"Uh, Gwen?"

Gwen snapped out of her daydream. She looked over to one of the students she was tutoring, and then down at the piece of notebook paper he'd erased a million times over.

"Is this correct?" he asked.

Gwen quickly did the calculations in her head. "Let's see... y=−6x−15's origin point is indeed -3, 3. Good job, Jaune. I think you're really getting the hang of this stuff."

"Thanks, Gwen," the blonde said gratefully.

"What about my question?!" one of her other students butted in. "This stupid tangent line stuff is gonna make my head explode!"

Gwen rolled her eyes as she took Nora's furiously scribbled piece of paper, quickly scanning it. "Hmmm, you're close. From the table of values above we can see that the average rate of change of the population of fish is moving towards a value of 4 from both sides of t = 5 and so we can estimate that the instantaneous rate of change of the population of the fish is 400, not 300."

"How do you do this stuff so easily!?" Nora hissed. "Is it witchcraft?"

Gwen nearly turned beet red.

"Orrrr it's because she uses good studying tactics and balances her time well," a boy with long black hair interjected. He had a single magenta streak on the left side of his hair. "Also, please keep quiet, Nora. I don't want us thrown out of the library again."

Nora pouted. "Awww, but I swear, Gwen's like a genius at this stuff! It's almost supernatural!"

"No, Ren's right," Gwen said, smiling. "I've been prepping for an Ivy League school for a while, so I really know how to use memorization skills."

"I dunno, I'm kinda siding with Nora..." A girl with her red hair in a waist-length ponytail said. "There's a certain 'magic' to Gwen's routine. I can't really describe it."

"See!? Even Pyrrha agrees with me! It's magic!" Nora yelled.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Aaaand that concludes our session for today."

"Dodging the question, eh! Seems like something a witch would do!" Nora added.

"Speaking of witches," Jaune said, smartly changing the subject before Nora turned this into a week-long discussion. "How about we all hop on over to the sandwich shop? I'm feeling pretty hungry right now."

"Um, I'll pass. But thanks for the invite, Jaune," Gwen declined, already packing up her satchel.

Jaune frowned. "Oh. Uh, alright. You guys want in?"

Ren shrugged. "Well, Nora's already out the door...I'm just gonna go along to make sure she doesn't cause a commotion. Again."

"What about you, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

"I'll catch up with you two in a second," she said, eyes focused on Gwen. "Girl talk, you know."

Jaune shrugged. "Alrighty. We'll be outside."

Pyrrha watched her friends walk out the door and sighed, putting a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "Are you doing ok? You seemed kind of distracted today."

"What? Pyrrha, I'm fine," Gwen objected.

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "Don't think I haven't noticed you staying up late at night. I'm very worried about you. Ever since...you know, that happened, you've been kinda distant."

Gwen took a deep breath and looked away. She felt ashamed for putting all this emotional weight on her roommate.

"Have you been going to the therapy sessions like I told you to?" Pyrrha asked.

"...yeah, I have," Gwen lied. "I'm...on my way to one right now, actually. I just didn't want to mention it in front of the others."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, but shook off the thought. "Alright. See you back at the dorm?"

Gwen nodded. "Don't forget it's your turn to vacuum tonight."

Pyrrha chuckled. "I won't, I promise." She walked off, and Gwen sat there for a long moment. She felt awful, lying to her roommate like that. Pyrrha was right to worry about her. Her grades were slipping, her social life was fleeting, and...just about everything was going wrong. Almost two months later, and Gwen was barely coming to terms. She couldn't wrap her head around the idea of a world without Grandpa Max. The very thought was surreal. She still wanted to cry, but only when she thought about him.

She sighed, looking around. No one else was in the area, and thankfully there were no cameras either. Gwen closed her eyes and disappeared from sight.

When Gwen opened her eyes, she was back in her dorm room. The room was a bit small and cramped, the left full of Pyrrha's trophies and sports memorabilia, while the right was filled with Gwen's clothes and books. Gwen dropped her bag on her desk, climbed up the ladder to her bed, and just...stared up at the ceiling. Her mind kept focusing on her last few moments with Grandpa Max. Just a brief goodbye. All because she had to focus on a term paper.

Gwen never had to deal with death before, and this was the most painful feeling she'd ever experienced. If only she could see him again...maybe Gwen could get some closure.

...see him again...

Gwen bolted out of bed and hopped down to the floor. She opened her lower drawer and scrambled through her drawer to find her old spellbook. She had added a bunch of colorful sticky notes into sections she had expressed interest in looking over, but she never got to them because, well, college.

Gwen flipped through her bookmarks, looking for one particular spell. This spell could supposedly connect people with the deceased, just once. It sounded selfish at the moment, but Gwen wanted to say goodbye to Max. Just Gwen, and no one else.

(Back at Beacon, Ben sneezed during another one of Port's lectures.)

After a few minutes of searching, Gwen finally found the spell. It was a lengthy one, but surprisingly there was no need for a set up. No fancy magic glyph, no use of some kind of medium, just reciting the words on the paper. Gwen felt something was off, but her desire to see Max again was too tempting...

Gwen cleared her throat and closed her eyes. All spells required absolute focus, and she was not going to mess this up. "Ne loquaris cum mortuis amplius. Reduc ad eum volo. Auctoris aliquid quod non est aliud dicere quam scire!" The room started to shake. "Gravissime nescio quomodo scribere carmina, me quoque dabo tibi translating hoc si fidem!" The room filled with multicolored smoke. Gwen coughed a few times and opened her eyes. There was a figure standing there in the lingering smoke, right in front of her.

Gwen beamed, thinking that she'd successfully done the spell-

And her face fell.

