Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

(A/N: This fic is a sequel to one of my other Ben 10 fics, "Growth". Which is in turn a sequel to one of my other Ben 10 fics, "Roots", which is in turn a sequel to my first Ben 10 fic, "Thorns". I do recommend reading at least one of them first as they all take place along a fanon AU and are a mix of several different series canons. It will make much more sense to you if you read them in order. However, each story is also its own self-contained adventure -rather like episodes in a series. So you can still pick and choose ones to read and -hopefully- not be too confused. Anyway, you have been warned. Enjoy!)

Branch

Prologue: Lightstar and Sigil

Sixteen Years Ago…

Her study was completely trashed.

Books of magic and of power thrown all over the floor. The drawers of her desk all pulled out. Totems and fetishes knocked over. Bottle and jars smashed on the floor.

A window was open. It didn't take much brain power to figure out that, that was how the intruder had entered. The question was, where had the intruder gone? No one had been seen exiting the suit. That meant that he or she had either left back out the window, or was still hiding somewhere in the office.

She cast a spell of revealing.

"No need for that, Charmcaster." A figure that, only a moment ago was invisible, materialized by her shoulder. "I was actually just about to ask you something."

She spun around in alarm, long silver hair whipping like a curtain around her shoulders. An attack spell on her lips, that sent an orb of pure mana straight center for his chest. But the figure just went invisible again, dematerializing so that the attack passed right through. Leaving him completely unharmed.

This time, when the intruder reappeared, she took a moment to study him. Taking a step back, and looking him up and down.

A shape that was mostly human -or of late had been mostly human. Tall, with long dark hair. But where humans usually have two symmetrical eyes, he had three asymmetrical ones. In place of one arm was a Galvanic Mechamorph limb of adaptable shape. A Kineceleran tail above Loboan legs. Talpaedan armor and Geochelone Aerio cavities in the chest. Amperi tentacles and Necrofriggian wings.

Charmcaster had never seen anything like him before. But to spite that, he still seemed oddly familiar. She squinted at him a moment longer. Then her eyes went wide with recognition. "Kevin? Kevin Levin?"

"I need the Alpha Rune." He informed her flatly. "Where is it? I know you don't wear it anymore since it makes you crazier than me. So you must have hidden it. Where?"

Kevin Levin here to steal the Alpha Rune was alarming. But more alarming than that was him being in Ledgerdomain at all. Kevin was no sorcerer. He couldn't use mana and so couldn't open the Door to Anywhere. That meant he had to have help in getting here. Since it was Kevin, the obvious answer to that question would be his wife, little Gwenny Tennyson. But Charmcaster just couldn't imagine the soft-hearted little champion of Love and Light helping him break into her home to steal the pillar of her world. The fact that Gwendolyn and Charmcaster had made their peace aside, Gwenny knew how important the Rune was to Ledgerdomain. She would not be party to its theft.

So, someone else had to help Kevin get here.

There was only one other person she could think of whom might have a motive. "You couldn't have come here on your own and last I saw little Gwenny she was bloated with your whelp and half-dead. That leaves my charmingly two-faced ex-husband. Where is he?"

"Collecting what he came here for." Was Kevin's reply, delivered as if the information should have been obvious to her.

Forgetting the mutated and misshapen Osmosian in front of her, Charmcaster dashed from the room.

There were plenty of reasons her ex-husband would want access back into Ledgerdomain. For one, the very air of the place was permitted with mana -with magical power- that he could absorb straight through his skin. Like sitting in a marinade of energy. He could draw power just sitting on his ass doing nothing. For another, there was her father's library of magical texts. A cashe of knowledge and information spanning the ages. Or, Charmcaster supposed, he could have come for her too. But if that were the case, than it would have been him waiting for her in her study and not Kevin Levin. That left only one other thing high might have come for.

Two others he might have come for.

The most precious two in all of Ledgerdomain.

Charmcaster burst through the nursery doors, hoping that her twins were still asleep in their beds. Oblivious to and unaffected by the intruders.

That was not the case.

The two Stone Creatures Charmcaster assigned as guards for her children were reduced to nothing more than piles of rubble. Horrified, she looked to her children.

Standing between the two cribs, their daughter already in his arms, stood Charmcaster's ex-husband. His mask was off, and it looked like he'd already absorbed a fair amount of the realm's mana -if his handsome face was any indiction. High cheekbones and a square chin, over all chiseled features. Smooth skin. Thick and shining golden hair. Vibrant blue eyes that gazed at their daughter with something that fell just short of 'affection'. Something more in alignment with possessive kinship.

