day. Grabbing her cell phone from her pocket she handed it to Ben "Call Michael and tell him that I'm probably not going to make it for dinner tonight." She added as she pulled back onto the highway.

Ben groaned as he made the call and left a message on Michael's cell phone. He hung up and rested his head against the window and yawned. "Wake me when we find him, I've got to catch up on the sleep that you deprived me of." Ben said adjusting himself until he was comfortable. Gwen smiled and looked out the windshield the sun look very beautiful as it continued to rise into the sky.