Gwen didn't like the quiet car ride. It was a shame her radio wasn't working. Her passenger was really starting to freak her out, and some 80s music would really lighten her mood, especially since they were on a mostly empty road with tall trees all around them.

Her passenger was pale and slender, with long ink black hair that was stylishly messy. She wore brown lipstick and had a thin face with the severity all models needed. She wore a black minidress paired with a yellow leather biker jacket and combat boots. But what really scared Gwen was the girl's haunting yellow eyes. They weren't like Lev's warm gold- these eyes were piercing and supernatural and a sure sign that there was something wrong with this girl.

"...Hey, can you stop the car real quick?" the girl finally spoke. "I need to get a drink somewhere."

Gwen nearly flinched. "What?"

"A drink. I'm thirsty," the girl reiterated. Her voice was oddly sweet and did nothing to alleviate Gwen's fears.

"Um, alright," Gwen said hesitantly. "I think there's a gas station up ahead..."

"Oh, no, don't worry." The girl smiled. "You can stop right here."

"...what?"

The girl grabbed a water bottle from Gwen's cup holder. "Yeah, just pull over. I got this." Gwen raised an eyebrow, but decided to go with the girl's request. She stopped the car at the side of the road, and the girl got out and disappeared into the woods. Gwen sat there in silence for a few minutes-

Nah, she wouldn't do that. Gwen whipped out her phone and immediately called her cousin.

"Hey, cuz!" Ben said cheerfully. "What's-"

"Ben, I am currently in my car right now, driving with a demon."

"...I thought you liked your roommate."

"No, no! I mean, I summoned a demon."

"What?"

"I-I know. I'm driving over to a nearby Plumber outpost, and then I'm getting the fastest plane to Beacon."

"Um, alright. I'll see you then, I guess."

"See you then," Gwen sighed. She pocketed her phone just as the girl came back. Gwen's eyes drifted towards the water bottle.

"...uh, whatcha put in there?"

"Deer blood," the girl said ever so casually. She popped off the cap and sipped.

Gwen started the car and drove a little above the speed limit.

"So, let me get this straight," Blake said, rubbing her temple. "Your cousin, the responsible one, summoned a demon."

Ben nodded. "I know it sounds crazy, but yes. That's exactly what happened."

"Your family scares me."

"That's the general response," he sighed.

"Seriously," Ruby asked. "Why would Gwen of all people summon a demon? She doesn't really strike me as the type to do so."

"Probably botched up a spell or something," Ben suggested. "She doesn't seem like the type to rip out tongues."

Weiss, who was only half listening, set down her scroll and gave the two a confused look. "What did I just hear?"

"Oh, well, that's a funny story-" Ben began, before his phone beeped. "Oh wait, she's here. Come on Ruby." The two headed out, while Blake and Weiss sat in their dorm room.

"...those two terrify me sometimes," Blake said, shaking her head.

"Tell me about it," Weiss groaned.

Gwen had never seen Beacon before, and she had to admit, she was jealous. Beacon made her own campus seem like some dinky little community college. Her guest, however, was less than impressed.

"My own palace was bigger than this," she scoffed, tossing her empty blood bottle into the nearby trash can.

"Where are you even from?" Gwen asked.

"Hey, you're the summoner. You tell me," she sassed back.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's just find my cousin. He should be nearby."

"And this is my cousin-"

The demon's eyes widened. "Ben Tennyson."

That, admittedly, caught Ben off guard. "You know me?"

"Of course I do!" the girl laughed. "You're so famous you've reached other dimensions, y'know."

Ben blushed. "I...I have?!"

"What, did you not know?" the demon teased. "I feel the 'hero of heroes' should know more about his fanbase."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "You aren't a succubus, are you?"

The girl's eyes widened again. She pushed Ben out of the way and squealed, "Oh my Cipher! You're Ruby Rose!"

"...wait, what?"

"Oh, you must not know either! You're waaaay more popular from where I'm from." She smiled. "People really dig the scythe."

Ruby chuckled nervously. "Everyone does..."

"Yeah, yeah," Ben said, brushing himself off. "Alright, you obviously know who we are, so, who are you?"

The girl smiled. "My name is Min. I'm a chaos demon from another realm, and… well, that's pretty much it."

"Wait, really?" Ben blinked. "You're not here to destroy us, or sacrifice us, or anything like that?"

"What? No. You're good people," Min scoffed. "We use the really guilty people for our sacrifices. You know, like rapists, pedophiles, dudes that comment 'first' in the comments of internet videos..."

"Knew those guys were shitheads," Ben muttered to himself.

"Alright, Min, that brings us to our second question. HOW do you know us?" Ruby asked. "Don't get me wrong, you seem really nice, but...I feel like my privacy's been invaded."

"Oh, right," Min said. "You three are familiar with Ledgerdomain, right?"

"Charmcaster's home dimension?" Gwen asked. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"My dimension is very similar to that. My people observe the stories of heroes throughout the multiverse and make brief edits to them. Like going into the consequences of what went wrong. Stuff like that," Min explained. "I was in charge of your grandfather's story."

Ben's eyes widened. "You- you were what?"

"Yeah. I guess when your cousin used that spell to contact him, she must've summoned me instead," she said, shrugging.

Ben and Ruby turned to Gwen.

Min blinked. "Oh, shit, did they not know that?"

Gwen couldn't look either of them in the eye. "I know, I know. I did something stupid."

Ben took a better look at his cousin; she looked absolutely dreadful. Her clothes were all wrinkled, her usually neat ponytail looked more like a bird's nest, and honestly? The girl needed a nap more than Ceres did. Ben took a deep breath. "And I can see why you did it."

