Author's Notes: This is a journey into new terrain. Ever since I've read Karashi's fanfics on the pair, I've enjoyed this crack pairing. So enjoy this drabble for Darkcaster! It takes place a few days after "Where the Magic Happens".

Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or the quote at the beginning.

"Gone – flitted away,

Taken the stars from the night and the sun

From the day!

Gone, and a cloud in my heart."

-Alfred Tennyson

38. Abandoned

His fist collided with the door multiple times before dropping by his side. He waited, boots impatiently scuffing the ground. What the hell's taking her so long? Scowling, he pounded at the door again.

Several minutes passed and she still didn't come out. There had been one time before when she had played with him by making him wait at the door, but this was different. That time she had laughed at him and anyway he could always sense her powerful mana signature.

This time, nothing. No sounds disturbed the silent night and there wasn't a single whiff of that delicious mana.

Angrily, thinking it might still be a prank despite better intuition telling him otherwise, he knocked louder and yelled, "Charmcaster! This isn't funny!"

Still, no reply.

"I'm coming in if you don't unlock this door right now!"

Again, there was no reply, so he powered up his dark energy and slammed it into the door. It was a bit brutal, for it sent the door flying off its hinges, but it worked.

The interior of her home was quiet and dark. He walked in cautiously, eyes peering around the dusty furniture. It looked like it had been deserted. His scowl deepened.

If she had left the house, she would've taken her books along. With that reassuring thought, he proceeded to her library. All the books were still there, but no Charmcaster and no clue as to where she had gone.

Where have you disappeared to? He circled the room, picking up on her trace but nothing strong enough to indicate she had been here today. In fact, it was likely she hadn't been there for a few days now.

But he knew she wouldn't leave without her books, which were still there, and he, in his heart, hoped that she wouldn't leave without giving him some word. They had been close; fury rose in him as he wondered why she had left. She couldn't just abandon them.

He paused. Them? He couldn't recall when he had begun thinking of it like that. It had started as an I-rub-your-back, you-rub mine relationship and had progressed from there. Exactly what they were he couldn't define, but he did know they were too close for one to just depart suddenly without telling the other.

I'm not letting her disappear without trying to find her. I'll die if I don't. It wasn't a romantic sentiment in the least. He relied on and relished her mana. Even though she never gave enough to restore him to his handsome state (maybe she couldn't), she always made sure to give him enough to keep him alive and fairly healthy. Without her source… He didn't even want to think about what he would be forced to resort to.

He returned to the area where the signature had been the strongest. There wasn't a trail, it just disappeared. He sighed. This is useless. I can't track her.

"You won't be able to find her, boy."

He whirled around, bolts of dark energy appearing in his hands. From under his mask, he glared at the magician. "Just because you can't doesn't mean I won't be able to, old man."

Hex shook his head. "I mean she's gone. She left this realm."

"How?" The dark energy disappeared and he crossed his arms. He wanted to ask why, but didn't dare in case the answer was unpleasant.

"A portal, of course." Hex rolled his eyes. "You won't be able to follow her to where she's gone."

He frowned. "If I get my own portal?"

"It'll take more than that to find her. You'd need to know the true name of the place she's gone." Hex replied.

"Do you know?" He was ready to fight if he needed to, just so he could extract this information from the man.

Hex noticed this readiness and laughed, "You won't get it out of me." Then Hex glared at him, energy crackling around his body. "If I were you, I'd leave and never return. Forget about her. You aren't welcome here anymore."

"I want to know." Dark energy bolts surrounded his hands again. Before he could shoot them out, a yellow shield had gone up before Hex.

"Cast it from your mind, Darkstar. Looking for her is futile even if you did know where she had gone. Anyway, I doubt she'd want to leave." With that, the magician teleported from the room.

Darkstar scowled at the library. Just in case Hex had simply hidden himself nearby, he announced, "Fine. I won't waste my time."

He left the building, thinking it over. Charmcaster was gone. Hunger called out to him, crying out for his regular mana supply. A rat skittered in his path and he promptly blasted it. Its corpse crumbled to the ground as its small amount of energy entered him. It barely stemmed the horrible ache of hunger, but it was something.

A thousand more rats and I should be good, he thought bitterly.

But it was more than hunger weighing on him. There was something, an awful stirring in his heart. It was the ache of wanting someone to be there who was not. Yearning for someone who was out of reach. Darkstar closed his eyes, blocking out that ache with thoughts of hunger. He would go hunting and forget about that foolish twinge. It was stupid anyway.

A/N: My first foray into Darkcaster, let me know how I did. It was fun to write and I think I may write another drabble some time where the two actually interact. However, my next drabble is definitely going to be some Gwevin. I just have to polish it.

Twilight Phantom Dragon