Inside the Head of her Doofus

Gwen sighed as she thought about the day. It started out bad for Ben and only managed to become worse for him. First, he fell out of bed. Gwen would not lie to herself; she thought that was funny. The rest of the day, however, became decidedly darker as it progressed. Ben was embarrassed to find himself in his underwear in front of a school bus of cheerleaders. Then, the Forever Knights attacked, and now, Ben was strapped into a dream machine while the Forever Knights worked to remove the watch.

At the thought of her cousin happy in dreamland, Gwen felt a surprising pang of momentary guilt at the bliss she and Grandpa Max were about to rip Ben away from. I'm sorry, Ben. You need this, but the safety of the universe is more important than fake happiness.

As the thought ran through her mind, Gwen had barely a moment to register it before the machines Grandpa Max acquired (Gwen didn't want or need to know how.) launched them into Ben's subconscious.

Gwen landed hard on her face in a grassy clearing. Grandpa Max, Gwen noted, landed effortlessly on his feet and helped Gwen to hers. Gwen only looked at the old man in mild surprise. He'd probably jumped into someone else's head before for all she knew. Gwen looked at Max with urgency in her eyes, unable to hide her fear due to the nature of the mind.

"Grandpa…"

The old man smiled at Gwen gently. "The Forever Knights wouldn't let anything harm Ben and draw attention to anything nefarious or out of place in his dream state as long as they are concerned with the Omnitrix." Max put a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "Don't worry, Gwen."

For the moment, Gwen's fears about Ben's safety subsided, replaced by a question. "Grandpa, why do I worry about him?"

Max smiled. "No matter how much you deny it, you care about him, Gwen." He told her wisely. "In the mind, unless you are trained to guard yourself, everything is bare and open. Nothing is hidden."

Gwen blushed unconsciously at that realization, but before she could ponder it further, Ben's elated yell reached Gwen's ears, "Yeah! SumoSlammer!"

Gwen's first instinct was to bolt for Ben and drag him, kicking and screaming if she must, back to the real world. Then, Gwen's rationale caught up to her emotions and pumped the breaks on her train of thought. The Forever Knights probably had doubles guarding Ben as well as keeping up the charade. First things first, Gwen and Max needed to subdue their doubles. For a moment, Gwen considered charging in and making a ruckus big enough to rouse Ben's attention. However, she thought better of it because that would undoubtedly lead to the "Decide the Double" trope, and Gwen wanted to avoid that if she could.

With a deep breath, Gwen focused on her copy for a moment. She watched as the double gladly took Ben's grossness and calmly laughed it off while going back inside the Rustbucket to fix another round of nachos for Ben.

"Now!" Gwen yelled as Grandpa Max slammed and held the door shut to the Rustbucket. Imaging her spell book, Gwen smiled as the book appeared in her hand. Leafing through the pages quickly, Gwen smiled as she spoke, "Farris ignei!"

At Gwen's command, the door to the Rustbucket wielded itself shut and sealed the Dream Copies inside. Once that was done, Gwen braced herself for what she was about to unleash on Ben, tore the headphones off of his ears and screamed, "Doofus, get off your lazy butt and come with us! Now!"

Ben seemed to freeze at that tone in Gwen's voice. "D-Dweeb?"

Gwen walked up to him and took Ben's hand. "I'll explain later." The redhead promised. "Right now, we need to go!"

"What's the rush? I was just about to beat that level!" Ben whined as Gwen dragged him away from the game.

Gwen couldn't hide as smile as she mumbled, "Same old Ben, more worried about a game than-"

Gwen's whispered rant stopped short as the sound of starship engines drowned her out. As Vilgax landed, Lieutenant Steel walked up with at least four squads of SECT agents armed to the teeth. Ben wanted to laugh. These guys couldn't handle Kevin. How could they expect to handle Vilgax? For that matter, why was Vilgax so quiet? Isn't he supposed to be in the middle of a superiority speech by now?

"Gwen, something's up." Ben growled lowly as he stepped in front of Gwen and Max.

Lieutenant Steel motioned to his men. A moment later, Max and Gwen were on their knees with rifles at the back of their heads.

"You're right, Ben." The commander began. "These are Limax, alien shape-shifters…" The man trailed off when he noticed the irate look in Ben's eyes.

"We've met before." Then, Ben watched Steel's face for micro expressions. "Limax don't like water." Ben said calmly as he produced a water pistol he had been saving for a prank on Gwen when he got bored with "SumoSlammer: Space Wars". Steel's face twitched ever so slightly at the sight of the water gun. "If what you say is true, the doubles will react violently to avoid the water in this pistol." At Steel's dumbfounded expression, Ben shrugged. "A hive of them invaded my aunt's retirement community earlier this summer."

The atmosphere immediately changed and Gwen felt a rock land in her stomach as she watched the exchange. Finally, Steel handed Ben the Null Void Projector.

Ben took it slowly while Gwen held her breath and waited for Ben to make the choice.

As Ben looked at Gwen and Grandpa Max, Gwen noticed a look in Ben's eyes Ashe looked at her. Was that trust? In a flash, Ben turned, sprayed Lieutenant Steel with the water, and activated the projector. Gwen smiles and nodded at Ben as the agents were sucked away. Strangely, Lieutenant Steel didn't move and only smiled as the portal vanished.

"I'm surprised you realized the truth as fast as you did, boy!"

Gwen and Ben shivered at the voice that came from Lieutenant Steel's mouth. "Enoch! The Forever Knights are behind this!"

The body flashed to reveal Enoch in his armor and mask. "This makes little difference. In your dreams or nightmares, it matters not! We will get the Omnitrix one way or another!"

