Hey, sorry to everyone who got Author Alerts and jetted over here for the next chapter of Lock and Key. XD My bad. Read this instead. I hope you like it.

Not So Strange

Gwen slipped through the throngs of people, letting as many as she could brush against her, bump shoulders with her, drag their eyes across her face. She wasn't sure, she couldn't be sure, but it seemed like people, and the life they brought with them, made her magic stronger. That was her reason for being with people—so she could be strong when and if she met someone she needed to fight, but it wasn't why she was here. In New York. Alone today. Grandpa Max had brought them here for something, and while Ben was content to have the run of the streets like the thirteen-year-old rebellious boy he was, Gwen had been determined to figure it out.

It was the annual summer trip. It wasn't unusual, per se, to be in New York. That was a typical stop on their rounds. But this year, Grandpa had been unusually tense about getting here by a certain date, a certain very specific day. He'd wanted them in the city by July 16th, and he would not bend for anything that would make them late. Grandpa had made it in plenty of time; they'd been in the city since yesterday, and it had taken her up to a few hours ago to figure out why today was such an important day to be in the Big Apple. But once she did, she was overwhelmed with guilt that it had taken her this long.

Kevin. Kevin 11. This was the three-year anniversary of the day they met their most permanent, most scaring, most haunting enemy. He was never their strongest, or their smartest, or even their most vicious. But there was no question. He was the worst. Because Kevin 11, true to his namesake, had been eleven years old when he fought her cousin. Eleven years old and human. A child, but a child with powers, just like Ben. Just like her. His ability was to absorb electricity.

No, Gwen corrected herself, shaking her head grimly. Not just electricity. The Omnitrix didn't operate by electricity. He could absorb energy, in its raw state. And he could use it to short something out, to make it work, and he could release it at will, after taking it in and fortifying himself with it. Yes, his power was energy absorbing. And greed, apparently. Or maybe desperation. Either one; he was either greedy for power or desperate for escape enough to try to steal the Omnitrix.

It hadn't been his fault, Gwen thought brokenly. He didn't know what would happen to him. She'd had a long time to come to this conclusion. Kevin, at least in the beginning, had been an innocent. He had no way of knowing what the feedback pulse from the Omnitrix was capable of doing to one such as himself. And even as he was hurled into the Void, that had been Gwen's opinion. That boywas not evil. He was not guilty. Angry, sure. Frustrated, absolutely. In need of serious help, beyond a doubt. Sad, yes. But evil and guilty of his condition…no.

It tore her open and made her bleed to think that they had condemned a boy not much older than they had been to the absolute living hell that she had found out the Null Void was after they trapped him there. And not just a boy, which would have been bad enough, but a desperate, alone, troubled, unstable, borderline psychotic boy. Who was now a monstrosity because of an accident, a cruel twist of fate. And he'd be there forever.

A firm hand grabbed Gwen's wrist and she turned violently, violet energy snaking up her arms. A gasp flew from her lips and she began to form the words of an incantation that would blast the offender into the middle of next week before he had time to draw his next breath. But the wrist leapt off almost immediately.

"Oh," the owner of the hand apologized smoothly. "I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"It's…okay…" Gwen replied haltingly, following the hand to it's arm and up to it's connected neck and finally, the face. There was nothing there, because the stranger was dressed in a pair of jeans and a gray hoodie, the hood drawn up despite the summer heat.

"Sorry," he apologized again, a trace of a smile in his voice now. He pushed the hood back with the palm of his hand, revealing a pair of dark brown eyes, strong features, and a curtain of 

black hair, sweeping down his neck to an eerily familiar length. Kevin's hair lay just that long…or it had.

A familiar sense of panic hit her hard in the stomach as the boy stared at her with a smile. Because he couldn't have been more than a year older than her. The age Kevin was…would have been. Assuming he was still alive. Assuming he still aged the way a human would. But no. Kevin was in the Null Void. There was no way.

This boy had darker eyes, and a straighter, more rugged jaw line and nose. His frame was larger and more muscular than Kevin's rail-thin, scrawny body. And…her eyes flickered to his neck. He lacked the padlock. The trademark padlock. There wasn't a snowball's chance in heck that this was Kevin.

The whole inner argument had taken less than a handful of seconds. She smiled back.

"It's okay," she allowed the stranger. "I was just startled. Big city, all alone…you know…" Despite her comfortable words, Gwen was still tense. It seemed unlikely that one so close to her own age would have twisted intentions, but she couldn't be sure.

"Sure, sure," he replied, nodding a little so his bangs fell into his eyes. "You're not from around here, are you? Small-town, small-time, probably, huh?"

Now over her panic, Gwen allowed herself to think about what had been with her since she first laid eyes on his uncloaked face. He was handsome. Very much so, and funny and kind, or so it seemed. Suddenly having lost her tongue, Gwen just smiled and nodded.

"A town called Bellwood," she finally told him, after a mercifully short pause. "I'm on vacation with my Grandpa and cousin. Today…today's a special day for our family. Sort of a memorial day. We lost a friend this day three years ago."

The shadow over her new companion's eyes that had surfaced at the mention of her family cleared, polite shock taking its place.

"Really? That's terrible." A short pause stretched between them, after which he extended his hand slowly. "M'name's Ethan." The unspoken question hung on his tongue, as though he wanted to know, but wasn't sure he had the right to ask after startling her.

"I'm Gwen," Gwen replied warmly, taking his hand to shake.

