October 31, 2008

Gwen's Neighborhood; 7:35 pm

"That was hilarious! You were about ready to knock out that clown." Ben said between fits of laughter.

"It's not funny, Doofus!" Gwen yelled back. "Besides whose bright idea was it to allow a haunted house in our neighborhood anyway!?"

"A genius, that's who. The rich houses give out the big candy, but you're all so overprotective." Ben pointed out how many safety lights were scattered around the block. "And don't get me started with these stupid glow sticks." Gwen's mother had demanded that they wear glow stick bracelets and necklaces, which Ben quickly disposed of once they were out of sight.

"You have to remember that not every ten-year-old has superpowers, Ben." She chastised him. "You've seen how dangerous the world can be."

"Yeah, but this is Bellwood!" He yelled, causing some of the parents to stare. "We've been back for two months, and there hasn't been any action. I'm starting to think our biggest problem is elementary school bullies."

"Is that why you're wearing that ridiculous outfit?" Ben was wearing his Galactic Enforcers uniform that was way too big for him. His mother had offered to adjust it so it would fit him properly, but he insisted that he'd grow into it. "I thought you were done with those losers anyway."

"I am done with them," he exclaimed, "I'm Ultra-Ben!" He put his hands on his hips to do a hero pose, but it wasn't very effective with how baggy the outfit was on him. "And you can't deny you're looking for some action too, Lucky Girl." Gwen had decided to don her own hero outfit for Halloween, which her parents found eerily similar to the 'real' Lucky Girl's costume. She made the excuse that she admired her, and they left it at that.

After some more bickering and playful teasing, they decided to get back to the task at hand: getting the most candy they could get before curfew. Most of the houses were giving out king-sized candy bars or hand fulls of bite-sized, but some were giving out healthy alternatives like raisins and fruit. If Gwen hadn't been there to drag him away, he probably would have left some Stinkfly goop all over their lawns.

After about an hour, Ben couldn't hold it in anymore. "Is there a park or something nearby? I really need to go!" She led him to the neighborhood park, which was pretty deserted. "Hold my candy!"

"Fine, but don't be surprised if some of your king-sized go missing." She gave him a devilish grin. He wanted to threaten her so badly, but his bladder won out, and he rushed into the public restroom. Gwen took the large sacks of candy and plopped down on a nearby bench to look through her earnings.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she was beginning to become more aware of how creepy the park was at night. The darkness seemed to surround her. The only sight of the outside world being some kids walking under streetlights up the path. The wind picked up causing the leaves to rustle and she felt like something was moving towards her. Flashes of Xenon plagued her thoughts, but she refused to acknowledge them. She knew better than to imagination run rampant and had started to calm down until she saw two glowing eyes staring at her.

"This isn't funny, Ben!" She yelled at the eyes believing them just to be her cousin playing a prank on her for threatening to eat his candy. It wasn't until two more pairs of eyes appeared that she knew something was wrong.

"Who's Ben?" One of the figures walked out of the shadows and it was a tall boy in a mask. Two smaller boys followed behind him wearing the same mask. "That's a lot of candy you got there. How about you share some of that." The three boys started to close in on her.

"You don't want to do this." She warned.

"Is the little pussy cat gonna call her mommy?" The boys started laughing at her causing her to blush under her mask. She could easily take them all down, but she didn't want to have to deal with the consequences.

"So what if she does?" A tall mummy appeared behind the buys causing the younger two to panic.

"Nice toilet paper!" The older bullied yelled unimpressed. "Didn't have to go and wipe your ass with it before you wrapped yourself though, freak." He started laughing at his own joke while the younger two continued to back away, not wanting to get into any trouble. Snare-oh picked up the child in his large bandages causing him to freak out. "Let go of me before I kick your raggedy-ass! I mean it, I'll fuck you up!"

"You really love curses, don't you?" A giant bandage wrapped around the boy's head, effectively covering his mouth. "Maybe I should introduce you to the Mummy's Curse." He began to unravel his body, exposing the missing body inside.

"That's enough, Ben!" He dropped the boy who crawled away, crying. He couldn't tell if he was calling for his mother or yelling about the undead pharaoh in the park. The younger two chased after him, not wanting to be the next to get targeted.

"Gross!" Ben yelled. "I think he soiled my wraps." He started flapping his arms to try and dry them. "At least he made that mommy comment. I almost went four arms, and that punchline would never work."