"We miss him too, Gwen. We honestly don't blame you ," Ruby said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I think my sister said it best- Grief is never something you really get over. You're not going to wake up one morning and say, 'I've conquered that; now I'm going to move on.' It's something that you're going to have to deal with every day."

Ben nodded. "'When you hold your heart open through everything, your suffering may become your greatest ally in the search for love and wisdom in your life'...or something sappy like that."

"You were close! I give you props for remembering all that," Ruby cheered.

Gwen smiled softly. "Thanks, guys."

"Awww, this is sweet," Min said, inserting herself in. "So, when can I meet the others? I wanna see Ceres~"

"Can't blame you," Ben said, shaking his head. "Lemme guess, the biceps?"

Min nodded. "Absolutely."

As the four of them walked away, they failed to notice someone watching them from behind...

Emerald happily wandered through the streets of Vale. She had to admit, it was a pretty nice city. It wasn't too bright or flashy like that "trash fire" Atlas or too "wild" like Mistral...it was just nice.

It was a shame she'd have to destroy it later on, but what can you do.

Emerald walked past the owner of the Dust shop, who was hanging a sign declaring its re-opening. As he climbed down from his ladder, he stumbled and fell.

Emerald couldn't help but giggle at the man's misfortune before helping him to his feet. "'Scuse me, sorry. I'm not really from around here. Do you happen to know where the offices of the 'Beacon Newsday' is?"

"Wha? Oh, yes, you'll take a right around the corner and then go up ahead two blocks," the old man answered.

"Oh, thank you!" Emerald grinned as she rounded the corner. Of course, she knew where the offices were. She did have to thoroughly scan the city, mainly for reconnaissance. But for today, she wanted to have enough money to take Hope out. Emerald smirked as she examined the wallet she stole; there was enough lien in there to reward the two with a nice hot meal.

Emerald happily walked into the office and tapped the receptionist's desk. A blonde woman with a black skirt, a white blouse, shiny earrings, and glasses that hid purple eyes smiled back at her.

"Treat you to lunch?" Emerald beamed.

"I guess I can clock out," Hope said, smiling. She quickly cracked her fingers. "All this hard work is making me tired~"

"Shut uuuup," Emerald teased her. "You're not doing work. You're acting catty and helping your boss avoid his calls."

Hope smiled as she grabbed her coat. "That's work, isn't it?"

Cinder had Hope take the receptionist job for one VERY important reason; truth. The publisher of journalism – whether a media corporation answering to advertisers and shareholders or a blogger with his own personal beliefs and priorities — must show an ultimate allegiance to citizens. Truth was very important in this day and age, when nobody knew what to believe.

So, if Hope could spin her magic in the right places, maybe she could bend the truth.

"So, why treat me out?" Hope giggled when the two were at lunch. "You never buy for me."

"Well...I have some good news," Emerald explained. "I was walking around Beacon's campus, mainly to get away from Mercury-"

"Understandable," Hope cut in.

"And I happened to notice a certain visitor on campus~" Emerald gave Hope her scroll...which had a picture of Gwen and Min on it.

Hope's eyes lit up. "Well what do you know. Looks like Gwenny summoned herself a Chaos Demon~"

"So, what are we gonna do about it?" Emerald asked curiously.

"Well, one, Cinder said you have to stay out of any conflicts because you have to keep a low profile, remember?" Hope told her. "But, since I'm mild mannered 'Heather Harrows' by day..."

"Seriously, I love you, but that name sucks," Emerald pouted.

"Yeah, yeah. Heather wasn't exactly my first choice, but hey, Margaret Moonlight was 'too noticeable'," Hope said, rolling her eyes. "If we can entice that Chaos Demon to our side, we could use her powers to accelerate our chances."

Emerald raised an eyebrow. "What, with Salem?"

"With us." Hope placed her hands on top of Emerald's. "I know we joined Salem so she could help us with our problems, but...I just feel like she hasn't been doing much for us."

"I know, I know," Emerald sighed.

"I mean, yeah, she's taught me some seriously powerful magic, but you're getting the short end of the stick and I don't like that," Hope explained, frowning heavily.

"So, what's your plan?"

Hope grinned. "Easy. Basic fuckery, before I snatch her away unnoticed."

"Ok, but here's the thing," Lev argued. "You guys had a PERFECT automatic collision avoidance system for your vehicles since the olden days. It could take you home when you were sleeping, drunking, whatever...and THEN you decided to get rid of the horses!"

"You moron," Kevin spat back. "You complete idiot. You wanna know what you sound like? 'Wouldn't it be cool if cars could bite? Wouldn't it be cool if cars could fucking crack your skull open if you scared it?' That's you."

"Plus, the car is a complete idiot. Put a blanket over them and they think they're dead," Blake added.

"Plus! One injury? That car is dead. Have fun spending money on a car when it gets a boo boo," Yang objected.

"...you guys realize we still have horses, right?" Rook pointed out.

Gwen stood in the doorway of RWBY's dorm room, absolutely confused on what she walked into. "I-is this a normal conversation?"

Ben shook his head. "I want to say no. I really do."

"This is what our lives are like," Ruby muttered.

"Oh, hey, you're back. And you brought...uh." Lev snapped his fingers a few times, trying to recall Gwen's name. "Uh...Jen?"

"Close enough," Gwen sighed.

"So, where's the demon?" Kevin asked, sitting up in his chair.

"Here she is," Ben said, motioning to Min. The group stared at her for a long minute.

"...she kinda looks like Blake," Yang finally said, breaking the silence.

Blake gave her a look. "Hey!"