From the other crib, their son stood on his chubby baby legs, gripping the wooden bars to hold himself up. He gazed up at the man holding his twin sister. Neither of Charmcaster's children had ever seen their father before. She wouldn't allow it.

"Michael!" Charmcaster barked, putting all of her 'Queen of Ledgerdomain' authority into her voice. "Put my daughter down and step away."

"You mean my daughter." He grinned at her. Lifting the girl's arm, he faced her hand to her mother so that Charmcaster could clearly see the tiny little maw there. A round hole with teeth, not unlike that of a leech or a lamprey. "She does seem to take after me more than you, don't you agree, Beautiful?"

"That doesn't mean a damn thing." Charmcaster growled, coming into the room. Placing herself between her son, still in his crib, and Michael. Just in case he decided to make a grab for that child as well. "She's a year old. She might have inherited your mutation, but that doesn't mean she'll be like you."

"To dare to dream…" He muttered. Then turning to the girl in his arms cooed. "Your mommy's living in a fantasy land."

"No. I'm the Queen of a fantasy land!" Charmcaster snarled.

She let loose a wave of mana. Not a spell, just raw primal power in an attack aimed at the man holding her baby girl. Michael stumbled backwards, dropping the girl. Charmcaster darted forward to catch her baby, throwing herself on the floor to cushion her daughter's fall. Painfully bashing her shoulder on the stone tiles. She was hurt, but the child was unharmed.

Michael climbed to his feet, groaning. "Levin was supposed to keep you distracted."

"Sorry, but Kevin's to busy trying to steal the- the-" Crap!

The moment she heard that Michael was here to kidnap her children, her mind just completely dropped everything else. Her instincts as a mother completely overriding everything else. But she still had responsibilities as the ruler of Ledgerdomain and as such had a responsibility to protect the realm and all those that lived in it. The Alpha Rune was the pillar of this world. If Kevin took it, the world would slowly fall into a mana drought and die…

Two equally compelling impulses battled inside her. The instincts of a mother who had to protect her children from a dangerous predator, and the responsibilities of a ruler who had to do what was best for her domain. Charmcaster clutched her daughter to her and glared dangerously at Michael. Paralyzed by indecision.

The man recovered from her raw and unfocused attack, and took a step towards her.

The hand that wasn't holding her daughter balled into a fist, glowing with star sapphire power.

But before either one could do anything, the ceiling caved in on them. Not actually making a conscious decision, just acing on impulse, Michael dove forward. Grabbing their son from the crib before any stone or support beams could fall on him. Michael flattened himself over Charmcaster and their children. Shielding them from the falling debris in an uncharacteristic moment of selflessness.

Kevin stood there when the dust cleared. The Alpha Rune clutched in his misshapen and mutated paw.

"Thanks for distracting Charmcaster for me, Darkstar." He grinned a razor-toothed grin.

And Kevin had said that he was the one that would keep Charmcaster distracted for him. Michael didn't know why he thought he could trust the Osmosian this time. The two of the never could team up without some, seemingly obligatory, double-cross shenanigans.

Now Kevin had the Alpha Rune. One quarter of the Map of Infinity. While all Michael got was… covered in dust.

He got what he came for, Kevin had no other reason to hang around, and now that he had the Rune, he didn't need Michael to open the Door to Anywhere for him. Accessing the power of the Alpha Rune, the Osmosian opened a portal for himself. Without even the curtesy of a maniacal villain laugh to punctuate his exit. He just left.

Michael and Charmcaster laid on the floor for a few moments after that.

She could already feel the ebb and flow of the power currents in Ledgerdomain changing. All power waxed and wained, and without the Alpha Rune, Ledgerdomain's power was already waining.

"Michael…" She muttered, still holding her daughter to her.

"Yeah, Beautiful?"

"Get off me!" WIth her free arm, she pushed him away.

Holding their son in one arm, Michael climbed to his feet. Realized a little to late that some of the falling debris had crashed onto his own legs, and went clattering back down to the floor. Quickly wrapping his free arm about the boy in his arms to try and buffer the fall for the baby.

For a moment, Charmcaster looked unaffected by his plight. He certainly gave her plenty of reasons over the years to enjoy the sight on him in pain. But he had saved their son and shielder her and her daughter when Kevin burst in. For that, at least, she could show him a little compassion. At least the same amount of compassion he showed by protecting her and her children.

Heaving a sigh, Charmcaster shifted their daughter to her other side and knelt beside Michael. "Hold still. I know a few healing spells. But don't get comfortable! You're still banished."

"Good luck controlling her when she's older without my help."

"I'll be able to handle my children just fine without you." Charmcaster vowed.

"Say that again when she's older and finds a nice, juicy, slice of Anodite to take a bite out of."

…