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A Charmed Life	By : GrayNeko Category: +1 through F > Ben 10 Views: 75627 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Ben’s chest heaved as he charged through the swamp, his alien eyes filtering the darkness into a vibrant scene of purple with flashes of white. He was running as much to catch Hex and save Charmcaster as he was trying to outrun his memories. Despite himself he was going back to just a little while ago.
He and Gwen were at the library, staring at a computer screen with the local history on display. Gwen was in overdrive, she had an assortment of books open and was constantly looking through them while checking the screen and occasionally opening a new window to perform a search request. Even with Max and Charmcaster in danger it was all Ben could do to keep focused.
“Come on Ben, there has to be something here that will help,” Gwen chided as she scanned through several pages of a book before shutting it and tossing it into an empty chair.
“Why don’t I just go XLR8? I could have the whole area searched before we’d find anything here.”
Gwen glanced at him out of the corner of her eye before letting out an annoyed sigh and muttering under her breath.
“What was that?” Ben asked, turning to face Gwen.
“I said, ‘I don’t know what she sees in you,’” Gwen snapped quietly.
Ben stared hard at Gwen for a moment before slamming the book in front of him shut with a thunderous clap. “That’s it!”
Gwen looked up in surprise as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the computer station and glaring eyes of those he had disturbed with his outburst. He dragged her amongst the darkened shelves, finally stopping when they came to a secluded area filled with quiet.
Ben rounded on Gwen, jabbing a finger in her face as he spoke quietly but harshly. “What is it with you and Charmcaster? First you seemed afraid of her being around, then you wanted to know how I feel about her, and now I’m not good enough for her? Exactly what happened?”
“We had sex Ben,” Gwen blurted out, her eyes dropping as her face grew red.
Ben stared at her with wide, unbelieving eyes, “You? And Charmcaster? But you’re… and she’s…”
Gwen’s face was growing redder by the second, “I saw you two having sex and I confronted Charmcaster about it. We argued and then she told me that she was in love with you-”
“How does that turn into you two having sex?” Ben demanded.
Gwen flinched at his callous tone but pressed on, “And then she said she felt the same way about me and… and I think I’m in love with…”
Ben turned away suddenly but Gwen reached out and spun him back around. He opened his mouth to tell her off but found Gwen’s lips pressed to his instead. Lust registered first but was immediately overridden by equal parts shock and horror. He grabbed Gwen’s shoulder and pulled her away from him, his mouth working soundlessly.
“You both,” Gwen finished, her blush at maximum burn across her face.
Ben didn’t know what to say. What could he say? His head was beginning to hurt from all the thoughts and questions that were raging inside it. In the end he let go of Gwen’s shoulders and turned away. He could only imagine the look of hurt upon her face as she pleadingly called out to him, “Ben?”
“Come and get me when you find someplace to start looking.”
Gwen left quietly and once he was alone Ben sank to the floor, his head falling back to rest on a bookshelf.
What was he going to do? Part of him wanted to after Gwen and yell at her, tell her he shared enough with her already and that he wasn’t going to share Charmcaster. He quashed that petulant urge, it made him feel extremely childish, which was a feat in and of itself considering how much of a child he could be sometimes. He wanted to tell Gwen that it couldn’t be like that between them because they were cousins but then he’d be lying to himself as well. As much as he wanted to he couldn’t deny that there was a part of him that wanted her, that kiss had just proved it. Maybe it had been everything they had been through over the course of their summer vacation or perhaps it was simply a result of his sexual awakening with Charmcaster, but regardless, Ben had developed a level of feeling for Gwen that went beyond their familial bond.
And now he had just been a complete ass to Gwen, she had told him the truth knowing he’d react badly and he hadn’t failed to disappoint. Ben punched his thigh in frustration. He really wished Charmcaster were around, somehow her presence would make this easier.
