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Chapter 1

Gwen Tennyson walked along the forest path in her favorite blue kitty blouse and comfortable jeans, the full august moon and stars lighting up everything around her in a silvery, otherworldly light. The young energy-being's thoughts were not on the scenery though, they were on what she was about to do, and fear coursed through her stomach like rocks banging against her belly.

She hadn't wanted to do this, but she knew if she was ever going to be forgiven she would have to, not that she had to like it. She had never preformed a ritual like this before, and the side-effects she had read about made her only the more wary of the inevitable events bound to occur. Shadows shifted and seemed to peek out at her from behind trees and rocks, once having seemed so friendly but now unsure and hesitant as their owners leaned forward, stretching out invisible hands to demand payment of a debt.

No breeze blew, and the sounds and energy of the night around her were absent, drawing away from she who had taken and not yet returned what was needed and precious. Gwen sighed as sneaker-clad feet carried her along by will of their own, and she remembered the day and events that had led up to this night as clearly as if she were watching it on T.V:

It had been a few weeks ago and she, her grandpa, and her cousin Ben had been in a fight with a VERY strong alien. She had been battered, bruised, and sent sprawling, helpless to watch as Grandpa got knocked down same as her and her cousin got the living crap beaten out of him as Fourarms. The alien was just about to deliver the final blow, bragging on and on about being the one to have finally beaten Ben Tennyson, holder of the Omnitrix, most powerful weapon in the universe when Gwen had used a last-ditch spell so powerful the alien had been knocked straight into the stratosphere.

It landed in a defeated heap a full 30 seconds later and hadn't gotten up.

Both Ben and Grandpa had just stared, astounded at the display of strength "You been holding out on us Gwen?" Ben had joked, but no one laughed; Grandpa had been too tired and she had been too shocked herself at what she had just done.

The spell she had cast, though powerful, carried a high cost: she had had to take an immense amount of energy from the Earth itself and use what had been meant to give life and heal to bring harm to another with full knowledge of what she had been doing. A witch for a few years now, Gwen knew any amount of energy taken and misused in such a manner would have to be returned eventually, and until that debt was repaid she would no longer be in the Earth's good graces.

She could no longer feel the life buzzing through the plants around her, the eternal presence of the sun and moon and stars, the cool comfort of water or the fiery warmth of a campfire. She had been cut out of the cycle of life and death, give and take, yin and yang, and the only way to truly gain forgiveness for her actions would be to return that energy through an ancient ritual as old and respected as magic itself.

The magic book she carried in her old drawstring bag weighed like a rock as she stopped suddenly, shoulder length fiery mane swinging with momentum, jade eyes wide with anxiety. She had snuck out, Ben and Grandpa would never have understood what she had to do, and she didn't think she would have been able to explain anyways. Nobody could explain magic. She was far enough away from the Rustbucket now, so that even if they woke up and found her gone they wouldn't be able to follow her and interrupt the ritual. "I took from you then," she whispered to nothing in particular, and everything around her leaned in to listen "I'm ready to return it now.".

Sitting down cross-legged on the ground she took out her magic book, the source of her knowledge, and left it suspended in the air as she flipped through the pages to find the correct incantation. Finally finding it, she studied the words comprehensible to those only who knew the magic art like she had a thousand times before in the days leading up to this night.

Reading and rereading the passage, she memorized each individual symbol to make sure she did this correctly, she only had one shot at this and she had to make it count.

Taking in a deep breath and letting it out through her nose, Gwen closed her eyes, lifted her head to the heavens, and began the ritual. As she summoned up her energy in preparation a sense of dread crept up her spine; so many things could go wrong, even the most experienced of practitioners were wary of this ritual, failed attempts were...

The ring of fire in the Pacific was a healing scar from one preformed millions of years ago, one that had gone dreadfully wrong, and the Earth was still pissed about it.

Needless to say, even thinking of doing this was pretty much considered masochism or pure stupidity with certain exceptions, this being one of them. A twig snapped, but Gwen was too caught up in the ritual to notice as she took another deep breath in and began to speak.

Kevin Levin walked through the forest, the hairs on the back of his neck pricking up and a weary tension in his body telling him something big was about to go down. Glancing around he heard a voice carried on the wind whispering something, something he didn't quite catch, maybe something about taking and returning...A tech deal perhaps?

A sharp grin lit up the former mutant's face, maybe there would be something worth stealing or someone worth kidnapping; he was above neither. Not to mention he was a little short on cash anyways, so he changed his course- not that there had really been a destination in the first place- and walked in the direction the whispers had come from.

Maybe something useful would be there, something he could use to help bring the demise of stupid little Benji Tennyson. A chilling scowl crossed the now 13 year old's face and he spat at the thought of the one who had turned him into that freak on top of the Golden Gate bridge, of the one who had trapped him in the hellhole that was the Null-Void for 2 years, of the one responsible for all of his suffering, and the one who's blood was going to spill if it was the last thing he ever did.

Kevin smirked at that last thought, he would have no mercy, Kevin Levin wasn't capable of mercy, he had grown up tough and hard and cold and he would make sure the death of his sworn enemy would be a long, agonizing, pure hell.

He would make an example of him and of all those who aided him: that stupid fat old man, that annoying little redhead cousin of his, even the entire Plumber organization if it came right down to it. He would get his point across and make it known to even the most remote corners of the known galaxy that no one, no one, could cross Kevin Levin and live to tell the tale. Not even Benji.

