#gwevin batb au

[msnihilist]

going against the woke mind virus to say that i want to hear about your gwevin batb au!

SAY NO MORE, BELOVED ANON!!

Okayokay, so the world in this AU has magic, but not aliens. Ben is in possession of an incredibly powerful artifact, the Omnirune (name still pending) that lets him shapeshift into all sorts of creatures. It was created by Azmuth, the (arguably) most powerful wizard who ever lived. (Many who follow the Old Majick believe that Bezel is the greatest sorcerer ever.)

Anyway, none of that matters. Anodites in this AU are a female-only sect of witches, and they are incredibly powerful. Verdona was crushed to give birth to two boys, but when they grew up and married, she was hopeful that one of them would have a daughter so that she could pass on her majick. Both families were terrified of this happening, because it meant that Verdona would take their daughter away and raise her into majick without any interact from her parents.

By pure luck, Sandra and Natalie went into labor on the same night, a terrible, stormy night in December. Sandra was premature by two months, but to everyone's surprise, she still gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Natalie and Frank were devastated to be handed a baby girl.

To prevent Verdona from taking their daughter away, Carl and Frank switched their babies. After Verdona inspected Ben and lost interest in yet another male, Carl swapped Ben and Gwen and he and Sandra loaded up into a carriage and left in secret. Frank and Natalie presented a boy, and Verdona left. Later, they all met back up and decided that they couldn't lie forever — to keep Gwen safe and with them, their family would have to run away. Max helped them, even though it meant going against his wife. He didn't want to lose the kids any more than their parents did.

So the seven of them jumped from town to town. As Gwen grew older, her majick became stronger. And majick can be tracked, so they had to keep moving.

Eventually, though, when Ben and Gwen were eight years old, Max happened to run into an old warlock named Hex. He knew of an old place, an abandoned castle, where majick was shielded from the outside world, and had been staying there with his niece, Charmcaster. Hex allowed the Tennyson family to stay, as well.

There, they all finally settled down. Gwen could practice her majick freely and finally make friends who she wouldn't have to run from, thanks to the nearby town. Ben became enamoured with the idea of knights, and he swore that he'd always protect Gwen from their grandmother.

Fast forward, and Ben and Gwen are ten. They've strayed far from the castle while playing and stumble upon an old lab. This is where Ben finds the Omnirune, which seals itself to his wrist and won't come off. When the two of them flee, they're attacked by strange creatures guarding the place and Ben is badly injured. Gwen heals him, and the two of them manage to escape back home.

But in all the rush of making sure Ben is alright and trying to get that thing off of his wrist, Gwen barely even remembers healing him. She neglects to tell her parents that she used majick outside of the protective barrier. And it only takes a few days for her to pay the price.

Verdona arrives, smiling serenely. "This game of hide and seek has been fun," she says, as her family stares on in frozen horror, "but we've waited long enough to begin your training, Gwen. Come with me, darling." She isn't asking. It's a threat.

Ben makes the mistake of trying to defend Gwen. His newfound power makes him believe he can do it, and Verdona proves him wrong in an instant — she runs him clean through with a majick construct.

As Ben bleeds out, Gwen frantically tries to heal him. But it's not working. She can close the outside of the wound, but Ben has already lost so much blood, and his insides are damaged so badly, and he's going pale and slurring his words and all Gwen can think is, "not him, please, anyone but him."

"Poor thing." Verdona tsks in mock sympathy. "Perhaps his parents should have taught him to respect his elders."

And Ben's hand goes limp in Gwen's, his eyes glassy, and Gwen snaps.

All of her majick explodes out of her body in an energy wave that destroys the courtyard. With her fury comes cold, sweeping in like a terrible storm on a dark December night. Everything in Gwen's immediate vicinity freezes — the plants, her home, her friends and family. All of it is covered in a thick layer of ice.

But her outburst doesn't stop there. It sweeps through the village, a coldsnap that kills crops and animals and infants. The people flee while they still can and, slowly, clouds roll in and snow begins to fall.

Gwen collapses to her knees over Ben's frozen body. He's not dead — her majick got him lodged somewhere in between. And as for herself, Gwen looks at her hands and they aren't human anymore. She overdid it, literally blew her own skin off, and the being of pure majick at her center is all that's left of her. She doesn't know how to turn back, and there's no one left to teach her.

But she doesn't want to, anyway. Gwen can feel that, if she becomes human again, her majick that's holding this place at a standstill will fade. The ice will thaw, and Ben will resume bleeding out.

Gwen is stuck, in a prison of her own making. And she's okay with that. (It only takes a few months for the cold to inch its way inside of her, too, and Gwen quickly forgets what it was like to not be okay, or how to be sad or happy or anything at all.)

Years pass. Enter Kevin.

(Yeah, that's all just the background, lmao, I bet you forgot that this was supposed to be a Gwevin AU!)

I will save those details for later, if I get another ask about it. I think this post is long enough as it is!

[msnihilist]

more of that au please!!!! sounds so interesting so far!!!!

Background to this AU.

So, Kevin is an orphan in this AU. He grew up on the streets taking care of himself. He's joined by Argit, who Kevin sees kind of as a younger brother. Since there's no aliens in this AU, Argit was born fully human, but was cursed by a wizard whom he stole from and inflicted with a mutated, animal-like appearance.

Kevin is also considered a freak since he's a magic-user as well. He's freaky even among other witches because he absorbs power rather than releasing it.