"I mean that in a good way," Yang defended herself.

Min grinned. "Hey, we could be twins! On your mental health days, I could go to class as you. I'll just throw on a bow and people won't notice the difference!"

Blake paused to think. "Well, I am very emotionally invested in one of my books...can you do this Monday?"

"Excuse me," Rook piped up. "But Miss Tennyson, why bring the demon here?"

"You guys are more experienced with weird stuff like this," Gwen explained. "I'm pretty sure my roommate would freak if they ever see Min drinking deer blood."

Silence.

"Come again?" Ben said flatly.

"Oh, yeah." Min slapped her head. "I need a steady supply of blood to remain on Earth so I don't shrivel up and die. Or go on a murderous rampage, it depends on which universe this is. It's once every 24 hours, though. I'll be fine."

Kevin blinked. "...alright."

"Yeah, see? This is why I can't have her around," Gwen sighed.

"Yeah, I get that," Yang said slowly. "But can't you just send her home? No offense."

"Well, that's the thing," Min told them. "I don't want to head back home. I...feel like I owe Max Tennyson."

Lev raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"Like I told these three earlier, I was in charge of editing Max Tennyson's life," Min explained. "While some other forces wrote the story in full, I was in charge of 'revisions'; the twists no one saw coming, you could say. Max Tennyson had a fairly normal life-"

"He fought aliens," Blake interrupted.

"FAIRLY normal life," Min repeated. "He was a great guy, with a loving family and...he had a life well lived. And to be honest, I feel responsible for Servantis and all the other events that happened within the last month. Max Tennyson's book had so many pages left. I didn't expect his story to end so early..." She trailed off, eyes downcast.

"So, you're, what, our 'family familiar' or something?" Gwen asked.

"I guess you could say that," Min said quietly. "I just want to help. I don't know what other forces are at work here, but I have a feeling my powers will come in handy."

Rook tilted his head. "Powers?"

"Oh, yeah. Do any of you have a coin?" Min wondered.

Yang produced a quarter from her pocket. "I got one right here."

"Alright. Flip it three times. I'm gonna call every single flip."

"...ok?" Yang said, giving her an incredulous look.

Min cleared her throat. "Heads, heads, and for the third time, it's gonna land on its side on the desk."

Yang flipped the coin. It spun in the air before landing flat on her hand.

"Well?" Kevin asked.

"It's heads, alright," Yang said, looking up from her palm. "25% chance she'll land on heads again, so..." She flipped the coin again, and sure enough it landed on heads.

"Alright, but there's no way it'll land on the side," Kevin laughed. Yang flipped the quarter again-

The quarter went a bit off direction and landed on the desk. On it's side.

Everyone appropriately freaked out, while Min stood there, arms folded and smiling.

"Where's Weiss?" Ben asked some time later.

"She's trying on her new armor," Ceres told him. "I made her some last night, just because."

"I'm REALLY excited to see her new gear!" Kylie grinned, bouncing in her seat. "By the way, who's the goth?"

Min waved. "I'm an actual demon from another realm."

"...Neat!" Kylie grinned.

"I'm from another planet. Get on my level." Ceres smirked.

"Can I get in your bed instead?" Min teased.

She paused to think. "Possibly. Ask Ari when she gets here. We'll set something up."

"If it doesn't pan out, I'm available!" Kylie grinned.

"Are you even of legal age?" Ben asked.

"Ben, I'm almost 18," Kylie huffed. "I'm almost an adult, I can handle-"

"Wait, wait, hold up," Ruby butted in. "You're 18?"

"Yeah! I mean, Kevin's younger than me-" Kylie went on.

"KEVIN'S THE LITTLE BROTHER?!" Ben exclaimed, his world shook.

"Yeah, rub it in Tennyson." Kevin slapped the back of Ben's bedhead.

"Ok, even I'm confused," Gwen interrupted. "I always thought Kevin was the oldest of you two."

"People assume I'm the youngest cause of my height. I don't say anything because I just take the compliment in stride." Kylie grinned. "Plus Kevin has the beard, so that throws people off."

"I mean, it's a pretty patchy beard," Gwen teased. "It's because of the height, isn't it?"

"Hey, I take offense to that!" Kylie and Kevin said at the exact same time.

"Aw, don't get mad, Patchy," Ben sneered.

"You're just going through a rough patch right now," Yang snickered. "It'll be alright~"

"Your beard sucks," Min said flatly.

"Fuck ALL of you," Kevin huffed. At that moment Weiss walked out wearing her new gear; a white diamond-shaped chest plate that guarded her abdomen pretty nicely. Placed over her shoulders were a pair of white spaulders with rerebraces set under them. She wore poleyns and greaves on her legs. Ben was reminded of that one red haired anime girl from that one anime he watched when he was 13. He didn't remember much of it, but hey, that girl was cute.

Ceres grinned. "So? How does it feel?"

"Feels good," Weiss beamed. "Both lightweight and protective. I can worry less about using my aura to guard my body and instead use my Semblance a lot more often."

"So, remind me again...why the armor?" Blake wanted to know.

"Well, I don't have any real armor on me when I fight. My dependency on Dust drains my aura, too. You have your clones, Ruby has her speed, Yang has her semblance, but I don't have anything like that. Not to mention, I haven't mastered the full limits of my Semblance yet..." Weiss looked a little annoyed with that last statement. "So, I had to improvise a bit."

"Looks good on you," Min said, giving a thumbs up.

"...uh, thank you." Weiss was perplexed by the stranger, but she shook it off. "Anyway , does anyone care to face me? I want to go for a test run."

"I nominate Kevin," Rook announced. "If he loses, he has to shave the beard."

