Chapter 2

[Gwendolyn Tennyson]

"Doofus."

"Dweeb."

"Dofus."

"Dweeb."

"Dofus," she said, with emphasis because her cousin deserved such distinction. She'd almost thought that maybe the summer wouldn't be too bad with the whole watch and robots thing that happened… But evidently they'd just made Ben even more unbearable, which was saying a whole lot, really.

Gwen almost felt bad for her grandfather, really. It had to be awful to have to put up with them, but she couldn't let Ben win. That'd just make things ten times worse. Grandpa should have known better than to bring both of them together anyway.

"Things are going great, huh?" Grandpa commented, looking between them on each side of the bowl of "food" he'd prepared. It made her feel a lot better to be reminded of that. How did the man expect them to like such a… "meal"?

"When is your friend coming around, Grandpa?" Gwen asked, before Ben could say anything else to continue their little banter. She'd already gotten tired of it, if she were honest. "Can't be worse than spending time with this Dofus," she added, getting a glare from the boy.

"He didn't say, but he was a little far from here," Grandpa answered, looking off towards where they knew the road to be. It was a little ways away, but they could still hear cars and trucks pass by every so often. "He'll get in contact whenever-"

A caw interrupted him, making all three of them turn towards a crow – 'No, too big, a raven?' – that was perched on a nearby tree branch. It seemed to look at them, tilting its head and cawed again. That is, before a second later a rock flew at it causing it to go away.

"Do you have to be such a jerk?" she asked her snickering cousin.

"What?" he asked, as if he couldn't understand that he was a… She groaned in frustration. Why couldn't she have gone through with the plans she'd had for the summer? She loved her Grandpa, she really did, but this was…

She glared into the woods, trying to find something to distract her from her thoughts, else she grew even more annoyed than she already was. All that she found were mostly silent plants, however, with no sign whatsoever of a bird anywhere close enough to be seen even though she could hear them. There was also the sound of a motorbike passing through the road close by and…

And she heard it come closer than any other vehicle from before.

A moment later, Gwen caught sight of the black bike appearing in their clearing, off to the side. She didn't know nearly enough about them to recognize the model, but she knew it was what one would expect to see being used to drive on mountains or courses with jumps and such. She wasn't too focused on that anyway though, since this was a stranger that had suddenly decided to invade their space for whatever reason.

She frowned as the person stopped, got off the bike and then took off his black helmet. It was a man, fairly young too, with a sort of military haircut, only a little longer and way messier. Gwen didn't know the exact name for it either, but, again, she wasn't too interested in that.

The man set his helmet on the bike and dusted his brown coat before opening it to reveal a red shirt underneath and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Old man," he said then, looking at Grandpa. Gwen already had an insult at the tip of her tongue in less than a second. The gall of this stranger, truly. Ben, for once, seemed of the same mind as her. "Long time no see," the man added, a slight smile on his face.

"Arthur!" Grandpa greeted excitedly, arms spread for a hug. "You've grown a lot!"

Gwen's mind screeched to a halt. This was the "old friend" Grandpa had mentioned? She'd expected someone at least within ten years of his age, not within ten years of theirs. She could only look between the two with wide, uncomprehending eyes. Ben, close by, wasn't faring much better. She took some comfort in that, but not much. Her cousin wasn't known to be quick on the uptake, after all.

"It's what happens after ten years," the now named Arthur replied, extending his arm forward for a handshake. The motion seemed to catch her Grandpa off guard, but he recovered quickly, accepting the gesture. "The years haven't been kind to you, huh?"

"Way less than to you, that's for sure," Grandpa Max answered with a chuckle.

"These the brats?" was Arthur's next question, turning towards Ben and her.

"Excuse you?" Gwen bristled indignantly.

"Who even are you?" Ben asked, frowning deeply.

"Gwen, Ben, this is Arthur, I met him when he was around your age, actually," Grandpa Max introduced them, moving an arm behind the much younger man and placing his hand on his shoulder. Arthur didn't seem to be a fan, but he didn't do much other than grimace a little and letting things be. "Arthur, these are my grandchildren, Ben and Gwen."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," she said first, trying to recover some face. First impressions might have been a little… mixed, but her mother had taught her better than this. She needed to be a proper lady-

"Well, you aren't a fossil, so that's a plus," was Ben's response to it all, making her turn to give him an incredulous look.

"Do you have to be such a Dofus all the time?"

Arthur didn't seem to mind though, chuckling to himself.

"What did you tell them about me, Max?" he asked their grandfather instead.

"Only that an old friend would be coming for a visit."

"You know, when someone as old as you says "old friend", people will assume it's someone as old as you are," Arthur explained, which had been more or less their thought process. Gwen still felt like she was being insulted though. "No fossils, here, kid-"

"I'm not a kid."

