A/N: Can I get an award here? I've never updated this fast... Anyway here it is. I'm fairly happy with it and I hope you guys are too. Once again, this is for Samantha, hell the entire thing can be for her. She's that awesome.
Disclaimer is in chapter one...
"Are you okay?" Ben asked, sneaking a glance at Kevin who looked as confused as he felt. Just before Gwen opened her eyes she... Well, he wasn't exactly sure what happened. It was if she was breathing in manna from all around her, including him and Kevin. He'd have to ask her about it later, right now they should get moving.
"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine actually. What happened?" She asked, holding onto Kevin as she stood, closing her eyes against the wave of vertigo.
"We were kind hoping you could tell us." Kevin answered, helping Gwen as they walked the rest of the distance to the shuttle bay.
Her eyes stung from a mixture of the tears and the sheer force of keeping them open. She refused to close her eyes, every time she did, even for a moment, the horror story from the ship played out again and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn't stop it but she couldn't watch him... She couldn't even think it. Burrowing herself even closer, she resigned herself to having to relive it all again.
Just as they were about to hit the release button, opening the door to the last remaining escape pod a shot of lightning fried the door. Behind them stood Ragnorok, leaning against the wall, heavily breathing and holding onto his ribs as if he were trying to hold himself together. "You're not going anywhere."
As Ragnorok raised his arm the air grew thick, Ben could taste the static of electricity and Gwen wasn't sure if time had slowed down or sped up but all Kevin could see was the mass of energy Ragnorok was aiming at them. Wait, not at them. At Gwen.
Without thinking, without hesitation he turned his back to the villain, shielding Gwen as best as he could from the blast and hoping that Ben had stayed far enough out of the way knowing that his changed form would protect him to some extent. But simply covering her wasn't enough to keep her safe, letting go of her he threw his arms out wide and turned to face Ragnorok, knowing that his next move was the only way they'd be able to get out of here. It didn't matter that it was stupid. Or that it might cost his life. No, all that mattered was that Gwen was safe.
With this thought spurring him on, Kevin began absorbing the pure energy that was being fired at him.
Moving her head from the now sodden patch of his hospital gown Gwen moved her hand to rest along his jaw, much like she had done on that ship what felt like life times ago. Moving his arm so it lay draped across her she wondered, not for the first time, why he was so stupid and careless and why she was still in love with him.
Every nerve was burning and pain filled all his senses, the pure power flowing through him felt like blades, shredding him apart, piece by piece. He could feel the seductive pull of the energy, begging him to embrace it but instead of tried to siphon it away, not caring about the damage to the corridors or himself but about the safety of the two cousins behind him who he hoped had the sense to get out of there while they still could.
Unfortunately, it would seem luck wasn't on his side as her could hear Gwen screaming out for him stop and Ben struggling with her. Glancing over his should her saw Ben holding her back and she was literally kicking and screaming to get to him.
Gritting his teeth against the pain he tried to yell over the noise in his ears, "Gwen! Get outta here!"
"I'm not leaving you!" Her voice broke and wavered as she called back to him, desperate to save him, determined not to leave him, not after she'd already been so close to losing him, to leaving him behind. Whatever they faced they faced it together, she wouldn't leave him.
Rolling his eyes at the two, Ben decided it was up to him to be the voice of reason. "Guys, noble sentiments are great and all but if we don't get out of here in the next five minutes we're all toast either way!"
Kevin looked at the walls around him and understood what Ben meant, the amount of damage he'd already done by trying to disperse the energy was critical, holes blown through sections of the corridor, the only thing keeping the air inside was the protective force field around the ship although the oxygen levels were dipping dangerously low. Taking as deep a breath as he could manage Kevin stopped deflecting the energy, instead embracing it. He could feel it gathering within him, the electricity dancing across his skin, making itself well acquainted with it's new host. Absorbing as much as he could manage, Kevin titled his head, catching sight of the two teens in the edge of his peripheral vision. "Get down, stay down and close your eyes!"
Turning back to the madman in front of his Kevin carried on absorbing the attack, seeing how the older Osmosian was being to tire. Without checking to see if his friends had obeyed his instruction he began summoning the energy in his hands, remembering the damage he could cause with the simplest of thoughts and the smallest flick of his fingers as a child. He was older now, he could control it.
At least he hoped he could.
Holding on for as long as he could Kevin waited for his shot, he would only get one chance at this. The moment the Ragnorok let down his guard and stopped firing at him, that would be his moment. The teen didn't have long to wait as only moments after he had steeled his resolve he felt the wavering of the energy beam and before he had chance to second guess himself Kevin pulled on everything he had and fired at the villain stood in front of him. The sheer force of the initial hit caused Ragnorok to stumble backwards and before he had time to regain his footing Kevin fired the energy back twice as hard, ripping the walls apart completely, destroying the structural integrity and putting everyone at risk but Kevin didn't notice. All he saw was the endless supply of power within him, it felt like his very skin was being stripped from his body, a quick glance told him that the minerals encasing his body were in fact still there.
Images danced before Kevin's eyes, ones of his father at the dinning table smiling, of Ben surrounded by Mr Smoothie cups in his garage, of Gwen in that small swim suit she wore by the lake once, of his mother weeding the garden. They flitted past so fast that before he had chance to really look at what was in front of him the moment had passed. It didn't matter though, these images reminded him of what he was fighting for, why he had to hold on and before he knew it the endless stream of energy began to slow down, it became easier to control. It was running out.
Manipulating the stream to encompass the villain Kevin felt himself growing weaker but refused to stop, not until Ragnorok had been dealt with, which by the looks of things wouldn't take much longer. The older Osmosian had exhausted himself after his energy attack and that added his previous injuries meant that lees than a minute later the villain had completely lost consciousness. Not that Kevin was that far behind him. Practically falling against the wall he slid down, resting his head against the metal beam behind him. Most of the ship had been destroyed and with the end imminent Kevin felt no need to rush anywhere. Especially after seeing the remains of the only escape pod.
Ben looked up after a moment of silence and seeing the state of the ship feared the worse. Letting go of Gwen he stood to survey the damage and saw their only means of escape float past him, "Great plan, genius! Now how do we get out?"
Turning to face the younger teen but without opening his eyes he shot back, "You think I planned to destroy the place! You're stuck here now and-ah!" Pulling his legs up to his chest quickly and hunching over Kevin tried to shrink away from the pain in his abdomen. Gwen rushed over to his side, trying to pull his hands away to see what had happened but pulled away, her hands warm and wet and red. And covered in Kevins blood.
Lodged in his stomach was a rather large piece of shrapnel and the large quantities of blood leaking out and onto the floor was worrying. Sure, they had their fair share of scrapes and bruises, it would be stupid to think they'd get away unharmed after fighting various villains on a daily basis but never had something like this happened. This was serious, Kevin could die.
Ben seemed to be thinking the same thing, his face was several shade paler as he looked toward the teary eyed face of his cousin, "What are we gonna do? How are we gonna get out of here?"
The helpless feeling was making itself at home in the pit of Bens stomach, spinning around, trying to find some way to escape that they hadn't already noticed. It seemed hopeless, the ship was damaged beyond repair and the force field, their last defense against the harsh reality of space and death, was already beginning to falter. Maybe this was it, the last stand they'd make together, the end of the teen hero and his two best friends. Avoiding looking at his cousin he made his way over to where Kevin was half draped across Gwen and sat down sighing.
"There's nothing, we're stuck here."
"I think that's where I come in."
Even Kevin in his half conscious state heard the voice, looking up to see a small white ship and knew they'd be okay. That Gwen and Ben would be okay. Squinting slightly Ben could make out the form of the pilot, the same man who the voice belonged to. Once again Grandpa Max had saved them.
Tracing mindless patterns across Kevin's shoulder Gwen noticed the room seemed to be getting lighter and knew she'd have to be leaving soon if she were to make it back to her room unnoticed. The way the sun landed on his face, casting shadows over his sunken cheeks and stretching his eyelashes, the way it highlighted the small scar by his hairline and made the lingering bruise on his cheek stand out, Gwen made sure to memorize it all. She knew every feature already, every scar and the number of flecks in his eyes. She knew more details about this boy than was probably normal but the one thing she still didn't know was why he did what he did. He didn't have to help them, put himself in harms way day after day but he did. She liked to think it was because of her, because he liked her but seeing him in what could quite possibly be his deathbed she wondered if him doing this for her would be such a good thing. If that would make it her fault he was here.