"I thought you were on my side, dude!" Kevin fumed.

"Patchy, I apologize for what I am about to say...but that is an ugly beard," Rook admitted. "It is actually one of the most disgusting things I have exposed myself to during my time on your planet."

"Damn, Rook," Blake exclaimed. "Speaking from the heart?"

"Plus, I already have a beard." Rook smiled proudly, motioning to an especially fuzzy part on his chin. "Miss Schnee, I advise you give it your all!"

"...that's a beard?" Yang asked quietly.

"I can do it," Ben piped up, since Weiss seemed bemused at so much sudden enthusiasm.

"A little unexpected, but sure! It's been a while since I've seen you in action, Tennyson." Weiss simply smiled before flicking her ponytail to the side and heading off toward the arena. Ben quickly took off for the changing rooms.

"She's gonna get mopped." Kevin scowled before letting out a soft chuckle; if there was one thing that he knew, it was that Ben had the upperhand in pure raw strength.

"Much like how you need a face mop for when you shave that beard," Rook piped up. Yang quickly burst out laughing, and Kevin quickly stormed off as steam almost physically rose from his head. Poor guy really couldn't catch a break.

As Ben started to head toward the changing room, there was a sudden, weird feeling that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to start rising. He wasn't sure what was going on but he decided to shrug it off as just shivers and walk into the locker room.

"Hey Ben!" a voice quickly called out. Ben jumped back, turning around only to see-

"R-Ruby? The heck are you doing in here?! N-Not that I'm complaining but-"

"Oh I just wanted to come and cheer you on before your fight with Weiss! Ya know, a little pep talk here, some encouragement there, standard stuff!" Ruby smiled a bit too widely as she stepped closer, her arm weaving around his own and pulling him close.

"Right...you think I'll be a little too strong for her?" Ben asked. He was excited to test out her armour, sure, but if he went all out on her like he did with Ruby then the battle might be over too quickly.

"Psssh, nah! Weiss is pretty tough, maybe don't let that manly bravado get to your head now." Ruby's eyes gave a faint shine, making Ben double take for just a second.

That glow...Ruby's eyes naturally caught the light but they didn't normally shine that way…did they? And 'manly bravado'? That was not something Ruby normally said, at least not in a somewhat serious manner.

"Weeeell? Are ya gonna get changed or am I just gonna have to force you to get movin'?" Ruby teased as she crossed her arms, showing that same smirk as she watched Ben's face turn pink.

"Alright, alright, I'm doin' it! Seriously, you're being more forward than usual, maybe you really wanna see how I stack up against Weiss," Ben joked, slowly starting to remove his shirt, back turned to his friend-

Before a sudden burning sensation pierced through him, electricity sparking across his entire body and the Omnitrix. Ben quickly turned around to see an ever familiar face...a set of purple eyes now glaring at him with a sneer that revelled in Ben's shock and surprise.

"Hello Tennyson, miss me? I'm sure you did, but I can't really stay for long. Just enjoy this gift of mine and I'll make sure your life is a living hell because of it. Tell your cousin I said hello."

With a quick pull, Charmcaster's arm ripped from Ben's back, but surprisingly enough it didn't leave a wound. It was almost like she had put something in him as opposed to taking something out. Ben could only stumble back as he tried to mouth her name, but just like that she was gone, leaving Ben in a state of pain as his body glowed with dangerous purple energy.

It was only a few seconds, but by god did they feel like an eternity as Ben's body burst into purple fire. His form twisted and creaked in different directions as if his limbs were not his own, as if they were being pulled like a marionette. And as he looked to his right he could see that his arm was certainly not his own.

What was once a relatively well toned arm was now thinner, more sleek...petite almost. But it sure as hell wasn't his as his eyes widened in shock. There was a loud crack and Ben clutched at his waist, which had started to pinch inward with enough force to make it feel like his bones and organs were being crushed. His mouth moved silently as the purple flames grew in intensity.

"W-What did she-? AH-!"

He blacked briefly, but when he came to Ben realized that the flames still surrounded him, that he was still in agony… and that his slacks were looser now, the hem dropping at his waist. His legs, from what he could see, were no longer meant for running and fighting, but were for more elegant athletics.

The burning feeling only continued as he could feel his face and hair change; he lunged forward to clutch his stomach and then leaned back as if he was in some sort of magical girl sequence. His hair elongated, follicles changing colour to a familiar grey hue with some lovely purple tips at the end.

His face quickly shifted, thank god for him, but with a sudden pop his lips seemed fuller and his nose arched daintily. Something drew itself under his eyes- were they the markings Charmcaster herself had, tattooing themselves onto his face?

Before all was said and done, Ben could suddenly feel intense weight on his chest that he hadn't noticed before; it was enough to cause his heart to start beating harder and harder as he winced, realizing in mounting horror at what he was looking down at:

Boobs.

Ben Tennyson now had boobs.

Of all the weird, twisted, and perverted things to have ever crossed his mind, he would never have thought that he would one day be sitting there with a chest full of fun...but then it all started to click as the heat started to subside after one final pulsing boom that set the flames aside, leaving only mild scorch marks across the locker room.

"What the fuck did she do to me?!" Ben yelled before clutching his mouth. His voice had come out much higher than usual, and it didn't sound like his voice at all...this was...oh no...oh no.

Ben found himself doing the only thing that his panic-riddled mind could in those few moments; scream and hope that he would wake up. Did Charmcaster really turn him into a girl? Not just any girl at that- had he been turned into a twin of that spellbook wielding maniac?!

Ben's chest continued to rise and fall as he could feel the panic setting in even harder- but then a bolt of clarity seemed to cross his mind for a split but unyielding second.