As Enoch spoke, the dream melted away into a subconscious void. His body towered over the trio. He picked them up and lifted his other hand. Shelves and books spouted our of the nothingness like weeds. Then, walls grew around them forming a room Gwen recognized as a library.

"It's…it's…"

Gwen could see the panic and sheer terror in Ben's eyes as he stood up shakily and looked around the library. Gwen felt an odd mix of irritation, terror, and humor at Ben's reaction to the idea of being stuck in school.

Then, Ben screamed, "SCHOOL!"

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Only you would be scared of a book."

Ben looked at her. "You don't know what I have to go through at school, Dweeb!"

The fear and unease in Ben's tone threw Gwen off. "Benjamin Tennyson," Ben's head snapped up to look at Gwen when he heard her say his full name. "You faced Vilgax on multiple occasions without flinching! Get a hold of yourself, or we lose!"

Gwen blinked as Ben and Max looked at her in shock. Then, Max smiled, "She's right, Ben. We're right here with you."

Gwen smiled and put an arm on his shoulders. "Nobody can kick you when you're down, Ben, especially not yourself. I won't let them."

Ben looked at Gwen and nodded, "Let's do this!"

As they opened the door to the library, Gwen shivered as she saw two vaguely human monsters marching toward them. Ben's eyes widened at the sight of his monstrous school tormentors. "That's JT and Cash, the resident school bullies." Ben looked at the Omnitrix and turned the dial.

Gwen's eyes widened. "Enoch has direct control of the dream. He will make you change into the weakest alien you have!"

Ben grinned at her with a confident smirk. "I'm counting on it, Dweeb."

Ben smiled when he slammed down the dial and felt his body shift into Grey Matter.

"I'll keep them distracted. Grandpa, Gwen; go!"

Max nodded at Ben and looked at Gwen who hesitated for a moment. "Be careful, Doofus."

Grey Matter filed that odd moment of caring from Gwen for later investigation and turned to the giant ogre bullies. He then glared at them and quickly scampered up Cash's back. "Alien Wet Willie!" Grey Matter announced as he stuck a saliva-soaked fist in the monster's ear. In a knee-jerk reaction, Monster Cash went to cover his ear and squash the little pest, but Ben was too fast. He jumped onto JT's face and stuck his tongue out at Cash. "Your Momma's a troll!

Cash growled, balled his fist, and punched JT intending to flatten Grey Matter.

Ben only jumped down and started walking away as the two bullies began to trade blows behind him. "Get's 'em every time." Ben mumbled as he transformed back to human and picked up the pace to find Gwen and Max.

As Ben walked up to them, Gwen smiled and hugged Ben. Gwen quickly jumped away from the intense display and looked at Ben with a blush. "Glad you made it, Doofus."

Ben tensed as he felt a presence. "Kevin…"

Gwen shivered when she saw Kevin and wondered how Ben knew before he saw the psycho. "Ben, that's one tough hall monitor. Don't do anything stupid."

"I can't." He said as he showed her the red faceplate of the Omnitrix.

Gwen nodded as the three of them slipped past Kevin.

Suddenly, Ben froze in front of a door and raised an eyebrow. "When I'm sixteen, I won't be the one dating him." Ben blinked and started walking again as the moment passed.

Gwen felt fear rise in her. "Me?! Ben, I could never be so stupid! Where'd you get that idea?!"

Ben shrugged. "I…don't know." He said, clearly confused. "I hope you don't become that stupid, Gwen."

Gwen smiled at the care Ben showed but was clearly peeved by his thoughts. "…seriously?" Gwen shook her head in disgust. "Me dating a psychopath. Never!"

As the trio opened the door, Ben groaned when he saw no way out but a computer. Then, he looked at Gwen and smiled. "Work your magic, Gwen."

Gwen looked at Ben in shock as he stepped aside. She was surprised at Ben's willingness to back out and know his limits. Then, she worked on the test. As Kevin, JT, and Cash began to beat on the door; Gwen smiled. "Done."

Ben looked at the open door in shock and back at the room to find there was only a couple tiles gone from the floor. "I've got to start asking for your help more, Dweeb."

Gwen felt her cheeks heat up at the praise from Ben as they made their way down the dark hall. As they entered the locker room, all terrors of the nightmare converged on them.

"You die here, boy!" Enoch growled.

Suddenly, Kevin's monstrosity of a form went back to human, this new form roughly eighteen.

"Wait for me, Gwen." New Kevin said as he stroked Gwen's cheek with surprising care.

Ben's eyes burned with rage at this. "NO!" Ben growled as the dreamscape began to crack and shatter under the force of Ben's defiant yell.

Enoch froze and started at Ben in fear as the floor turned to fire under Ben's footsteps. "This is my dream, in my mind; and you can torture me all you want." Ben's form morphed into a body similar to the Wolf of New Mexico. "However…" Ben picked up Enoch and threw him into the locker hard enough to make the steel locker door cave inward. "DO NOT touch my cousin!" Ben threw Enoch again, but this time the door collapsed and completely broke free as Enoch tumbled into the darkness and out of Ben's mind.

Gwen stared at Ben in shock at what he'd just done. "Ben…" She asked in worry. "What was that?"

"I saw you in danger and acted." Ben said with a smile. "Get going." He told them as he gestured to the locker. "We'll meet on the outside." Ben said as he squeezed Gwen's hand.

As Ben and Gwen rode away in the Rustbucket from the Forever Knight temporary base, Gwen list herself in thought. That was quite a ride. Gwen thought as she looked at Be quietly sitting next to Grandpa Max in the front seat. I know why you're afraid of school, who you want me to be, but Ben, she thought. Why were you so aggressive in protecting me? Gwen frowned as a startling question jumped into her mind. Do you love me?

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