"What is wrong with you!?" Gwen yelled at the tall mummy. "You seriously scared them. They'll probably be scarred for life!" If he had felt bad, it didn't show.

"Well, hopefully, they learn not to try and rob girls in the park. Heck, I probably stopped a potential criminal from being made." He sat down on the bench and started rummaging through his candy. "Besides, you could have kicked their butts to next year."

"Not every problem needs to be solved with violence."

"And some problems need a little charismatic charm." He made a show of showing off his features. "If it came to it, you could have just used your witchy powers and scared them off yourself." The mention of her magic reminded her that she still hadn't been able to use it properly. The mana skin had helped her get through her training at the dojo, but anything beyond that seemed impossible.

"Ben," she mumbled trying to remember how to use her vocal cords. "I have a tournament in a couple of weeks." She didn't understand why this was so hard for her. Thankfully the mummy was giving her his full attention. "Would you like to come? I mean you don't have to obviously if you have better things to do then that's cool I guess never mind forget I said anything!" She started to walk off as she rambled to herself more than anything.

"Of course I'll go." She turned around and looked up at the mummy, silently thanking that the mask was covering the blush taking over her face. "I wouldn't miss the chance to see you get your butt kicked for the world!" And with that, any respect she had for him crumbled. She shoved him away, ready to give him a piece of her mind when the familiar blinking of red started from his shoulder. In a panic, he dove into a nearby bush before the park enveloped in a bright red flash.

"Why are you hiding?" She asked, looking over the bush. On the other side was a shivering Ben showing way too much skin. "AND WHY THE HECK ARE YOU NAKED!?"

"It was hard to go in the suit, and then I heard those guys harassing you, and I panicked!" She couldn't believe that this was her life. "Can you please just go get the suit."

"Are you crazy!? I'm not going into the men's room!" She yelled at him before storming off. "Go get it yourself, freak!"

"GWEN WAIT!"

June 3, 2016

Chicago, IL; 9:23 pm

After chasing Zomboso out of the festival grounds, the Omnitrix timed out, causing him to run after him on foot. If he had been XLR8 or Stinkfly, then he could have caught him quickly, but he lost him in the city. He all day searching as different aliens trying to find where the clown as hiding, but it was useless. He decided to head back to the hotel, fuming about letting him escape again. When he entered his room, he saw the door between their joint room open. Max had been treating Gwen while he was on a wild goose chase.

"I gave her some activated charcoal to get the toxins out of her system," Max said, unsure if his grandson even cared. "Her burns are healing at an unprecedented rate. In a couple of weeks, there won't even be any scarring." He got up from his chair and walked past to wash his hands. "I'm not going to ask you to put your… grievances aside." Max started trying to find the right words. "But, your cousin isn't like us, at least not anymore." He grabbed the rest of his things and made his way out the door. "Take care of her, please. I'm going to try and get a damn refund so we can get the hell out of this city as soon as possible."

Gwen was motionless under the heavy comforter. Her breathing was ragged, and sometimes she'd go too long between them. Her left side was heavily bandaged, but after a quick glance, he could see how it's all began to scab over. Her magic wasn't this powerful back then. She wouldn't even think it possible to heal yourself without even uttering an incantation. A part of him was happy that she didn't completely give up on her magic, but then he thought back to that afternoon.

He saw how scared she was. She was hurting so much, and he abandoned her. A part of him wished he hadn't stopped to check on her. That he ran past and went after the clown, maybe he wouldn't have gotten away.

Then there was another part of him. The part of him that he keeps hidden from the world. This one knew the truth. He knew that he didn't want to help her. That he wanted to see her terrified. To be in pain. To suffer. And that part of him knew he was just as bad as the villains he swore to take down.

AN: Sorry that this chapter is so short I just really needed to push something out before I let another month pass by. Life's been kicking my ass, and that's why I didn't update for the last six months, but I'm trying to get back into the groove of things again. I can't promise that there won't be another long hiatus between chapters, but I will come back to finish this story no matter what. It makes me really happy to see people still wanting to read this story, and I know it's slow right now I've been struggling trying to figure out if I want to cut some things to pick up the pace, but I also want to tell the story I want to tell no matter what. I'll try and have the next chapter up in the next week or two, but work's been taking up most of my time nowadays.