"Gwen…" Ethan murmured, trying it on for size. "Well, I'm walking your way for a while, I think. You mind if I walk with you? Girl all alone in the big city, like you said," he teased her gently.

"Protecting me from the big bad wolf?" she teased back.

"Hey, this ain't just a forest. They call it the concrete jungle for a reason."

He had a point. Gwen shrugged. "Sure, but don't try anything. I'm dangerous," she warned him with a grin, more truth than lie there. She was on the cusp of black belt as a supplement to her powers. Not that he needed to know that.

"No need," Ethan assured her. "I wouldn't even try. So…this…friend of yours. Was he from here?"

"Yeah," Gwen replied, melancholy suddenly at the mention of Kevin. It was the first time she'd ever spoken of the source of her long-lived confliction. "He lived on the streets. His parents abandoned him not long after he was able to walk and talk. He…he wasn't like normal kids. And they hated it."

"What was his name?" Ethan asked softly, in a tone that said he dreaded the answer but knew it was coming.

"His name was Kevin," Gwen breathed, her eyes on the concrete of the sidewalk and the heels of advancing passerbies. "He…got caught on the wrong side of a terrible accident and didn't deserve what he got. And he didn't walk away from it." Something about the way the boy reacted to the story—a sense of foresight, like he already knew the end of this fairy tale—made her pose a question. "Did…did you know him?"

"New York isn't as big as you think it is," Ethan replied grimly, simply. "Especially not the underground. Yeah, I knew him. I knew what he was. And what he turned into. I never found out what happened to him in the end, though. Is he…you know… is he still alive?"

"I don't know, Ethan," Gwen murmured. "I just don't know. But I feel terrible about it. Every day of my life, every time I see someone or something that reminds me of him, I think about how he didn't deserve what he got."

"Really?" Ethan breathed sounding surprised. He reined it in quickly, though. "I know he'd be glad to hear that. That someone doesn't think he deserved what he got."

"No." Gwen shook her head. "He didn't. He deserved help, and love. He was never the freak he was told he was."

"I suppose not. Hey," Ethan nudged her gently. "This is where I get off. I gotta meet someone in a bit."

Gwen looked where he was pointing. An alley. She started to ask, but thought better of it and shook her head. With people like Ethan and Kevin, it was better not to know. Gwen looked up at her new friend—he was substantially taller than her—and saw something. He was smiling at her, like he had been this whole time, but something…had changed.

He was more open. His expression was easy to recognize. Her opinion was flipped now. There was still no doubt about his identity, but now it had become who he was, not who he wasn't. He was so close. He had grabbed her hand, walked beside her, had a civil conversation with her.

Found out how she really felt. How she would have spoken about him to a stranger.

"Thanks for walking with me for a while," Ethan—Kevin—murmured, still smiling. He didn't wait for an answer, just walked down the alley with a stride that, now that she saw it from the back, was also painfully, blindingly familiar.

"K-Kevin!" Gwen yelled. She had to be sure. It was a need.

He turned, politely questioning. "I am…so sorry for what we did to you," she told him in a cracking voice, her hand covering her heart unconsciously. "Please forgive me…and Ben and Grandpa. We never meant for you to go through what you did. Please forgive us," she begged.

Kevin was still smiling, a soft, understanding smile. Against all odds, against all that she knew to be Kevin 11, before and after his ordeal, he understood. And he forgave. Maybe not Ben, but she, at least, and Grandpa, probably, were forgiven.

"I'll see you around, Gwen," he replied simply, as though the plea had not been heard. But his tone was still soft and forgiving. There was no doubt that he was no longer bitter toward her. "Take care of yourself. And your stupid cousin. Okay?"

Once again, he departed without waiting for an answer. But this time, Gwen let him go. She'd said all that she'd wanted to say. She didn't know how he'd gotten out of the Void. Or how he was human. Or how he had changed so much, or where the bitterness had gone. But he was obviously no longer dangerous.

Gwen left New York with a freer mind than she had had in a long time. One of her old demons was laid to rest.

—

The broker stepped out of his car and Gwen felt a familiar twist in her stomach.

"That's Kevin!" she hissed, and she instantly backtracked, hoping Ben was too sidetracked by the arrival of his old enemy to realize that she had known him so swiftly.

But there was no doubt. His eleven-year-old self was pushed even farther into himself, even less present in this newest appearance, but he hadn't really changed much from his fourteen-year-old self; the last time she'd seen him.

Gained inches of height and pounds of muscle, yes. Gotten broader shoulders and sharper, more defined facial features, yes. Obtained an aura of total, complete, unquestionable calm and control, absolutely. Despite all that, though, he was Kevin. At this point, Gwen figured she'd know him anywhere. This was her Kevin.

Whoa now—where had that come from? That possessive view of him. Her Kevin? What? However, Ben interrupted her thoughts.

"Kevin Levin," he echoed her, and his tone sent chills down her spine. No matter what Kevin had told her two years ago, it was obvious that there was still a strand of soreness, however tiny, in Ben. And he still thought Kevin had it out for him. Oh, this was going to be bad. This was going to be horrible.

Her Ben…versus her Kevin. Again. Like old times. Gwen felt like crying.

Yeah…well…I should be working on chapter three of Lock and Key. I really should. I'm halfway through, I promise, but I've been running a few snags. I had to restart twice…but anyway, I've been wanting to do this one for a little while, so I did. Chew on it while I finish Ch. 3. It may or may not tie in with Lock and Key…I haven't decided yet. Loves for everyone!! You'll hear from me soon!

Angelz