Chapter 2: Courage
Ben was playing Sumo Slammers in the RV when his heart started racing. Checking the omnitrix, he put his game down and rushed to the door. Standing in the doorway, he looked around looking for Gwen. He found grandpa first, enjoying the sun in a lounging chair, but also eying the forest wearily. Ben quickly understood why; at the edge of the forest his cousin stood. Her shoulders were tensed and he could see her pick up her right foot, as if to make a step, and put it back down with a huff. He couldn't see her face, but he didn't need to. Her jaw was clenched, her eyes were spitting fire. He'd seen it so often.
Taking a breath to calm his racing heart, Ben walked up to grandpa Max and told him that he was going to show Gwen a small lake he'd found a few minutes out in a clearing in the forest. The old man nodded but did not take his troubled eyes of Gwen. Ben nudged his shoulder and grinned encouragingly when his grandfather looked at him. "I got this." He told him and Max nodded in response.
"Don't take too long, we move out after the morning rush."
Ben nodded and wasted no time, walking over to where I saw Gwen still struggling to take a step. Coming up beside her, his fingers brushed hers. An invitation. Her hand reached back and clasped his. He could feel her shaking as they stood there for a long moment. She looked at him, face no longer fierce but a strange mixture of abject fury and helplessness. Ben didn't let on, but that expression always shocked him; Gwen always knew what to do. Her not knowing was like the sun rising in the west: if it happened, something had gone horribly wrong. She turned to glare at the ground between her feet, her teeth gritted. "I will not be this weak." She hissed, more to convince herself than him.
Ben looked at the trees before them, his mind going back to the Wildvine group they'd encountered weeks ago. Of hearing Gwen scream for help as she was dragged under… He shook himself. Gwen needed him now. He could have his meltdown when she was okay.
Burying his disquiet, he gave her the same grin he'd given grandpa. "I'm gonna go into the forest, there's a cool lake there. Wanna come keep me from doing something stupid?" He waggled his eyebrows in challenge.
Gwen glanced at him and rolled her eyes. "I suppose. You'll manage to trip over Vilgax somehow if I leave you alone for five minutes." Gwen turned her gaze back to the forest and her eyes sharpened again, determined. "Lead the way, doofus."
He squeezed her hand. That's the spirit.
Following behind Ben, Gwen made a point of stepping on every tree root she could as they trekked through the forest. She even picked up a branch and used it to give tree trunks a wack as well as she passed them. She could feel Ben's amusement.
"Stop laughing!"
"I'm not laughing!" He laughed as he said it though. "Also, I think you missed a root there."
"Thank you." She said, and stomped on the offending tree limb. It did no damage, but it made her feel better. "And you were thinking of laughing." She grumbled, whacking a nearby tree so hard that her stick broke. Before she had a chance to mourn its loss, Ben pulled her into a clearing where a small, crystal clear lake sparkled in the sun. The boy released her hand and sat down in the grass near the edge, turning his face to absorb the light. He sighed happily.
"That's the stuff." He murmured. Not liking the distance, Gwen moved over and set down right beside him, their legs nearly touching. She immediately felt a little better, even if she was still embarrassed about her small rampage in the forest. She wanted him to understand that tree roots still terrified her, that her plant abuse had less to do with anger and everything to do with her lost sense of safety. She had no idea how to say it without sounding pathetic though, and what would be the point? Ben already knew. He'd held her as she dreamed after all.
"Hey, remember Gwendolyn?" Ben asked offhandedly. Gwen snapped out of her thoughts and was confused for a second before she realized he was asking after her future counterpart. She scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Pretty hard to forget your future self, doofus." Ben bounced a little where he sat.
"I know right? You could fly! And throw around all sorts of spells!" He continued excitedly gesturing for emphasis, making a wooshing noise as he thrust out his hand to mimic her casting.
It was so bad that it made her snicker, then outright laugh at him. "Yeah, I'm gonna be awesome." She boasted, looking at her hands and feeling the magic thrum through her body. Gwendolyn hadn't been weak. She couldn't be. The doofus would croak in a day if she gave the universe half a chance. She clenched her hand. Gwendolyn was her. "I am awesome." It didn't sound like a boast there, more like a reassurance.
Ben grinned at her, eyes twinkling. "Exactly, so don't go around saying you're weak. The power of dweebiness will destroy all your enemies." He declared imperiously before bursting into a fit of giggles, falling on his back and clutching his belly. Gwen rolled her eyes so hard she that she was sure she was going to pass out.