He sat there for nearly half an hour hating himself and the situation he was in before Gwen appeared at the mouth of the aisle again and then they were off. Even now an acrid anger burned in his chest and the thought that Hex had hurt Charmcaster was like a cauldron in his chest threatening to boil over. A growl rumbled in his throat as he finally picked up Hex’s scent, his senses weren’t as sharp as they were when he was Wildmutt but he could still track. It helped that Hex’s scent had been all over that cabin, a musty odor that reminded Ben of crypts and old books, he hated it and how it filled his nose. Ben stopped suddenly to rear his head back and let his rage pour out of him in a howl that echoed through the woods.
He sucked in the cold night air, letting it eat at his anger. He wouldn’t be able to help Charmcaster if he couldn’t focus. He moved slowly now, following the scent while his ears strained for the slightest sound in the silence that followed his howl.
“… you think you could escape me?”
Ben’s ears pricked up at the faint sound of Hex’s voice and he had to keep himself from charging forward. He padded forward silently on all fours, staying low to the ground. There was a clearing up ahead where the moonlight broke through the canopy and that was where Ben found Hex and Charmcaster.
“I can track you anywhere in the world so long as I have this,” Hex boasted as he held up Charmcaster’s bag. He loomed over Charmcaster, all Ben could see of her was her pants which were caked in mud up to her knees. Ben lowered himself almost to the point of lying down as Hex turned away to etch something in the dirt with his staff. She was bound to a tree with smears of mud in her hair and on her face. Despite that Charmcaster’s battered and bruised features filled Ben’s vision and all sense of caution fled his mind.
Hex looked up just in time for Ben to slam into him, taking them both down in a pile of claws, fangs, and fists. Ben was bigger and stronger but Hex still had a hold of his staff and before Ben could do any real damage a blast emanated from the strange skull atop it and hit him full in the chest. The smell of burning hair filled his nose as the attack knocked him off Hex but his frenzied anger crowded out any sense of pain. He skidded through the mud before he was able to get his feet back under him and then leapt to avoid another blast. At the peak of his jump his snout peeled apart, a burst of sonic energy tearing apart the ground as it swept towards Hex. Hex slammed his staff into the ground and a wall of dirt formed before him, Ben’s attack smashed it apart to reveal Hex had used the cover to disappear.
Ben scanned the area, turning faster as a rumbling filled his ears. A fist of earth erupted at his feet and this time Ben felt it as it struck his chest with a heavy crunch. He was on his back trying to breathe when Hex appeared over him.
He sneered down at Ben, “It seems I shall be rid of a great number of hindrances this night. After I have dealt with you and my seditious niece I shall have to make the effort to collect the head of Lucky Girl as well.”
Hex’s laughter filled the clearing and suddenly Ben found white hot fury burning everything else away. He lashed out at Hex with his leg, kicking his legs out from under him and scoring gashes across the both of them with his claws. Hex screamed as he fell, Ben’s savagery taking him by surprise. He tried to raise his staff but Ben swung his other leg up and kicked it out of his grasp. A look of realization and horror passed across Hex’s face as he stared into Ben’s dripping maw, and then Ben was on him, teeth and claws tearing into flesh.
“Ben! No!”
Ben’s head snapped up from mauling Hex’s shoulder to see Charmcaster staring at him, her good eye opened wide in shock.
“Why not?” Ben snarled in a guttural voice, Hex’s blood dripping from his teeth. “You taught me that sometimes monsters need to be killed.”
“He’s not a monster!”
“Isn’t he?!” Ben roared. He grabbed Hex by his robes and lifted him off the ground just enough to slam him back down with a dull ‘thud’. “Look at what he’s done to you! He left Grandpa to burn!”
Charmcaster’s face twisted into a horrified mask, “Is he…?”
“He’s fine, we saved him. But he,” Ben slammed Hex into the ground again. “He would do it all over again in the blink of an eye!” The Omnitrix began to beep and suddenly Ben was his normal kid self standing over Hex. Hex groaned, his head rolling back and forth as he bled from bite and claw wounds all over his body. Ben planted a foot on his chest to keep him from going anywhere.
“Ben, I was wrong! I was wrong about it having to be you. That’s why I killed the Shaldoth, so you wouldn’t have to.”
Ben stared at her with confused anger darkening his features. “If we don’t stop him he’ll come after us again. Let me do this Charmcaster. I want to do this, for you.”
Charmcaster shook her head as tears fell freely down her face, “It will change you. You won’t be the same person, the same Ben that I love. Please, I don’t want to lose you.”
Ben’s hands trembled with rage as he looked between Hex and Charmcaster before he finally stepped away from Hex with a heavy exhalation. He knelt beside Charmcaster as he pulled at the vines restraining her, occasionally glancing at Hex to make sure he stayed put.
“So what was all this for?” Ben asked as he worked at getting Charmcaster free.
Charmcaster answered hesitantly, her throat raw from screaming, “He was going to steal my body.”
Ben paused, “You mean like what you tried to do once.”
Charmcaster shook her head, “No, this spell is more powerful and comes from much darker magic. We wouldn’t have switched bodies, he would have taken over control of me with no way to reverse it.”
Ben frowned, frustrated by how tough the vines restraining Charmcaster were and bothered by the implications of what she was telling him. “So he did all this just to be younger? Guess the Fountain of Youth didn’t take.”
“For a while it did, but I think watching the youth he had gained slip away drove him over the edge. The one thing my uncle truly fears is his own mortality.”
“A Master Magician has nothing to fear from death!”
Ben and Charmcaster both jumped and looked to see Hex had somehow made it to his feet. He clutched his staff in his left hand, blood dripped down his right arm from the wound in his shoulder. He shuffled forward looking like he was going to collapse at any second. Ben shifted from kneeling beside Charmcaster to standing in front of her.
“Walk away while you still can,” Ben said quietly, his jaw set firmly as his hands clenched into fists.
Hex sneered at Ben even as he stumbled, “The moment to cast the spell has not yet come, I am not beaten yet.”
“Are you sure about that last part? You might want to check again.”
Everyone turned to see Gwen fly out of the darkness on a hoverboard. She swooped in low and kicked off the board, catching it with one hand as she landed beside Ben. She spared a glance for Charmcaster, intending to give her a reassuring smile and nearly cried out at the sight of her injuries. Instead she took a steadying breath and faced Hex with a glare. Rather than being unnerved by being outnumbered Hex smiled with what seemed misplaced confidence.
“What did he mean the moment hasn’t come?” Ben asked quietly, his right hand on the Omnitrix so he could go alien the moment it gave him the green light.
“The spell can only be performed at midnight,” Charmcaster said softly.
“It’ll be midnight any second!” Gwen whispered, not fully aware of the situation but always worried about Hex casting a spell.
“Then we need to finish this. Gwen, protect Charmcaster.”
Before either of the girls could say anything Ben yanked the hoverboard from Gwen’s grasp and dashed forward. Hex raised his staff to attack him but Gwen was faster on the draw, gesturing with her hand as she yelled out, “Praemium!”
A blue orb shot from her hand and where it struck the earth there was an explosion of dirt that nearly knocked Hex over. By the time he recovered his balance Ben had sprinted the distance between them and dove forward, holding the hoverboard beneath him like a wakeboard. He forced Hex to jump aside and scrambled to his feet so he could bank back around, the hoverboard more responsive to the shifts in his weight once he was standing. Hex tried to go after Gwen and Charmcaster but Ben didn’t give him a chance, constantly diving at him like an agitated wasp.
“Get Charmcaster out of here!” Ben yelled as he nearly checked Hex in the head.
Gwen was already working on it. She had grabbed up Charmcaster’s bag from where it had fallen during Ben’s fight with Hex and with Charmcaster’s help she had produced a simple blade from the bag that she was using to saw through the vines.
“Enough!” Hex roared, desperation and rage fueling him as he slammed his staff into the ground. Explosions rocked the clearing, throwing up clouds of red. Ben was thrown from his hoverboard by an explosion that erupted right beneath him. His ears rang, his vision swam, and as he pushed himself up there was the coppery taste of blood in his mouth.
He spat blood as he got to his feet and as the red smoke cleared he looked for Gwen and Charmcaster. He caught sight of Gwen first, she was lying on the ground near the tree and appeared to be unconscious. There was no sign of Charmcaster and that turned Ben’s stumbling shuffle into a run. He knelt beside Gwen as his head swiveled left and right, his ears were still ringing and he was afraid of Hex attacking him while he was so vulnerable. Gwen groaned as he shook her shoulder but didn’t stir, he took it as a good sign that her breathing was steady.
Something moved in the corner of his eye and he turned to see Charmcaster floating through the air, her body hanging limply like a ragdoll being carried by an invisible hand. As the final bits of red clouds drifted away he spied Hex directing Charmcaster’s body to an unbroken spot in the clearing. Ben narrowed his eyes and saw scratches in the dirt all around where Charmcaster was coming to rest. It dawned on him that that was the spot where Hex had been using his staff to draw something when he found them. There was an intricate design on the ground that reminded Ben of the portal Charmcaster had created to get them home, only more complex.
Ben was about to recklessly charge Hex again when a chime from the Omnitrix nearly made him cry out with joy. He began turning the dial on the device, Fourarms would finish this quickly enough… except Hex could escape prison again and come after them. The errant thought gave Ben pause and he began making a new selection as he ran toward Hex and Charmcaster. The sorcerer saw Ben coming and pointed his staff towards him; Ben bared his teeth in a growl as he continued his headlong run. A blast of yellow energy flew at Ben but he didn’t make to dodge it, instead he waited until the attack was nearly upon him before he slammed the plunger down on the Omnitrix.
The blast exploded on impact, kicking up a small cloud of dirt and when it cleared there was no sign of Ben.

***
Hex laughed as the dust settled and there was no trace of that nuisance Ben Tennyson, at last his plan was going to work. In a moment he would shed this decaying husk of a body and be reborn in Charmcaster’s. Truthfully anyone’s body would have done just as well (and he had considered using Lucky Girl once she had shown up) but he was too prideful to allow just any maggot to contain his essence so it had to be Charmcaster, she at least shared his blood even if she was a pitiful excuse of a magician (and he had something especially horrific in mind for Lucky Girl once he was made anew).
He turned his attention back to his niece as he felt the moment draw near, magical power was welling up all around him as the runes began to glow softly with a red light. He threw his arms up, fingers outstretched, allowing the eldritch energies to gather around him like a lightning rod as he began to recite the words that would begin the spell.
“Aevum Corripio Aufero Somes!” His voice rumbled like thunder from his chest. “Give me the immortality that is so rightfully mine!”
The runes he had drawn into the dirt went from glowing to shining so brightly they lit up the night sky as the spell poured energy into them and they forced the fabric of reality to bend to his will, a wind beginning to kick up around him.
“Oh you’ll get your immortality alright, just not the way you expected it,” a small voice called out to him. Hex’s eyes went wide in surprise and he scanned the area for the source. He found it sitting on Charmcaster’s knee, a grey little creature with large yellowish green eyes.
“What-?”
“It took me a second to puzzle out your magical alphabet, actually more like 7/10ths of a second, but who’s counting? Anyway, once I figured out what all this said I did you a favor and made a few adjustments.”
“What?!” Hex screamed, his eyes turning to scan the layers of magical writing. “One wrong rune could kill us all!”
“That’s why I was very careful. See? I only changed the ones here, here, and here,” the little creature hopped off Charmcaster to point to the places where it had altered his designs. Hex’s eyes grew wide as he stepped back, his staff falling from his hand. Every spot that had been changed were the marks that designated where his soul was to go once it was pulled from his body. Panicking, Hex tried to stop the spell but it was too late, too much magic had been fed into the runes, it was beyond his power.
“You’re going to be a tree Hex,” Grey Matter said evenly, Ben’s complete lack of malice making it somehow more sinister. “Judging by the trees in the area, it’ll be a thuja occidentalis, more commonly known as the Tree of Life. They live for over a thousand years so you’ll be as good as immortal.”