The angry teenager was snapped out of his thoughts when that voice again reached his ears, he was close, and he could make out exactly what it was saying now. It wasn't a tech deal but sounded to be something else, and hiding behind a tree Kevin peeped out to survey the situation as best he could without being seen.

"Aurum novatious ci." those simple words, in those simple words Gwen asked forgiveness, she presented payment, and she bared her being to the great forces that be to have their way with it as they saw fit.

Immediately the draining began, energy poured out of her body in visible rays of purple infused with white flying in all directions hitting all things around her: trees, rocks, burrows, bushes, a few even went down into the Earth itself.

Her muscles tightened and convulsed, she felt as if she was a full up water balloon with a rapidly gushing leak as all the energy she had taken was taken back and justice was served.

She hadn't predicted the cost to be so high, hadn't meant to take so much, and now it was like her very soul was straining to sail out of her body and join in on the light show around her.

Closing her eyes in an effort to be strong, she finally felt the last of her energy taken as the ritual was at last completed.

No interruptions, nothing had gone wrong, whew.

The last of the lights drained away and she felt herself collapse to the ground in a heap...she hadn't even known she had been floating. Breath came into her lungs thick, she had never felt so drained in her life, but the smell of the grass around her had never been so rich or had it felt so soft, everything suddenly sprang to life and she sighed.

Finally, she thought, everything is alright.

Rolling onto her side she heard heavy boots approaching, and looking up she saw a broad-shouldered boy maybe a little older than her with ebony hair and a pair of cold pitch black eyes glaring down at her "You Tennysons are probably the weirdest bunch I've ever met." he spat in a voice she remembered all too well. It was deeper than she remembered, but still the same.

Her exhausted eyes widened as Kevin Levin loomed over her "Luckily they don't tend to stray too far from the nest," he snorted with a smirk and turned to go, he was going to kill her cousin, he was going to kill Ben and he was going to kill Grandpa, and there was nothing she could do to help.

He watched twin pools of jade grow wide with recognition when he spoke, and turned the direction her back had been facing when she had been giving off the impressive little light show and started walking. Finally Ben Tennyson was going to die at his hand.
But as he began to walk away, a small, delicate hand weakly grabbed his ankle and a fint voice whispered "Please...Ben, Grandpa, please don't...they're my life.".

That struck a chord; she was here, down on the ground, obviously spent and she was begging for her family's life as if she wouldn't eventually get over it and move on. No one in his life had ever begged the enemy to spare him, they had all turned tail and abandoned the poor little helpless kid to the cruel beatings of life on the streets. A swift spurt of jealousy shot through him and had him whirling around to again glare down at the little life form who had the nerve to ask of him what had never been provided.

"You Tennysons are all the same you know that?" he snapped "Too soft for your own good and always looking for the better way out where no one gets hurt," kneeling down and grabbing the collar of her shirt in one swift motion, he thrust his face into hers "well welcome to reality princess, people get hurt and people get killed just so the rest of us can survive another day to pick their corpses for scraps. It's a cruel world and you have to beat it at it's own game every day of your life until you lose and die, that's it that's all nothing more nothing less. There never has been there never will be. Mercy is a bedtime story, a happy dream no one can ever really wake up to and it's time to face the music and get in the game or stay on the sidelines." he paused a second for breath "Your cousin put me through hell, I'm going to return the favor right now and like it or not nothing in this universe is ever going to be able to stop me." he growled the last few words and roughly pushed her down so now she was lying on her back, making little sounds as she tried to get up but finally sinking back down to the grass.

Looking up to him again, starlight reflected off unshed tears "It doesn't have to be that way..." she whispered simply "we could help you Kevin, you don't have to be alone."

He paused, how many times had he heard that before by people who had only been lying through their teeth? How many times had his trust been broken with such similar words, by people who pretended to care but only were out for themselves and their pocketbooks?

Unconsciously his hand reached into his pocket, encircling a rusty old bike lock on a chain. It was a memento of one of the first crimes he had ever committed: stealing a bike to run away to New York after his mom had run him out, slapping him across the face and calling him a freak. She had hurt so much more with her words than she ever could have with that hand, even though there had been no scar on his face she had left one the size of China on his heart.

Pain and anger coursed through him as he absorbed the metal, this girl was like all the others, she would only hurt him, she didn't care, no one did...no one could care for a sociopath street kid monster like him. She was planning something, everyone was always planning something, and he was supposed to take the fall.

"No, never again."

Whipping out his now metal-encrusted fist he dropped to his knees, looming over her using his other hand to support his weight. Raising the metal fist over her head her eyes didn't go wide with terror, they stayed even on his, eyes so soft like his mother's had been, so treacherous. "I'm a monster, I would take great pleasure in killing you," he spat "I will take great pleasure in killing your cousin, how dare you even think that I should just walk away from that, from who I am. So am I supposed to just forgive and forget?" he asked sarcastically "Am I just supposed to suddenly start living the good honest life I keep hearing so much about? I'm a monster, and proud of it, so why should someone like me care about what someone like you says?"

Raising his fist higher, she only looked at him with something he was too scared to place and gently shook her head " No...I don't expect you ever to forget any of the pain that Ben put you through...I don't think anyone could...and as for forgiveness...that's your own choice...but what I'm asking..." she trailed off, slowly raising one tiny little hand fearlessly to his cheek as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do "is for someone like you to let someone like me care...for...you." her eyes closed as that last sentence left her lips, and her hand fell away from his face as she fell into unconsciousness.

...What the hell?...