'Power of dweebiness'? Cheeky little... Rather than fly off the handle as she would have before, she planned her revenge. If Ben was in a mood to stroke her ego, then having a little fun couldn't hurt. "The flying looked really cool. Much more graceful than Stinkfly." She needled.
"Not much of a victory there, but I guess you're right." Ben retorted, closing his eyes as he stretched on the grass. Gwen opted to remain seated, she'd get enough grass stains on her as it was.
"And I got a college degree. Glad to know that's going to pan out well." She continued ponderously.
"Yup, still a nerd after all those years. So proud." Her cousin intoned sarcastically, absently. He was running on autopilot. Good.
Gwen nodded sagely before springing her trap. "And I grew up to be hot too. That's one teenage insecurity I can skip."
"Yup, totally-" Gwen's eyes flashed and she pinned him with her cheekiest smile. Gotcha.
"Yup, totally-" Ben cut himself off, his blood freezing in his veins as his eyes snapped open and his brain stuttered to a halt. He slowly turned to look at Gwen, all colour draining from his face. He found her looking down at him, her finger tapping her chin in thought, a coy smirk on her face. A coy victorious smirk.
Time to backtrack faster than XLR8. "I mean- I mean, for a dweeb!" He stuttered, waving his arms with a blush.
Gwen's smirk turned even more mischievous. "Oh, so now I'm a 'hot dweeb'?"
"No, no, no, you will be! Not now!" It took his brain all of half a second to catch up to what he actually said and he groaned. That's it, he had found rock bottom and slapped two hands over his traitorous mouth to stop it from giving the dweeb any more ammunition. And if the ground could open up and swallow him right about now, that would be great.
Gwen, clearly feeling very confident, rolled on top of him to smirk right down into his face. A smirk that promised that he wasin for it.
"What was that?" She sing-songed with a catlike grin. "Does the doofus have a thing for curvy redheads?" She waggled her eyebrows and absolutely loved his discomfort as he blushed and groaned behind his hands. That's what I get for inflating her ego. She laughed and he felt his competitive streak rear its head. Two can play that game.
He brought up his own hand to grab the hair on the back of her head and leaned up, loving how the uncertainty crept into her eyes as the discomfort set in. She probably hadn't really thought about their position, but he was going to be darn sure that she knew all about it now. Judging by the red creeping up her face, he was succeeding. He pulled out his best smirk, knowing that he was still blushing himself but ignoring it.
"Nah, just redheads. Now get off." He answered her earlier question, giving her hair a yank to get her off him.
She gasped softly and his brain ground to a halt the same way a well oiled machine grinds to a halt (and slumps in on itself) when it's power is cut off.
He stared at her, eyes wide as saucers, as his cousin did the exact same. He could see the flush creep up from her under her shirt till it covered all exposed skin, growing deeper by the second. Judging by the heat he felt, he wasn't doing much better. We maaay have gotten a little too comfortable there.
A long second passed before, in a blur of movement, he found himself flat on his back, staring at the sky with the wind knocked out of him. Gwen was getting better with her throws; she'd managed to get up, haul him up with her, and throw him, all in under a second. Her red, upside down head appeared in his field of vision, not quite meeting his eyes.
"You didn't hear that." She told him.
"What, that battle cry was only in my head?"
"Yes, that's what it was. I don't like people touching my hair. Plus, that spot is ticklish. You had it coming."
He'd buried his face in her hair just this morning and heard her giggle softly because of it but he figured now was not the time to point that out. Instead he nodded rapidly. "Ticklish. Of course. Totally."
"Also, this conversation never happened." She told him, jabbing a finger at his face.
"Nope, we took a stroll in silence. No talking here." He whistled as innocently as he could.
"We didn't even take a stroll. This is all a dream." She asserted.
"Can't sell that. Grandpa saw us going into the forest."
"We can convince him that he's senile."
"You are a cruel, cruel dweeb."
"Oh please," She flicked her short hair and smirked, emerald eyes sparkling. The blush was still there though, if a little less intense. "You wouldn't have me any other way." With that she turned around and marched back into the forest in the direction of the RV.
Ben sat up and smiled to himself, watching her go through the trees without a trace of fear, feeling an odd mixture of annoyance, fondness and pride.
Then again, there really wasn't anything odd about it at all. That was just Gwen in a nutshell.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone