Mask (Alternate Universe) (Pg-13)

[Lady Lasa]

"Those ballerinas haven't been seeing a ghost, they've just been seeing a teenaged idiot."

That's one of the best lines. And also why she's such a great character.

This was great, truly a fun read so far. I'm so glad you updated it.

[perhapsormaybe]

the fun thing about Verdona is I get to insult characters I don't like and still be in character doing it. ^_^

[perhapsormaybe]

"You've been at this flying thing a lot longer than I have...shouldn't you be faster?" The red streamlined form Ben now took circled Kevin tauntingly as they both flew along.

"Shut it..." Kevin growled. "You're puny. Your wings have less to handle."

"In other words, you're out of shape, and fat," Ben threw right back.

"Why am I going with you again?" Kevin hissed. "I can handle this on my own.

"Maybe because Grandpa doesn't trust you not to kidnap Gwen again..." Ben mocked deep thought, "Or the fact we still have no proof you didn't kill Cash..."

"Can we just concentrate on Gwen?"

"Fine by me," Ben said, speeding off into the distance. It took a lot of effort, but Kevin willed himself to keep up with the much faster, younger boy. "So, why did you kidnap her?"

"...No reason."

"huh."

"What?"

"So, are you really this deeply in denial about it, or do you think everyone else is too stupid to realize that you like her?"

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"Let me go," Gwen hissed, struggling against the ropes around her wrist. She and Michael Morningstar were both on his horse, with her wrists bound so that her arms were around him.

"Don't think I will, Gwendolyn," Michael insisted. "It's really for your own good."

"Kidnapping is for my own good now?"

"You didn't seem to mind so much when the monster did it."

"Kevin never tied me up!"

Michael laughed. Cold, condescending...Gwen held back a shiver at just how cruel it sounded. "You're even calling it by a name now. What is he, your pet?"

"And what does it say about you that a 'monster' has more decency than a Visconte?"

"It says that I am willing to do whatever it takes to get what I want."

"What turned you into such a jerk all of the sudden?"

Again, Michael laughed. "Oh, dear Gwen....You were willing to come along with me on your own before. I didn't need to use force. Really, you shouldn't be so against this. I have power. So do you. Together, there's quite a lot we could do....No reason we couldn't take over France..."

"I can think of one!" Ben descended from the skies, followed a moment later by Kevin.

"Oh, how great....a team up," Michael sneered at them, but he made no moves.

"Give Gwen back, Morningstar," Kevin said, all four hands clenched into tight fists.

"I don't think so...." Michael wrapped his arm around Gwen. She tried to lean away from him, but he grabbed her more firmly and pulled her into him. "Take a shot at me if you dare. But you'll probably hit her..."

"Bastard," Kevin spat.

"Language, language!" Morningstar shook his head. "That is no way to speak in front of a lady. But who would expect more from a monster?"

What Morningstar failed to notice as he taunted Kevin was that Kevin's demeanor relaxed a little, noticing something happening right under Michael's nose that Michael didn't.

"Hiding behind a girl is pathetic."

"If you were human, I'd take you on as a man," Michael insisted, "But man versus beast, and me unarmed? I don't think that's fair...."

Kevin managed as much of a smirk as he could. "Distracted you."

"What are you talking about..." Michael trailed off, turning to see that Gwen was no longer beside him. In her place were three strange creatures - white and black and green, each only about a foot and a half to two feet high. All completely identical, one on each other's shoulders so that one could wrap its arms around Michael, tricking him into thinking Gwen was still there. The rope that had bound her had been sliced into and was now laying on the ground.

"Sorry, am I not your type?" The creature on top of the other two's shoulders asked, his voice slow and echoing.

Michael lunged for them, but they converged into one being and jumped from the horse. His foot caught in the stirrup and he fell over in his pursuit attempt.

"Stop this now, Michael...if you give up, we can all go back home," the creature insisted.

"No, Ben," Kevin insisted. "This guy stole Gwen from m----from the opera house. How can he be trusted not to again?" Kevin started to lunge forward, but a green flash of light later and an enormous monster that looked vaguely like a sketching of a dinosaur that Morningstar had once seen, was holding Kevin back.

"I didn't want to do this....but you've given me no choice..." Michael said, finally picking himself up off the ground. He held his hands aloft, his eyes closed as he concentrated.

"What's he doing?" Gwen asked, coming out of her hiding spot from the nearby trees.

Electricity seemed to crackle as a golden glow emanated from Morningstar's hands. The first person the light headed towards was Gwen.

"Gwen!" Kevin called. He ran for her and pushed her out of the way, taking the full brunt of the attack.

"Hey!" Ben's monstrous form growled in its deep voice, but Morningstar had already turned his attention to Ben...a moment later, he felt weak...his body slowly shrinking back to that of a normal teenager.

"Ben!" Gwen stood between both Kevin and Ben, who were writhing in pain, but her eyes were automatically drawn back to Kevin.

He, like Ben, was suddenly shrinking in size. Two of his arms retracted, and the two left were becoming pale. His head shrunk back to a more normal size, and his skin color was changing from red to a very pale but normal human skin tone.

Morningstar, on the other hand, was rapidly becoming more and more hideous, taking on not only Kevin's form, but Ben's last two as well.

"...Well. This is an unpleasant side effect..." Michael noted. "However....both forms were quite powerful separately. I have to wonder what they would be like combined....Let's test it, shall we?" He took a step towards Kevin and Ben's battered bodies, but Gwen stepped in between them, her arms flung out.

"And what exactly can you do? I have my powers and theirs. All you can do is sing. Get out of my way, Gwendolyn."

"No."

He threw his monstrous head back and laughed. "Fine then...fine....I guess you'll be first..."

He threw a punch, intent to knock her out rather than kill her (after all, she was still of use to him), but his arm stopped short of her. His hand had connected with something...but it was inches in front of any part of Gwen.

"What sort of trickery..." He started. He groaned. "Of course. That old bat...your grandmother. Of course you would get her powers..."

Gwen was actually glad for the explanation. She had never exhibited any of these signs before, and the pink shield in front of her that had come when she'd raised her hands up had perplexed her.

"All the more power to take, then...." Morningstar insisted, making his way towards her. This time, Gwen was ready.

Not knowing why she did it, she grabbed two of the now four arms that he had, concentrating. He seemed to wither back to his normal self, some of the energy going back to Ben, and a much smaller amount to Kevin....but he withered further...by the time Gwen finally released Michael Morningstar, he looked more mummy than human.

He fell to the ground, and Gwen took a step back, still unsure of what she'd just done.

"Unbelievable. We come to save you, and you kick the bad guy's butt. You could have at least done it before he zapped the heck out of us."

"I'm glad she didn't...."

Ben turned to face a teenage boy taller than himself, with the same hair Kevin had had. But this human had very dark eyes, pale skin...and the same ripped pants Kevin had been wearing earlier, and no shirt.

"....Who is this guy?" Ben asked.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You really can't tell that that's Kevin?"

"sorry. Just didn't expect his human form to be even uglier," Ben teased.

Kevin and Gwen both ignored him. For some reason she couldn't explain, Gwen felt a blush rise to her cheeks. The way Kevin was staring at her wasn't helping.



Author's Note I need to go to bed. Also, I stopped bothering with even attempting making them old timey sounding because....well, it's late and I'm tired and sometimes Kevin resisted and it's just easier this way (read as: I'm lazy).

Morningstar accidentally turning Kevin back was not my original plan. Originally, Verdona was going to change him back, but I decided that had been done before and therefore was boring. So I did this. ...I'm weird. YAAAAY!

..okay, seriously, beddy by time for Mellie. Night night!

[Lady Lasa]

Yay Kevie's back to normal and Ben is.. clueless as usual.

Very nicely done.

[perhapsormaybe]

"Gwen! You're all right!" Max hugged his granddaughter tightly. He stared over her shoulder at a bruised and battered Ben, who was using a young man Max had never seen before as support. "Gwen, who is this?"

"Umm..." in his haste to shake hands with Max, Kevin let go of Ben, causing the younger boy to fall to the ground.

"Oww....you may not be so ugly anymore, but you're still a jerk," Ben said, rubbing his rear as he rose up.

"I don't understand...you couldn't be..." Max said in wonder.

"Why couldn't he be?" Verdona snapped. "Honestly, Max, after being with me for so long I thought you'd be more open to what life holds." She laughed, and gestured towards Kevin, "This is the young idiot who's caused so much trouble in your opera house."

"Witch," Kevin addressed her.

"So, Morningstar changed you back by accident..." Verdona mused. "And dear Gwendolyn! Coming into your powers! How wonderful..."

All three teenagers shared looks. "But..Grandma...how did you?" Ben started. Verdona cut him off.

"I know things, sonny. Soon Gwen will be able to do these sorts of things as well. It's an old power. It's also why you could tap into that omnitrix you're wearing. Family thing."

"....You set this whole thing up," Kevin said slowly.

"Now, why would you think that?" the old woman asked, her grin growing.

"Because you kept helping me," Kevin said, starting to piece everything together, "I used to ask you if you had anything to change me back to normal, and every time you told me to wait, that you didn't have it yet. Old bat...you knew this was going to happen!"

"Well, certain emotions I wasn't able to predict," she raised an eyebrow knowingly at Kevin, who suddenly refused to make eye contact, "But I did know that my grandchildren would play a major role in getting you back to normal...well, physically, anyways."