Struggling to carry the larger teen toward the open door of the rescue ship, Ben tried not to think of the logic behind how this ship would work, stranger things had happened. Gwen, however, was too busy worrying about Kevin, his breathing was shallow and the large pool of blood they'd left behind was just another reminder of how close they were to losing him.
Entering the ship they sat him down, balancing him against the wall while Gwen held him up, afraid to let go for fear he'd disappear. Ben rushed over to Max telling him about Kevin and the events from the ship, hoping that he couldn't hear the tremble in his voice when talking about his best friend's serious injuries.
Raising a hand to the older teens cheek she tried to stop her own tears from falling, noticing how pale his face had become, how cold he was. "Hold on Kevin. We're nearly home now, just hold on." Whispering over and over again, not sure who she was trying to convince more, Gwen almost missed Kevin shifting in her arms, trying to get a better view of her face.
"Gwen, listen. I want you to know-"
Save it, tell me when we get back home."
"I was gonna say 'it's not your fault'."
"Oh, right," dropping her head and avoiding his gaze a light blush appeared over Gwen's cheeks.
Raising a shaky hand Kevin pulled her face towards his and, despite his rapidly fading strength, smirk still in place. Fighting against the black that almost completely covered his vision he drew in what could be his last breath, wanting, needing, to tell her.
"Gwen?"
"Yes," it was more a sigh than a reply, leaning in to his touch further as his thumb brush her tears across her face, unable to dry them as they were being replaced faster the he thought possible.
Trying to draw on some unused strength for the courage he needed he began, cursing the way he could barely string three words together without choking. "Thank you, for everything. For trusting me, for... keeping me around. I just want to say, I need to tell you... Gwen. I lo-"
"Kevin? Kevin! Come on.." Slapping his face lightly to wake him up, he'd passed out before he had finished telling her what was so important. Panicking when he didn't respond immediately she started to shake him, at first softly but as the seconds passed she grew desperate. She was so focused on the teen in front of her she didn't notice the massive shock wave of energy coming from the remains of Ragnorok's ship. Or how it had affected Grandpa Max' ship.
"Kevin? Kevin, please, don't do this. Not now. Come on, Kevin please. I need you, we need you. Wake up, please. I can't lose you, not now. Don't leave me. I-I love you. Kevin, I love you. Come on..."
At some point Ben had come in and grabbed her and Kevin. Then they were on Earth. Everything was blurring, seconds merging together and the ground was spinning. Swallowing back the nausea threatening to cripple her, Gwen briefly registered Ben telling her that the systems on Grandpa Max's ship had been disrupted by the aftermath of the explosion. How they'd been 'beamed off' of the ship and some vague Star Trek references. All Gwen could see was Kevin, her best friend, dying in front of her. Nothing else mattered. They had to save him.
It was a miracle that they gotten Kevin here, Gwen could barely remember the journey here. The rising sun was casting a warm glow around the room, setting everything ablaze in beautiful shades of red and orange. Ghosting her fingertips down the side of his face Gwen started to pull back, untangling the two of them, preparing to leave again. Squeezing her eyes closed to stop tears from falling, Gwen leaned down, pressing a small kiss to the corner of Kevin's mouth before pulling back.
"I love you." She whispered, breath fanning across his face. Opening her eyes she felt her heart sink seeing that he was still unconscious. She didn't know what she was expecting, this wasn't a fairytale. No amount of kisses were going to fix this, no matter how much she may have wished it to. Turning around, Gwen left the room without looking back knowing that if she did she'd never leave.
If she had turned around, she would have seen Kevin's hand twitching, waiting for her hand to fill it and a corner of his mouth start to move up into a smile, dreaming of angels with red hair kissing him, begging him to wake up.
But she didn't. She had already left, running away from her feelings, the same dance she and Kevin had been playing for years now. Only now she didn't have a partner. Not more than a minute after the girl had left did the older teen breathe out her name like a prayer. He knew what he had to do. He had to wake up. Because Gwen was there and she needed him.
"Gwen."
A/N2: And that's a wrap. Thank you for anyone who has stayed with this from the beginning and to all those who joined in halfway through. Let me know if you want an epilogue, I should get it to you some time in the next decade. Please review, they're like oxygen and I can barely breathe... Damn cold...