As Ben spoke Hex shook his head, trying to deny the reality of what was taking place but already he could feel the spell going wrong around him. He turned to flee as if he could outrun what was about to happen to him but before he made it five steps a strange a tugging sensation in his chest stopped him in his tracks, it felt like an intangible hook was pulling at something deep inside him. He stared at his chest trying to discern the source when it intensified into a horrific ripping sensation that made it feel like he was being turned inside out. Hex fell to his knees clutching at his chest and opened his mouth to scream but no sound escaped his throat. Instead he threw his head back and a red cloud poured out of his mouth like he had become a human fog machine.
Hex’s vision swam and then violently shifted and he was no longer staring up at the night sky but at himself. His new bodiless perspective allowed him to watch as the last of the cloud left his body, and when it did his flesh began to whither and shrivel. In a matter of moments his body became a desiccated shell that collapsed into a pile of dust that was easily scattered by the gusting winds that had been blowing around him.
The runes drawn into the ground began to pulse as their glow faded until they shone like well-stoked embers and he could feel his new form being directed by them. As they guided him towards a young tree on the edge of the clearing the last thing he saw were two yellowish green eyes standing out against the darkness. They watched him without any sign of emotion and then the spell was finished and the Master Magician Hexlord found his consciousness fading away. He noted that he was peculiarly at peace within the confines of his new body but even that sense of self awareness faded and then he was just one tree content with its place in the forest.

***
Ben stared at the tree that was also Hex for a long time. He half expected it to uproot itself and come after him but it remained very much just a tree. He finally came to the conclusion that if Hex could have escaped he would have by now. Accepting that allowed him to let out a great sigh of relief.
Ben hadn’t been sure that going Grey Matter was going to work. The whole thing had been a ridiculous gamble that made him sick to think about now that he had the computing power to realize how slim his chances had really been. He shook his head as he walked across the clearing to where the hoverboard had crashed. He hopped onto it, expecting it to rise into the air at his touch. Instead it sat there like a stone and no amount of foot stomping made it budge. He could hardly lift it as Grey Matter but he managed to prop it up to get a look at the underbelly. The blast that had knocked him from it had broken open part of the board. It looked damaged and he’d need to fix it before the Omnitrix timed out if he wanted to get Gwen and Charmcaster out of the swamp quickly.
He found a couple of sticks to keep it up and crawled underneath, feeling like a mechanic working on a hotrod. The sound of footsteps approaching caused him to peer out from under the board, he recognized Gwen’s shoes. He pushed himself out from under the board to find Gwen looking at him, one hand clutching her head.
“What happened? Where’s Hex?”
Ben looked at her impassively with his alien eyes before climbing back under the board, “He’s been dealt with.”
Gwen furrowed her brows at Ben as she lowered herself to the ground so she could peer at him. “What is that supposed to mean?” A moment passed in silence before Gwen’s eyebrows shot up and she sat forward, “Ben what did you do? You didn’t-” She clapped her hands over her mouth in shocked horror.
“Really? You think I killed him? Like this? What’d I do, fashion a ray gun out of sticks and mud?” Ben yelled, trying to focus on jury rigging the board back into working condition.
Gwen looked bewildered, “Then what?”
“See for yourself,” Ben said exasperatedly, clambering out from under the board. “He’s over there,” Ben pointed as he sat up.
Gwen’s eyes followed Ben’s hand towards a slim pole of a tree on the edge of the clearing. Gwen looked back to Ben, her confusion apparent but Ben had gone back to working at the hoverboard. Gwen stood up and slowly made her way over to the tree. There was nothing particularly special about it, she could see half a dozen trees just like in the area. It didn’t radiate any kind of aura of evil that she could feel or show any signs that Hex was contained within it, like a knot that bore a resemblance to him or anything. She reached out with a hand that she tried to keep from trembling and touched the tree for a split second before yanking it away as if the tree were going to grow teeth and bite her. Taking a deep breath she put her hand back on the tree and held it there.