"Ben," Arthur corrected seamlessly, smile in place. "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

"We were having lunch, actually, but you can join us if you want. Plenty to go around," Grandpa answered, gesturing towards the untouched bowl of… food. Worms weren't food as far as Gwen was concerned, but there Grandpa was, insisting since day one that it actually was.

"Your cooking has stayed just as exotic, huh?" Arthur, his smile turning a little bemused as he regarded the bowl. "What even is that?"

"Marinated mealworms," Grandpa Max answered while both Ben and her fake retched… Or not so fake, but still. "Difficult to get in the States," he added, just like that first day during their trip. Maybe he thought they'd grow desensitized with time? Because if so he was delusional.

"Your taste is just as exotic indeed," Arthur commented with a grimace of a smile as he took a seat on the table on one side of both cousins while Grandpa Max took the seat across from him. To the utter shock of both children though, the man reached for the bowl, took one of the worms and brought it to his mouth. After chewing on the thing a bit and swallowing, he made a sound that Gwen couldn't quite understand. It sounded like amusement, which didn't quite fit with what he'd just done. "I guess you've prepared worse stuff, certainly better than it sounds," he commented, picking up another.

"I know, right?" Grandpa Max asked, clearly happy that someone enjoyed his "cooking" for once. Gwen would have felt bad if she weren't so impressed and disgusted that there was another man in the entire country that shared Grandpa Max's… tastes.

"How can you eat that?" Ben asked, eyes wide.

"If my parents taught me anything, it was that no food should be wasted," Arthur explained casually with a smile as he brought another of the worms to his mouth. "No matter how disgusting it is, there's someone out there that would kill to eat it, to eat anything," he added, his smiling face contrasting a whole lot with what he was saying.

"Arthur," Grandpa Max said with that warning voice that he'd use with Ben or Gwen when they were doing something he didn't approve of.

"Teaching life lessons is a thing adults do, isn't it, old man?" Arthur asked back, a lot less affected by The Voice than either of the children would have been. He even looked completely unaffected. That couldn't be though, could it?

"How do you know Grandpa?" Ben asked, getting ahead of her in the questioning game. Maybe she needed to get her mind in the game already. She was a little confused by this man though.

"He helped me out around ten years ago when I needed a hand," Arthur answered. "Those were the days, huh? I don't know how you put up with me, honestly," he added as he looked at Grandpa Max. "No wonder you ran for the hills."

"It was no trouble," their grandfather answered, with a weird expression and voice this time.

"What do you do?" Gwen asked, getting a groan from Ben.

"Can't you ask about something interesting instead of work? What's next? Which was his favorite subject?" her cousin criticized. Maturely, she stuck her tongue out at him. So she preferred more intellectual things. That wasn't a crime. It wasn't her fault that Ben was stupid.

"I'm a magician, a professional one," Arthur answered with a wide grin. "And my favorite subject was history."

"Magician?" Gwen asked incredulously.

"History?" Ben asked, with much the same tone.

"Yes and yes," Arthur replied, seemingly amused by their response as he went to eat another worm. "You guys aren't going to eat anything?" he asked back at them, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll eat one if you can do a trick I can't explain," Gwen dared then. Honestly, magician. Did the man think they were stupid? He probably knew one trick and thought they'd be impressed or something. She'd met idiots like that before.

"Sounds like a deal," Arthur agreed easily, twisting the hand he wasn't using to eat. Gwen blinked when there appeared a card. Unimpressed, she went to say something but she didn't get that far. "That's not the trick," the man told her, still smiling as he pulled the sleeve of his coat up.

"Cool," Ben breathed out as a tattoo of chains wrapped all around his forearm appeared under the piece of clothing. She could say she was less and less impressed by the second. Only idiots got tattoos, after all. Her mother had that right.

"I know, right?" Arthur agreed, before turning back to Gwen. "So, watch closely, yeah?" he told her as if she were a kid. Yes, this man seemed to be very much an idiot. He presented to her the card between two fingers before he flipped his hand around and the card disappeared.

"You are holding it between your fingers, hidden behind," she replied with a flat expression.

"Oh, really?" Arthur shot back, unperturbed as he separated his fingers and… Nothing dropped.

She frowned. His sleeve was pulled, so he couldn't have put the card there. He was moving his hand mockingly around, wiggling his fingers, further proving that he wasn't holding the object at all. But that didn't make sense. The card had to be somewhere. Had he thrown it? But then it'd be on the floor around, but it wasn't.

"Only card in my hand right now is this one, Gwen?" he commented, showing her the back of his hand, where there was a card tattooed. She hadn't checked the card he'd "magicked", but she found herself wondering if it had been the seven of clubs. "Give up?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Dweeb, do you give up?" Ben asked, clearly very pleased with her predicament.