He had just screamed…

And it wasn't his voice that came out…

And the others were all still outside and probably heard all of that.

And they wouldn't know that this wasn't him!

If Ben wasn't panicking before, then by God he was panicking now. He quickly tried to grab his slowly drooping trousers and put his shirt back on to the best of his ability. He looked around for a quick means of escape, all the while still unused to his new center of gravity as he stumbled and fell a few times.

"I fucking hate having boobs! I-Is this how Yang feels? Oh god I'm gonna have to apologize to her ASAP! No, no damn it, now is not the time to be thinking of apologies for shit you said before, this is serious Ben! She just came in here and did some kind of weird gender bender magic on me and made me into her goddamn twin! Oh god Gwen's gonna kill me- no, they're ALL gonna kill me and they won't even KNOW it's me! OH GOD-!"

As Ben's ramblings only got more panicked as the door to the changing room slowly creaked open, and Ben could only freeze-

"Hey, what's the hold up?" Ruby asked, as she walked into the locker room-

And stood directly in front of a very embarrassed Charmcaster, wearing Ben's clothes, and covering herself up. Ruby immediately drew her weapon.

"WAITWAITWAITWAIT!" Ben gasped, holding out her palms. "RUBY, IT'S ME!"

"Of course I know it's you! Why else would I attack you?" Ruby scoffed.

"NO! It's me!" she yelled. "It's Ben!"

Ruby blinked as she examined 'Charmcaster' closely. She had Ben's signature messy hair, his usual 'please don't look at me' stance he did whenever he was embarrassed...oh, and the Omnitrix. That was a dead giveaway.

"Oh my god," Ruby gasped, dropping her weapon.

"I know!" Ben cried.

She quickly shook herself out of her shock and took charge of the situation. "Ok, first? We need to get you a bra," Ruby declared. "Second? We need to tell the others."

"I'm more on board with the first one than I am the second," Ben mumbled.

"You'll be fine," Ruby said, rolling her eyes.

"How do you live like this?!" Ben hissed as Ruby dragged her out of the locker room.

"At this point I'm just used to it." Ruby shrugged. "Also, it feels weird to call you Ben. Can- Can I just call you another name or something?"

"Well," Ben paused. "My mom said if I was born a girl or transitioned, or whatever, she'd have named me Brianna."

"...oh my god, that's an ADORABLE name," Ruby gasped. "Well, ok Bri, uh, let's raid my sister's closet!"

Ruby opened the door to what was once forbidden to Brianna- Yang's closet. She was a rather fashionable gal, knowing what to wear and when to wear it, and how to REALLY pull it off.

Brianna sat on one of the beds and waited. Ruby rummaged through the hangars, finding a few particular outfits that she knew Yang wouldn't mind missing. "Bri, get over here, I've got a few things for you to try!" She grinned before holding out three different hangers with three very similar yet very different get ups. She quickly tossed them to Brianna, who fumbled a bit trying to keep them in her arms.

"Is this really necessary?" Brianna asked hesitantly, looking to the hangers and then back to Ruby, who was quick to shove her into the bathroom before nodding incessantly.

"Yes, yes it absolutely is, now get changed!" Ruby ordered.

The first outfit was actually one that Ben had seen Yang in before. It was a pair of cargo shorts mixed with a nice form fitting denim shirt that was tied around the waist, paired with a white crop-top. It even came complete with a nice hair-tie and some minor additions to the arms that allowed for that sort of fashionable holiday gal look. Brianna took her time putting it on, fumbling a bit as she tried to tie the knot, groaning all the while as Ruby was simply wiggling in anticipation; oh, she was going to love every moment of this for SURE!

Eventually, Brianna would open the door and stumble out, a faint blush on her cheeks as she simply stared at Ruby while adjusting the knot to make sure that it didn't suddenly come loose.

"You think this'll work?" she asked whilst trying to keep her composure, though her heart was pounding like a jackhammer.

"Hmmmm...Blue works for you, but the denim shirt is a little iffy. I like the look overall, but it's not exactly something that fits your style, even if you look cute!" Ruby smirked before pushing Brianna back in, causing her to nearly stumble.

Admittedly the second outfit was a very similar get up to the last one, though this time there was even MORE skin showing. Brianna now wore white jean shorts that looked like Yang had cut them herself, a loose fitting black sports top with a logo of what she could only assume was Yang's favourite brand of clothing, and some very annoyingly high platform sandals that only helped to make her stumble and fall over more.

Ruby was listening the whole time and couldn't help but snicker. She could only hope that this would last long enough for her to catch a few snapshots of herself and Bri. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up! But eventually she saw Brianna exit once more and her eyes lit up, causing her to giggle almost uncontrollably.

"Ooooh~! You look so good! Sporty, fresh! Quick gimme a pose, gimme a pose!" Ruby bounced up and down as the white haired gal could only glower.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Brianna growled as Ruby took picture after picture of her. Eventually Ruby gave her puppy dog eyes, and Brianna could only sigh. She then smiled and winked, putting up two victory hand signs.

Ruby nearly squealed in delight but soon put her hands on Brianna's shoulder and winked. "Ya got one more, ok? I think we already have a winner but I wanna see what the third one will look like on you!" She then moved back, letting Ben stumble back to the bathroom with little fanfare before sitting on Yang's bed...unaware of someone entering the room and watching.

The third and final choice was one that Brianna actually recognised: A brown jacket with some puffed shoulders, an orange scarf, black shorts, and a yellow undershirt with that signature flaming black heart on it. This was Yang's old combat outfit before she moved on to much more interesting gear. Seeing this old ensemble again made Brianna feel ]nostalgic; even if it wasn't hers, she still felt attached to it considering Yang was at her most carefree when wearing it.