Suffice it to say, the two of them only fit in with each other. They're all they've got.

Well, they end up owing money to the richest guy in town after stealing (and immediately losing) his prized horse. But Michael agrees to forgive the transgression if they pay him back within the month, otherwise he'll kill them.

Kevin and Argit are broke as shit so, in a fit of desperation, they decide to loot the old, cursed castle that everyone in the region knows to avoid. The story says that everything was fine until, one day, the evil witch inside who had been bidding her time froze everything solid, killing everyone in the process.

Argit, for obvious reasons, doesn't want to fuck with a witch. Kevin talks him into it by boasting his absorption powers, promising to protect him.

As the two of them approach the castle, the sky turns grey. It's hard to tell if the sun is even up anymore. The grass dies and crunches beneath their feet, like they're slowly entering an aura of rot and death. They pick their way through the abandoned, snowy village and up the hillside to the frozen castle.

Inside, there's no one to be found. Kevin and Argit ignore the frozen bodies and start gathering up valuables.

And right when Argit is starting to relax, he sees her. The witch. She doesn't even look human. She's made entirely of magic, her body glowing with pure power, and she regards Argit as one would regard an ant marching across their floor.

"You can't be here," she says. Argit very much agrees, but he can't find the words to say so. "And you can't leave, either."

Argit screams, and Kevin comes running. The witch explains disinterestedly (with her hand on Argit's throat) that she doesn't want anyone to know about this castle. Visitors must be killed. (The last time she wasn't careful with her location, everything fell apart.)

Kevin offers to stay with her as collateral. Argit will go, and he won't tell anyone because, if he does, the witch can just kill him. The witch considers this, and finds it acceptable. She releases Argit.

Kevin gives Argit all of the valuables they managed to grab, and forces him to leave. Argit doesn't want to, but he is also too cowardly to stay. The doors slam shut behind him, and they lock.

As awful as he feels, saying goodbye to his old life and freedom, Kevin asks the witch if he can at least have her name. She doesn't answer at first, like she has to think long and hard about it.

Finally, just when Kevin has convinced himself that she won't tell him, she looks at him with her blank, emotionless eyes and says, "My name is Gwen."

[msnihilist]

pls pls more of that au!! maybe put it under a read more so it doesn't get too long??

Tag for this AU.

No one's gonna read all of that, anon 😭 I'm putting it into small, easy to read chunks for a reason. The average Tumblr user's attention span is so short that I couldn't even be bothered to think of a good metaphor for this sentence.

Anyway.

You know how in Disney's BATB, Belle is assisted by the household staff that was turned into objects? Instead of something silly like that, Kevin is helped by the "spirits" of all of Gwen's frozen friends and family.

They're not dead, so they're not ghosts. Gwen has been trying to find spells to release them, and this was the side effect of one of her attempts. Think of it more like they're displaced from their bodies. So, physically, they all look the same as when they were frozen, but mentally, they have aged.

The spirits can interact in little ways with the world around them. Things like fabric are easier to move, and furniture is out of the question. As Gwen leaves Kevin in the castle foyer, losing interest in him, the first spirit that greets Kevin is — you guessed it — Ben. He's even weaker than the others, because of his poor physical state when he was frozen, but his personality is as lively as ever!

Gwen and Ben's parents take on a parental role with Kevin — Carl and Sandra pretty much immediately adopt him, whereas Frank and Natalie take longer to come around. Ben shows Kevin to the guest room, talking pretty much the whole time. Kevin asks him questions about "the witch" (and Ben's aura flares and the temperature in the room drops as he snaps, "her name is Gwen") while they walk, but Ben avoids direct answers. Partly because he doesn't really want to talk about it, and partly because he doesn't feel that it's his place to.

Anyway, the first dinner in the castle is awkward as fuck. Gwen doesn't eat, and neither do any of the spirits. They still pretend to cook and eat to have some semblance of a routine, but now that Kevin is here to stay, there's an actual need for real food.

Gwen ends up trying to summon Kevin some food to eat, and she's not good at it. She's never needed to practice that spell before! The only sign that she's flustered is a slightly brighter glow and the tense press of her mouth as she summons plate after plate of inedible majick gunk. Ben laughs at her and teases her, which is the closest that Kevin has gotten to seeing Gwen smile.

Finally, she manages a dish that's not entirely horrible to taste and won't kill Kevin if he swallows it. As he grimaces through the meal, it's hard to tell, but he thinks that Gwen seems almost proud of herself. Meanwhile, Sandra happily suggests getting the greenhouse up and running the next day so that Kevin won't have to try tilling the frozen dirt outside just to be able to eat.

Back with Argit, it's several days of travel on foot before he stumbles out of the woods and into the village, frantic and exhausted. He immediately goes to Michael and explains what happened to Kevin. Michael doesn't necessarily believe him, but the idea of there being a witch in the castle is interesting to him. After all, the only thing better than money is power.

Michael decides to send a scout of his own to investigate, in the form of a crow familiar. He also throws Argit into a cell so that he can't try to run. It is rather convenient for Michael that someone with Kevin's unique abilities would get captured by a witch — and one walking around in her true form, no less. It's giving him a truly wicked idea...

[msnihilist]

[msnihilist]

No one wants to hear about my Gwevin Beauty and the Beast AU where Gwen takes the role of the beast. Because of woke.