"It's fine if you don't want to eat this stuff," Arthur started saying, leaning back and chuckling. "I have-"

"Fine!" she exclaimed, because Ben would never let her live it down if she went back on a dare. So the guy was good with his "magic". At least it'd give her something to occupy her mind with, she supposed. Better than Ben that was for sure.

Still, the worm tasted absolutely disgusting.

"Well, you have a little spitfire in your hands, old man," Arthur commented, seemingly impressed. At least Gwen had that going for her… Even if she could have done without Ben laughing at her. "How about you, buddy? You know how I did it?" he asked then, turning towards her cousin.

"He can't figure out left from right and you expect him to figure out that trick?" Gwen asked, finding her in to get some shots going. Because she wasn't about to let her cousin get all the fun. Now, if only the taste of the worm would leave her mouth. How was Arthur still eating that stuff?

"I'll show you, Dweeb!" Ben exclaimed. "This is easy. I'll have it in a minute!"

[}-o-{]

[Maxwell Tennyson]

"So, that's the kid, huh?" Arthur commented, looking through the Rust Bucket's window towards where they'd left Gwen and Ben looking at a card. The two had been hard at work trying to figure out the trick with the card and Max couldn't believe that they were doing something together without seeming like they were a second away from smacking each other… much. "The both of them look like a riot."

"They are," Max agreed with a fond smile as he looked at his grandchildren too. "Thank you for coming," he added, turning his eyes to Arthur. "You've been doing well for yourself."

"Thanks for caring," Arthur shot back, and the half-smile on his face was equal parts honest and sarcastic somehow. Max had to wonder where the child that had chased after him like a puppy had gone… Before he remembered that the same child had been left to fend for himself all too quickly.

"I cared-"

"Just not enough," Arthur interrupted, his expression not changing at all. "Old man, it's fine. You had better things to do, saving the world and all that. I understand that now," he added then, looking outside once more. Left unsaid was that he hadn't understood back then and it hurt Max all the more.

"Arthur…" he started, trailing off expecting another interruption. Of course, when he did, he didn't get one. And thus, he was left without something to say for a long, very awkward moment. "... You've gotten better at this."

"Haven't you heard? The important part of being a magician is being the smartest person in the room," Arthur told him, sounding perfectly happy and proud for once. There was no hidden jab or hurt, just a man who was good at his job and knew it. That was all that Max had dared to hope for him… It hurt so much that he had achieved it without him, just like his own boys. "Granted, I'm not that smart but… Fake it till you make it, wasn't it?" he asked, and for a second, in front of Max wasn't Arthur, the adult, but Arty, the kid that he'd given a book to and so much more with it.

"Yeah… Yeah, that was it," Max replied with a sad smile on his face. "So…"

"So… I have a plan, but I don't know if you do, old man. It'd be nice to know," Arthur told him, leaning back and giving him his full attention. "I'm all ears."

"This old thing has a trick or two," he answered, tapping the table inside the Rust Bucket. "But I can't use most of them without giving things away. And I… I can't. Ben can hold his ground and I can if I absolutely need to, but I'd rather it not come to that."

"No wonder you called me. You are that desperate, huh?"

"Arthur-"

"Ok, here's my plan. I'll have my eyes out," the young man cut him off with a confident smile as he pulled the sleeve of his coat, the one that he hadn't before. Blinking, Max stared for a long second before his eyes widened in understanding. "If something comes this way, I'll deal with it."

"And if you can't?" Max asked.

"Good to know you trust my abilities, old man," Arthur replied dryly. Before Max could try to defend his doubts, however, he continued. "I can deal with whatever comes your way, I promise you that," he said gravely. "And I'm a man of my word." 'Unlike you,' went unsaid then. "I might need to be more drastic though. In which case you'll get a warning to get yourself and the kids away. That's it. Simple, right?"

"That's it?" Max asked, worried. Because this was the lives of his grandchildren which were in danger and there were dangerous people after Ben now. Dangerous people that he couldn't face now as he had in the past.

"That's it," Arthur repeated confidently. He wished he could have half the confidence the young man showed then and there. "I haven't been doing nothing all this time, old man. I'm no hero like you, but I have a trick or two myself. I owe you and I take my debts very seriously. Equivalent exchange is an important saying between people like me, you know? I owe you my life, so you can trust that I take this seriously."

"It's not that I don't," Max replied, taking a deep breath in and running his fingers through his white hair wearily. "It's just… These are my grandchildren."

"And I'll protect them with my life. This is me paying my debt, old man," Arthur told him, staring right into his eyes. "If someone wants to get to them, they'll have to go through me. And I'm no slouch, don't you worry," he added, grinning with unwavering confidence.