Brianna was quick to put it on, slipping into the jacket and getting a little constrained with how tight it was at first...only to get used to the feeling pretty quickly. She grabbed the boots and slipped them on as fast as she could.

"Hey Ruby? You think this one will work?" Brianna called out before opening the door. She did a few punches, posing like a superhero before laughing at how silly she must have looked-

Only to suddenly freeze, eyes going wide.

"Huh? Is there something on...my..." Ruby trailed off, following Brianna's gaze to see none other than Yang Xiao Long leaning on the doorframe to the dorm room, a teasing smirk on her face. The blonde Huntress had been listening in since outfit number two and had originally assumed that it was Charmcaster who had decided to come raid her panties...and whilst she found the idea to be totally absurd, she still didn't expect to see none other than Ben, or at least who she assumed was Ben, wearing her old clothes.

"Uh, Yang, I know what you're thinking and I'm-"

"Not that crazy white haired bitch? Yeah, kinda figured. You freeze like a deer in headlights, ya know?" Yang then looked Brianna up and down before giving a thumbs up. "Nice look, I can see my baby sis has been teaching you well~" She leaned forward only to get a light smack from Ruby.

"DON'T JUST BARGE IN LIKE THAT YANG!"

"Like you two are doing?"

Both Brianna and Ruby just shared a blush as they looked away, nervously giggling as Yang simply shook her head and smiled.

"Look, I'm not gonna ask what happened. But if you wanted some fashion advice, then ya should've at least rung me. I'm honoured that you think that my style is so...charming." She grinned, her pun causing both girls to suddenly groan in annoyance. Of course she'd make a pun now of all times.

"Look, Ruby just dragged me in here, I didn't want any part-"

"Sure ya did lover boy, now come on. The more you keep on whining the more time you're gonna spend looking like a wreck. Ruby, I'll letcha give him the whole set that you picked out...Oh and keep my old look on him, I think it suits him more than it does me." She winked before heading out of the room, but not before giving a courteous, "Toodleoooo~"

Both girls could only stare in disbelief at the closed door. But Ruby took that as a good sign as she started to snort, the tension in the room quickly cracking apart by Ruby bursting out laughing, Brianna following suit as they both slumped against the bed.

"This was the worst idea that you could've ever suggested, you know that?" Brianna teased as Ruby simply gave her a light slap on the shoulder.

"About as bad as you getting turned into a girl. Now come on, let's at least get you set up. I'm not sure what else she did buuuut I think Weiss probably still wants to battle you." Ruby gave a Cheshire smirk as she quickly dragged Brianna out of the dorm room, passing by Yang again, who was actually sending a text to all the members of the team.

"You guys are not gonna believe this..."

A lot can happen in the span of a few minutes. For example-

Ben transformed into a woman when he went to change. That was three minutes.

Ruby took Brianna to get a change of clothes. That took ten.

Yang went to go look for them. Also ten.

So, what was happening now?

A unicorn just straight up trotted into the arena. Everyone shared an awestruck look with one another before looking back at it.

"...Okay, does this happen often?" Gwen asked Ceres.

"Only on Tuesdays," the alien answered, unimpressed.

"Hey, remember that horse argument we were having earlier?" Lev asked, nudging Kevin's arm. "What's the policy on unicorns?"

"I dunno. Never actually encountered one before now," Kevin said. "...probably the same thing goes. One injury and it's dead."

"You'd really put down a unicorn?!" Kylie gasped. "Is this because we made fun of the beard?"

The magnificent creature trotted up Weiss, neighing lightly. Weiss blinked a few times. "What the fuck," she whispered.

The unicorn looked at Weiss...and then fucking unhinged it's jaw, revealing rows upon rows of jagged teeth. The thing screeched and lunged at Weiss.

Immediately putting up her sword, she tried pushing the beast back, which actually worked well enough to give Weiss a minimal amount of breathing room. The others immediately leapt into action, running from the stands to help their friend. The unicorn screeched again as a glyph formed underneath its hooves. A large ice crystal shot through its belly and out its back, causing the thing to shriek in pain before it dissolved into oblivion.

"Ooookay," Ceres drawled out as the crystal disappeared. "Was that a fucking Grimm?"

"I-I don't think so," Weiss stuttered out. "I've never seen a Grimm with such bright colors."

"Well, I just wanted to give them a little 'personality', you know? Black is such an awful color."

Everyone turned to see Charmcaster, sitting in the bleachers and waving at the group. "Hey, Gwenny. Love the look. Hot student teacher is SO in these days."

"YOU!" Gwen shouted. In a split second, she threw a massive blast of magical energy at the sorceress. Charmcaster just smiled, warping away just before the blast hit her. The bleachers, however, weren't so lucky- they were annihilated in a single blow.

"Well, you've certainly gotten stronger," Charmcaster teased, reappearing across the field. "Bravo~"

"Ok, who's this bitch and what's her deal with Gwen?" Lev demanded to know.

"Oh, her? That's just Charmcaster. She's like MCU Loki, but more annoying than threatening," Kevin answered.

"Shut it, Patchy," Charmcaster spat, reaching into her pocket.

"Oh, so now you're gonna hurt me," Kevin taunted. "How original."

"Wait till you see what I did to your friend~" Charmcaster teased, throwing out some stone figures. The second they hit the ground, they burst open to release more unicorn monsters and stone creatures.

Blake sighed. "And here I was hoping we could have a normal Saturday."

"You might wanna just step aside," Min said, stepping forward. "It's me she wants."