"How'd you figure all this out?" Ben asked.

"Oh, simple, dear..." Verdona said. "Magic."

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"Kevin!" Gwen called after him, chasing, "Kevin, where are you going?"

Kevin stopped and turned to face her. Ben had lent him one of his shirts, but it was uncomfortably tight, and he suddenly felt ridiculous talking to Gwen while wearing it. "I have to go see my mother."

"Can I go with you?"

Kevin contemplated it for a while, then shook his head. "No. Not yet."

"Well...are you going to come back?"

Kevin studied her for a moment, trying to figure out what the eagerness in her voice meant. "I'm not sure yet. Maybe."

"Oh. All right..."

"Why? Did...did you want me to come back?"

"Well...yes," Gwen admitted. "It'll be a little weird performing without you here."

Kevin chuckled. "All right, I'll come back and watch when I can. But...this time I'm taking a seat. No more watching from underneath the stage or from the wings. Not when I look this good..."

Gwen rolled her eyes at him, and gave him a gentle shove. "Human again one day and suddenly you think you're gorgeous?"

"You tell me," He challenged.

"Go see your mom," Gwen retorted, making her way back into the opera house. Kevin nodded.

"See you soon!" he called after her.

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"...Mom?" Kevin was clutching the copy of Don Juan Triumphant he'd stolen when he was younger, hoping to give it as some sort of peace offering. Of course, he wasn't even sure if she still lived here, and he was starting to have doubts...

The window he'd broken out of remained in disrepair. There was a thick layer of dust on the floor and all the photographs...except one.

Curious, he closed the door behind him and crossed over. He knew this photograph..."That's.."

"You. As a baby..." His mother was staring at him in wonder from the door frame of the kitchen. "Kevin. You're..."

"Normal again," Kevin anticipated.

"You weren't abnormal," his mom said, shaking her head. "I just...I'm so sorry, Kevin. If I were you, I would have ran away, too. But you can't imagine how sorry I am..."

"I...I'm sorry. I took this..." He set Don Juan beside the photo.

"I know you did. I was...there that night. The night you took the girl."

"Not my proudest moment..." Kevin said, rubbing his neck. "Still not sure why I did it...I didn't hurt her, I promise. Gwen's all right. She's back at the opera house. I'm...supposed to go watch her tonight."

His mother smiled knowingly, but said nothing. She merely walked over to him and threw her arms around him. "You've no idea how much I missed you..."

"I think I do..." Kevin said softly. "Umm...would you like to go with me to the opera tonight?"

"I'd love to."

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"Verdona, this is my friend Gaston...I was just telling him all about what happened with Gwen and Kevin," Max explained, "And why he's not allowed to take it to the newspapers."

"Oh come now, Monsieur!" Gaston insisted. "It's such an intriguing story!"

"You will not be writing their story," Verdona said, her eyes glowing faint pink. "Or you will answer to me. All right?"

"Umm...Yes...I ...I suppose I'll find another story," Gaston agreed, tugging nervously at his collar. "I must go..." with that, the man took off running.

"How much did he know?" Verdona asked.

"He's been following everyone since the beginning."

"I see...I suppose he'll still write his story," she mused, "but at least the names and some details will change."

"But what will happen with the kids now, Verdona? Has everything settled down?"

Verdona smiled and put an arm around Max. "Of course. ...In this lifetime, anyways..."

Epilogue

Present day

"Geez, what did I say?" Kevin demanded as Gwen stomped off into the distance.

Ben laughed. "Gwen does operatic singing, Kevin. It's supposed to sound that way."

Kevin grumbled. "It wasn't my idea for us to come do karaoke...so why should she get mad at me for telling her her voice warbles?"

"I'd like to see you do any better," Gwen was back now, and she was still seething.

"Okay, geez, I'm sorry. I'm sure it sounded good by opera standards, but I've always hated opera."

"Oh? Why's that?" Ben asked.

"No idea. Just always have..."

Gwen considered, then released the tension from her shoulders. "Oh, fine...it's a dumb thing to get mad about, anyways. Kevin...I'll forgive you --"

"Okay, good--"

"If you sing next."

"Aww, man," Kevin groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," Gwen and Ben chimed together.

"Oh fine, then...let's go get this over with..."

The End

The epilogue was just for fun sort of thing. I know you'll get the whole Gaston thing, but I bet a lot of others won't....this was a fun one to write. It did surprise me...originally, I had a totally lame plan for Verdona to change Kevin back at the end and when he demands why she didn't do it sooner, she'd shrug and say "you never asked". Good for humor, but not so great for the whole interest thing.

I think I like how this turned out. Still not quite sure.

[Lady Lasa]

My you have been busy...

Very nice conclusion to a great story. I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end.