[}-o-{]

[Arthur West]

Sleep was evading him that night, but such instances were not strange for him. He'd had about the same amount of days with sleepless nights as he had without them. That time, it wasn't because of the endless sound of the forest, with its insects and the leaves in the wind. It wasn't even the uncomfortable seat at the Rust Bucket's table that he'd have to use as a sleeping place. It wasn't the kids' and Max's snoring either.

It was, as usual, just his mind working overtime and achieving nothing but screwing up with Arthur.

'Just my luck,' he mused, shifting to sit straight and look outside the window. Nothing had happened that night, but then again, some time had passed since Max had called him and nothing new seemed to have happened to him or the kids. As it was, chances were that nothing would happen for some time too, unless they were exceedingly unlucky.

Regardless, he knew that anything could happen at any time for any reason or for no reason whatsoever. The world was unpredictable like that, even for those in the mundane side of it. For those like Arthur, it was even more so and it never shied away from a chance to remind them.

Idly, he fidgeted with a card in his hand, the seven of clubs. He flipped the hard between his fingers this or that way as he continued gazing into the forest outside. His eyes unfocused after a moment while he took a moment to check that everything was, indeed, alright just like it seemed. He'd told Max that he took this seriously and he hadn't been lying.

This was him settling a debt, paying what he owed and maybe, hopefully, he'd be able to move on. Maybe once it was all said and done, he'd be able to leave that part of his life behind once and for all. He wasn't that kid anymore and Max wasn't the man that had saved him anymore. They were different people in different circumstances. It was better if they left the past in the past.

And maybe, if he told himself that enough times, he'd believe it.

Sighing, his shoulders dropped while Arthur turned his eyes to the card in his hand and flexed it in his fingers. He didn't like doing that, since a bent card meant that he'd messed up the flicking or something. At least that's what his brain had been taught while he practiced as a little kid.

God knew he'd messed up a lot and it showed in the card. It was old, frayed at the edges, with bend marks all over, a discolored design, and a yellowish background where it had once been white. It wasn't the card he'd shown the kids before, however. No, this one was older, a lot older and a lot more significant.

"I'm… I'm not a freak?"

"No, of course not, kid… You are just special and that's a good thing."

"But I made those things-"

"Don't worry about that. Here, how about I teach you this card trick I learned some time ago?"

Shaking his head, Arthur focused on the present. It wouldn't do to get lost in memories anyway. His mind was already enough of a mess as it was without adding more fuel to that fire. 'This will be a long job,' he thought with a wry smile as he looked at the Rust Bucket's ceiling.

Then he blinked, one of his many flies on the wall picking up something.

'I know I was prepared for this, but I didn't actually think something would happen on the first night… This is some luck you have, old man. Not sure if it's good luck or not, but whatever,' Arthur thought to himself, taking a deep breath in as he moved to leave the seat and then the vehicle. It was a piece of cake to do so silently too, one of his least impressive tricks but a trick nonetheless.

Cracking his neck, he looked up to see a shooting star falling on the horizon… Or what looked like one. After all, this one looked a lot closer and a lot smaller than what a shooting star was supposed to be like. On top of that, it fell somewhere inside the forest, which he was sure wasn't how those worked either.

'No wishes for me,' Arthur thought with a smile as he started walking towards the fallen object. He was no alien expert like the old man, but from what he'd been told, this was kind of how the Watch had come to little Ben's life. This was also how the robot Max had told him about came too, so that was a little more concerning.

'What do we have here?' he wondered, keeping many eyes out. Eventually, he got a good look at the object, a spherical pod that had left a relatively small crater on the ground in the middle of the forest. It wasn't open yet, but he did pick up sounds coming out of it.

Eventually, Arthur himself came out of the forest line and got a good look at the thing with his actual eyes and heard the sounds with his actual ears. 'So… fight time?' he thought, tilting his head and preparing himself. 'Wonder if it'll be another robot. Maybe it'll be an alien this time? Maybe I'll even know what it is.'

Doubtful. He was no Plumber, after all. He might have gotten some light training and some light teaching, but he only knew and, more importantly, remembered a handful of them. Still, the wait was killing him and he needed something to keep his mind from getting nervous.

"Coming out anytime soon, buddy?" he asked out loud, his voice barely above a whisper. "I don't have all day. I'd like to go back to trying and failing to fall asleep, thank you very much."

And, as if answering him, the sphere shifted until a segmented panel that ran through the middle opened.

[} Chapter End {]

Adrian: And so, things start getting… interesting, one would say.

Arc: We got some more background about Arthur and his past with Max. It will be interesting how their relationship will end now that they are close together. A lot of bottled up emotions right there.

Adrian: There's also a new arrival here. Is it Ohm? Is it Vilgax doing his thing? Is it something else? No, it's Superm- I mean, er… Nevermind. If you guys enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review or Arc will be depressed.

Arc: Yes, yes, I will. I am from here on out holding all of you emotionally hostage if that is what I have to do.

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