I don't own Ben 10, if you were wondering.

Opposing Sides

Chapter 8

Gwen couldn't help but feel uncomfortable when under scrutiny. Both she and Charmcaster stood perfectly still under his gaze, waiting for him to say something. It felt like an eternity since they had given there report on the acquisition of the Alter of Bizel. She was about ready to snap when he finally spoke.

"I am pleased that everything has gone as planned." he said in a malicious tone of voice. "However your, lack of discipline amazes me." he said his tone turning deadly serious. " if you would stop your squabbling for even one moment you would be able to complete these tasks ten time as efficiently." the grizzled old sorcerer said as he stood from his chair, and looked through the shadow cast by his hood. "There is but one more item to be obtained, and then, we shall have the power to do as we see fit." he said his eyes widening, with madness.

"Now, do not dawdle. You must be ready to strike before weeks end. We are running out of time. And if you fail me. I will unleash upon you arcane tortures that would make the heavens weep for your very souls." he said as he drove his staff into the ground and vanished into thin air.

Gwen only had time to relax for a second before Charmcaster rounded on her. "you see that, you made him angry." she spat at the younger girl. "Uncle Hex has never tolerated weakness, and your full of it. Always trying your hardest not to hurt the innocent bystanders, or trying to disarm the security personnel instead of destroying them like you should. I don't know why he chooses to keep such a useless person around." she was venting now, she knew if they ever failed him they wouldn't be around much longer. However she was surprised at how easily they had gotten off.

"sorry for being human. You know wanting to help my fellow man and all that." Gwen wasn't nearly as afraid of Charmcaster as she was of Hex. After staring him in the face Charmcaster was like a little kitten. That and she knew that Hex might still be watching them so her stepsister wouldn't be likely to try anything on her. "besides I know were robbing the places, but do we really have to do the blow in the front door thing every time. We know magic, couldn't we just poof in and out and be on our way." she said in a strained voice hoping she wasn't pushing Charmcaster too much.

"First of all teleportation is ten times harder than it sounds, its something even I would have trouble with, and second we do it because we can, its not like they can stop us anyway." Charmcaster said as she moved toward the door of the abandoned apartment. " Now go grab your reagents and meet me in the ground floor, we have some ground to cover tonight if were going to make it to the museum by Saturday." the older sorceress said as she made her way into the hall.

As Gwen moved to go back to the room she had been using for the past two days, she couldn't help but feel alone. She knew she didn't fit in with these two but she didn't have much choice.

When her father had disappeared a year ago, her mother broken down and couldn't work anymore. Then one day a man had come forth to help her mother. He got her back on her feet, and back to her normal life. To Gwen he had seemed like a night in shining armor. However after the two got married and Gwen and her mother moved in with the man and his daughter, slowly day by day he had become more distant. After a while it was like he wasn't there anymore, until one day he wasn't.

That was the last straw for her mother. The next day she had been found dead in the attic of their house. Gwen couldn't bring herself to remember anymore than that. Two days later she had found herself with Herbert Xavier. Her stepfathers brother. Since there was no one left in her family to take care of her she had been given into his custody. Which at first had seemed so normal. However as soon as the child welfare people had left. He had revealed his true self. She had been about to run when he offered her something in return for her help, something she couldn't refuse. Her parents.

So she spent the next few months learning magic, and as it turns out Charmcaster, had also been learning magic from him for a long time. Hex however seemed like he was on a tight schedule. So he gave her the Amulet of Bizel to speed up the process.

Gwen knew it was wrong. She knew that one day this would come back to haunt her, but she would do anything to see her parents again. Even if it meant spending every second until then alone.

"could you explain that one more time." Max said staring at Ben, holding a pad of paper and a pen.

"like I was saying, Objects of power or magical artifacts as some call them are usually found along Ley lines." Ben said sounding like a brochure. "the four objects Charmcaster and Gwen are after came to rest on those Ley lines because they were drawn to the natural energy that they give off. Also the four lines that they happen to be on are four more prominent ones, and the point where they intersect... is where I was pointing on the map." Ben said as his face contorted in confusion. " also all energy emissions from Ley lines wax and wane with the moon so the time for us to expect anything would be on the night of the full moon." the young boy started to look like he was in pain. "Furthermore the....." The twelve year old who had been so tense a moment ago relaxed completely slumping back in his chair.

"Thank god thats over with, I thought my head was going to explode." Ben said relief clearly painted on his face.

"Well since we couldn't come up with anything other than a slight spike in brainwave activity, at least we can get something useful from this. Later on ill cross reference this with information I can gather on line just to verify. I still don't completely trust this info." Max said putting the pad of paper down. "if it is real that means that we are one step ahead of them. However like I said last week it could still be a trap."

Ben thought about it. It had indeed been a week since they had set out on to the location he had pointed to. They had arrived there one day ago, and every single day of the trip became worse for him. Every so often he would suddenly get a strange feeling in the back of his head, it could happen three times in an hour or once a day, and this feeling would slowly spread to the rest of his brain. When this happened a second set of thoughts would appear in his mind.

Whenever this sensation would overtake him it would always start off light. When he would look at things or say something to himself, it was like he would get a second opinion on what he was looking at or thinking. However over the course of a few minuets to an hour or so the other thoughts would become overpowering, almost completely overshadowing his own. This wasn't always a problem. Sometimes it was a little helpful. The other thought pattern seemed quite intelligent, and had helped him actually beat one of his Sumo slammers games on the most difficult setting. And it seemed to have knowledge on the arcane which was of great help considering what they were trying to accomplish.

Sometimes the thoughts were harder to read than others. Almost like they were trying to hide themselves, or divert attention away from what they were really thinking.

The thing that bothered him the most, besides the headaches and there Rapidly increasing frequency, was that every thought that this other brain was thinking... was incredibly girly. He could now tell when shoes matched a shirt, or when cretin colors clashed, he had even succumb to a soap opera that he happen to see while waiting for his grandfather to finish gassing up the RV. After two days of these headaches he had started to get a grasp on what was happening, he had it all figured out. Now all he had to do was fix the problem. That, however he didn't know how to do.

Ben looked over at his beloved guardian. " Hey grandpa, thanks for believing me about this whole thing. If you didn't I would think I was really going insane." he said looking a little forlorn.

"Don't worry about it Ben, we've encountered plenty of strange things in the past before. There are very few things that I don't believe could happen." the jolly old man said patting his grandson on the back. " and as soon as those hoodlums get here well figure out how to fix you right up." he then pulled Ben into a warm grandfatherly hug.

"thanks grandpa." he said as he hugged back.

Suddenly a flashing light on the console in the front of the RV went off.

"Well looks like they have the dagger. Shoot. I even called ahead to the museum to warn them." Max said as he turned his head toward the light. "oh well either way I think this wont be the last we hear of them." he said as he broke the hug and headed for the door of the RV. "Well its still five days until the full moon, so until then why don't we relax a little, and get something to eat. Your still looking a little thin after your stint in the hospital. Lets go get you something to eat, I don't want your parents to think I'm starving you." Max said motioning for Ben to follow.

They've tried your cooking before, so they know ill miss a few meals ----- It doesn't matter there already gone. Ben had gotten up to follow. But when the mirror thought started up again. He paused and his eyes began to water. It was strange to feel both sympathy and empathy at the same time.

After a few days of living through this strange ordeal he had figured out who this parallel thought pattern belonged to. Somehow her spell had gone awry and his mind was now thinking like two people at once, one mind was his while the other was....

"Gwen"---"Me" he said as his eyes continued to water.