"Oooooh, so this is the Chaos Demon Gwenny summoned! I'm impressed." Charmcaster grinned, eyeing the girl. "She's still a novice and she managed to summon you."

"So, what do you want? Some of my blood? Some magic artifact you so desperately need? A dinner date?" Min asked boredly.

"I need your power," Charmcaster told her, walking forward. "I'm thinking my boss could get shit done a lot faster if you were helping her."

"That's real cute. But here's the thing, Charmcaster. I won't be joining you." Min grinned, her eyes starting to glow. "I do what I want."

"I thought you'd resist." Charmcaster smirked and snapped her fingers. The beasts all charged at the group, but Min just kept smiling.

"Follow me into the water," Min's voice whispered to the monsters. Pools of black liquid appeared underneath them, and they slowly sank like stones in quicksand.

"What did you do?" Weiss asked, watching as the creatures drowned.

"They're the shadows' playthings now," Min said, turning to an awestruck Charmcaster. "I know that look. I've been summoned by enough greedy assholes who think that I'll be able to grant them whatever shitty wish they have. And I will. But…"

"But what?" the sorceress snapped.

"Nothing," Min said. Her sclera turned black, making her yellow irises glow unnaturally. "I'll just be here when your reality drowns."

Charmcaster said nothing, throwing out more stone monsters and unicorns. The herd immediately stampeded towards the group, and Min sighed.

"Alright, you guys are fighting after all," she said. "Kinda hoped that'd make her leave."

Blake brandished her blade. She dodged the horn of a unicorn, and killed it by stabbing it in the head. Blake quickly shot the stone golems that were charging at her with her pistol. Weiss killed three unicorns by slashing at their throats and a few others with a giant ice sword she conjured. Ceres didn't hesitate to smash a monster's head in a single blow, and neither did Lev. He also managed to suplex a unicorn (yes it was amazing), shattering it's precious horn like it was nothing.

Kylie looked at her very ineffective pistol, and Kevin gave her a sneaky grin. He quickly activated the AntiTrix and transformed into Daft Punk. He plunged his body into the weapon, upgrading it to transform into a very large shotgun. Kylie grinned as Kevin's head popped out.

"You're welcome," he preened.

"Yeah, yeah, buy you dinner later," Kylie said, taking aim. A laser blast pierced through the chest of a few stone creatures. She grinned as she quickly reloaded, firing off as many as she could.

Brianna, Ruby, and Yang returned to see...well, just utter chaos. Brianna blinked a few times, making sure she was seeing everything right.

"Somehow I thought Ben turning into a pretty girl would be the weirdest part of the day," Yang jabbed.

"Very funny," Brianna grumbled, activating the Omnitrix. She scrolled to Blitzwolfer's icon and slapped it down. Of course, her transformation looked very different, thanks to the inclusion of Charmcaster's appearance. Blitzwolfer looked more punk rock than usual.

"That's fucking sick, actually," Ruby said, awestruck.

Brianna clenched her fists and grinned. "Fuck yeah."

Brianna jumped into the fray- she began to attack with a quick flurry of clawing and kicking. She was pissed over what Charmcaster had done for her, and this was a fantastic way to take off the edge. She swept some monsters off their feet, making them fall to the ground with a massive thud, before leaping over a stray giant fist and stomping on its head with her feet, smashing its cranium.

"Wow," Brianna commented, looking at her hands. "I'm a lot more agile than I used to be."

"Ooooh~! Hello~!"

Brianna turned around to see Charmcaster floating behind her. "Ooooh, LOVE the new look, Benny-boy...or, Benny-girl in this case."

"Not a fan of my normal look- big fan of this look though." Brianna smirked. "Thanks for that."

"Oh, please. Only I can pull off that white hair...well, maybe your twin can pull it off..." Charmcaster paused, thinking about it.

"Wait, what?!" Brianna yelped before Ruby surprised Charmcaster with an attack. She launched herself at the girl, aiming to decapitate her, but Charmcaster simply opened a portal.

"Anyways, gotta go. I have some things to prepare for. Don't worry, you'll see me soon~" Charmcaster said, disappearing through the portal.

Brianna groaned as she applied the brown hair dye in sections. "This is gonna take forever," she huffed. "It was easier to do this when my hair was shorter..."

"Wait, what? You dyed your hair before?" Ruby asked, bewildered.

"Yeah. Used to do it all the time when I was younger," Brianna explained, carefully spreading the dye through her white hair. "This is just annoying because there's just so much."

"We could always cut it, dude," Ruby said, slowly raising up her weapon.

"What? No," Brianna said, adjusting her stained shirt. "If I'm gonna be a girl, I'm gonna be a cute girl, damn it.

"Suit yourself, cutie," Ruby chuckled. "I've never really dyed my hair, since, you know." She motioned to her red tips. "Yang once had pink hair because of some prank at camp."

"What happened with that one?"

"Oh, she beat the guy's face in," Ruby said casually. "What did you expect?"

"...good point," Brianna nodded. "So, uh..."

"What's up?"

"Question- is your hair black turning red or red turning black?" Brianna wanted to know.

"...that's a good question." Ruby told her. "I dunno."

"How do you not know your own hair color?"

"Well, listen. When your hair isn't an even color like Weiss or Kylie, it gets confusing," Ruby defended herself.

Brianna was about to retort, when she remembered a very specific comment made by Charmcaster earlier today-

"White hair suits you, Benny-girl! Your twin can pull it off!"

"...I may have just realized something." Brianna said slowly.

Ruby blinked. "Huh?"

"I think Albedo and Charmcaster may be working with Zs'Skayr."

"...shit."