Ch 1

Disclaimer; FANfction remember?

?She tiredly peeled the patch from it's backing and placed it over her left bicep. Caffeine had become Gwen Tennyson's best friend; her reason her motivator. Her bed was rather dusty, being left unused for the past…how long had it been since she really slept? She tiredly squinted at her calendar; ah, that's right, two months. Two months, two months since her crusade began and she was still no closer to her desired outcome.

She shouldered her bag and waved her hand, opening the door to her best shot. She stepped into the library, nodding her head in greeting to the masked man named Dr. Fate before finding her usual table, setting her bag on it and then making platforms of manna to the section she was only halfway through in searching. As she mindlessly searched she worked through what happened that day.

She had not been upset that that lousy witch had put her magic stealing hands on Kevin (Okay maybe she was a little upset but jealousy was natural…she hoped…).

She had not been upset that that lousy witch put her lips on Kevin

(Okay she couldn't convince even herself of that lie… but so what? She had been mad, not that she was entitled to that or the jealousy; she damned the murky waters they were treading in…).

She had not been upset that that lousy witch had been able to manipulate Kevin

(This was true; the boy was terribly easy to break down; big eyes, pouting face, and a soft, gentle, high voice with just the slightest hint of actual begging and he was butter. That witch had only needed the charmed necklace to cement the enchantment).

No, what had hurt her most was how he doubted her and that that lousy, miserable thrice damned witch had been able to make that grow. Charmcaster had made that grow but she couldn't have planted the seed herself. It had to already be rooted somewhere within his mind.

She had always known his mental health was not as it should be but she cursed herself for not realizing how off it really was.

He had been a street urchin for several years of his life, any offered help being with strings attached and thus was met with suspicion. He had become a monster, mutated by Omni-energy, and been tossed in the Null Void, by her family no less, and stayed in there for an unknown amount of time, though she knew he couldn't have gotten out any less than half a year before they had met that second time. Of all the stupid idiotic things she could have done…

So that was Step 2. Once she found a way to get him back to their version of normal she was going to find him someone, a professional and most likely related to the Plumber organization in some way, he could talk to and get some help from. Maybe he needed medication for awhile.

She sighed, blinking in order to clear her foggy mind; she just didn't know what to do when Step 2 was set into motion. How did one really help a person so suspicious, so wary of normal society and normal human to human interactions?

The hours ticked by, caffeine patches coming and going, before her watch alerted her that she had to go back to the mortal realm for school. Still she had found nothing, nothing that would help anyway.

Had she not been so focused, so determined on her mission, she would have found some bits of the more obscure branches of magic rather interesting. But as it was she had to give up for the time being and go back to pretending to be things she wasn't anymore; human, happy, or strong.

She put away the books and scrolls, marked her place on the shelf, picked up her bag, walked to the lobby-like area of the library, waved her hand to open the door to her realm and stepped out. She dropped her yellow pack and grabbed a fresh change of clothes before heading to the bathroom to take a very cold shower. She did not allow herself the luxury of a hot or even lukewarm shower for fear of falling asleep. It would be so embarrassing to be a Plumber that drowned in her own shower. She brushed her teeth, applied the needed make-up to cover the bluish-black bags beneath her glassy eyes, and went back to her room to grab her lavender school bag before heading down the stairs to eat breakfast, grab a new box of energy bars and one of caffeine patches.

Breakfast was the only real meal she ate anymore, figuring the other two ate up too much time in which she could either be doing homework or research. She lived off energy bars and stealing manna from the shrubbery around her.

She said good morning to her parents and gave them a grin even though she knew they weren't fooled by such actions anymore. But what could they do about her habits? They were mortals, she was not; ergo she did what she wanted, no matter what they said or thought about her activities, a good ninety percent of the time. They just didn't talk about it anymore…though her mother had taken to making a bigger breakfast each morning, something Gwen was thankful for. She ate, grabbed a cup of coffee, said her parting farewells and left.

She absorbed manna as she walked; both the manna and physical movement keeping her awake. Her body had ceased protesting the eternal wakefulness weeks ago; she just wouldn't give into its' demands. So it began stopping unneeded processes, like ovulation and menstruation. A kidney went into suspended animation. Her nails, both finger and toe, stopped growing and most of her body hair had fallen out. The pigment in her cells stopped functioning, probably due to a lack of sunlight, making her ghostly white. Her hair had lost its gleam and now hung limply when out of a ponytail. She knew that by human standards she wasn't healthy anymore but her alien heritage allowed her to do as she was and thus she just didn't care for human health standards anymore.

She arrived on campus and immediately headed towards the soccer field. It's lush, healthy green grass being an abundant feast of energy. Somehow she had become known as a born again flower child to her peers so they never questioned her unusual actions in regards to wild flora and fauna, She didn't take from animals, at least not on purpose, and was careful about taking from plants and never touched the FFA greenery until absolutely sure that the students were done with it. And humans were of course a big no-no in her book.

So she plopped down into a meditative stance and connected herself to the planet, drinking what Mother Nature provided them with. After she said her thanks she downed the coffee she had brought in a single gulp, applied another caffeine patch and headed to class. Her teachers didn't care about her as long as she completed her work and was passing their classes. She may be putting her health on the line for her task but she would not put her own future welfare on it. Yes her priorities were probably skewed to someone with a normal point of view but again she was just too focused and tired to really care anymore…