What was that sound? Was it the wind in her ears? Or was it Hex’s soul raging against his confinement? When it came again Gwen took her hand away from the tree and shuffled backwards fearfully. Then she heard it once more and realized it was coming from behind her. She spun and found Charmcaster groaning as her good arm pawed at the ground.
“Charmcaster!” Gwen had nearly forgotten about her in her confusion but now she rushed to the older girl’s side. Charmcaster groaned again and tried to push herself up, her eye opened but unfocused. Gwen knelt beside her and gently guided her into a sitting position.
“Gwen?” Charmcaster asked weakly as Gwen took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
“It’s alright, it’s all over.”
“Where’s Ben? Did he…?” Charmcaster’s voice caught in her throat and she had to take several deep breaths before she could continue. “Did he kill Hex?”
Gwen looked beyond Charmcaster to the tree, “No, he found another way.” She could sense the questions on Charmcaster’s mind but decided they could wait for another time. “I told Ben about us sleeping together.”
“How did he take it?” Charmcaster asked, grateful for the distraction and finding herself genuinely interested.
“Not well,” Gwen admitted, her eyes dropping as the memory had her heart tearing all over again. She had expected Ben to freak out but the way he pushed away from her had been the most painful experience in her short life. The hurt she felt must have been easy to read on her face because this time Charmcaster was the one squeezing her hand.
“You didn’t see how he reacted when Hex threatened to come after you. Whatever he said or did when you told him, it isn’t how he really feels.”
Gwen found herself wiping away tears as she smiled at Charmcaster. Gwen had expected her to need comforting after this whole horrible night but here Charmcaster was making her feel better. She pulled Charmcaster closer and the two took comfort in each other’s embrace until a tiny cry of “Eureka!” broke the quiet of the clearing. They both turned to see a small grey form perched atop the hoverboard as it floated closer.
“Ladies, your chariot awaits,” Ben said with a bow.
Gwen helped Charmcaster to her feet as Ben lowered the hoverboard but instead of allowing herself to be guided onto the board, Charmcaster fixed Ben with a hard stare.
“Ben if you didn’t kill Hex, what did you do with him? I need to know.”
Ben was silent as he returned her gaze but it lasted only a moment before he nodded, “Alright, I couldn’t kill him, not after what you said, so I gave him what he wanted.”
Charmcaster looked at Ben expectantly, waiting for him to continue. Gwen stepped in to finish for him.
“Hex wanted to live forever, Ben gave him the next best thing.” She pointed as she spoke and Charmcaster turned to look in the direction of the tree. Ben and Gwen watched her for any kind of realization but her face betrayed nothing. Finally she stepped away from them both, making her way over to Hex’s abandoned staff. Gwen and Ben shared a look of concern as she picked it up and made her way over to the tree.
“Um, Charmcaster?” Ben called out as she stood before the tree, Hex’s staff held out in front of her.
“Solum Edo Edi Essum.” Charmcaster’s words reverberated with power as she let go of the staff. It stood on its own for a moment before the earth began to swallow it up, the whole process taking barely half a minute. Once the head of the staff sank out of sight the hole that had appeared closed itself up as if it had never been there. “Goodbye Uncle,” she whispered, her voice firm and free of sorrow, the words spoken more out of a sense of duty than anything.
Ben and Gwen had moved closer during all this and now Gwen reached out to put a hand on Charmcaster’s shoulder. A moment later the Omnitrix began to beep and after a red flash Ben’s hand gently fell on her other shoulder. She turned suddenly, her right arm hooking around Ben’s neck and pulling him into an embrace. His arms wrapped around her a moment later and as she rested her head against his she looked to Gwen, sharing a smile with her.
“Let’s go,” she finally said, allowing Ben and Gwen to help her onto the hoverboard. It was a little crowded for the three of them but they managed with Charmcaster between Gwen and Ben. Charmcaster spared one last glance at the clearing as Ben flew the board into the open sky above the swamp and then it disappeared amongst the trees.
***
Notes
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A Charmed Life