This story came to me and I just had to write it. I only own my OCs. Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man Of Action and Scary Godmother belongs to Mainframe Entertainment.

Kind On The Inside

Camryn hugged her father, crying a little bit. "Daddy, stay," she begged.

Alien X sighed sadly. "I wish I could, sweetheart," he said. "But I'm needed on this mission."

She clung to him and he rubbed her back to soothe her, holding her. Rachel came out with Diamondhead beside her. Alien X nodded to them. "Camryn," he said. "Your aunt Rachel and uncle Tetrax are going to watch over you until I get back."

"But Daddy…," Camryn protested in a small voice, tears running down her face.

He gently wiped her tears away. "I know, pumpkin," he said soothingly as he kneeled to her height. "I know I'm always gone, but hopefully after this mission, I can get some time off to spend here with you and your mother."

The six year old looked up at him. "But I want you to stay now, Daddy," she said, her voice tearful.

"I know, baby girl. Daddy wishes he could stay too," he said and cupped her cheek with one hand. "But I have to go to work and when I get back, we'll do something fun, okay?"

She looked down and he gently tilted her chin up. "Camryn, can you promise me to be a good girl for your aunt and uncle?" he asked, his voice taking a slightly stern note, but was still gentle.

She nodded. "I promise, Daddy," she said. "You promise you'll be home soon?"

"Hopefully in a day or two," he said. "I promise I'll be back."

Camryn hugged her father again and watched him head out, tears still falling down her small face. Diamondhead picked her up and rocked back and forth gently.

"Don't worry, kiddo," he said reassuringly. "Your father would never break a promise to you."

She nodded and Rachel patted Camryn's head soothingly. "Why don't you help me make some cookies?" she asked.

To both Rachel's and Diamondhead's surprise, Camryn shook her head. "No, thank you," she said softly, stunning the two adults and making them realize she was too sad to make something delicious, but they understood and Rachel suddenly perked up.

"You know," she said. "I usually call Plumber HQ when Rook's on missions and he's on one now. I'm sure your father will be there and you can talk to him tonight."

Camryn perked up at that. "Really? You mean on the big computer?" she asked.

"That's right," said Rachel with a smile, knowing the little girl meant the communications computer. It was a large computer, so that was why the little girl called it the big computer. "Why don't you go play so that the evening will come quickly so you can talk to your Daddy?"

Camryn smiled and immediately headed for the playroom, making Rachel and Diamondhead chuckle as they headed about to do some chores, keeping their eyes and ears open in case Camryn needed them.

The little girl was deciding on playing with the blocks or coloring when she spotted a key on the play table. It was gold and shaped like a star. Wonderingly, she picked it up and thought maybe it unlocked the closet in the play room. Grabbing a chair, as she was a bit short, she stood in it and put the key in the door, turning it and opening the door to see a whirl of bright colors, which drew Camryn in as she liked bright colors. She went into the bright colors and continued until she saw another door, but she was too short to open it, but then saw a small stool nearby. Grabbing it and standing on it, she managed to open the door.

She stepped into a living room that looked very cozy and she noticed the décor was perhaps a bit odd, but the colors drew her attention. She then heard a noise from another room and moved curiously toward it, seeing a tall lady dressed in black with bat wings on her back stirring something in a mixing bowl and a skeleton was checking on something in the oven. Now, Camryn was quite stunned to see a skeleton walking around and it reminded her of a scary movie she had been forced to watch a long time ago that had a creepy skeleton in it. She was about to go back through the door when she saw a shadow come up behind her and she looked to see a many-eyed monster gazing down at her.

"Hello," he said with a smile.

One look at his sharp teeth did it. Camryn screamed so loudly the windows rattled, startling the other two who saw why the young girl was screaming.

Camryn dove away from the monster and ran as the skeleton tried to catch her and as the lady with bat wings tried to catch her too. The six-year-old kept running as they chased her through another closet door, which led to another closet door upstairs and downstairs again. Camryn quickly put on a burst of speed and hid behind one of the chairs. A few seconds later, the three that had been chasing her came downstairs.

"Where did she go?" asked the strange lady.

"She didn't go outside," said the skeleton as he looked outside briefly.

The many-eyed monster came from the kitchen. "She's not in there," he said, indicating over his shoulder.

As the three tried to figure out where Camryn was, the little girl stayed in her hiding spot, not daring to move.

Meanwhile, back at the Grant Mansion, Rachel was searching for Camryn. "Camryn!" she called out to her niece, checking the play room and other rooms, but she couldn't find the little girl. She then met up with Diamondhead. "I can't find her anywhere."

"Neither can I, but I did find something else," said Diamondhead and led Rachel to one of the closet doors that was ajar and bright colors glowed behind it. A star-shaped key was in the door key.

"The key Scary Godmother gave me," said Rachel. "But I didn't put it here."

Suddenly, fear gripped her. "Oh no," she said. "Camryn. She's on the Fright Side!"

Diamondhead stiffened. "I'll watch the door," he said. "Can you go get her?"

Rachel nodded and took the key out of the door and went through the vortex, hoping her niece was okay. While she knew Scary, Skully, and Bug-A-Boo wouldn't hurt a child, she knew Camryn would be terrified of them due to her past.

She now burst through the door. "Camryn!" she called out, startling the three people in the living room.

Camryn heard her aunt's voice and peeked around the chair to see Rachel standing beside the skeleton, breathing hard before clearing her throat. "Guys, have you seen…?"

"Aunt Rachel!"

Rachel didn't have time to do anything but turn to her left a bit before Camryn rammed into her, making her stagger a bit before she landed a bit hard on the couch nearby and sat up, seeing her niece clinging to her leg. Rachel let out a sigh of relief.

"Camryn, are you okay, sweetie?" she asked, lifting the small child into her arms.

Camryn nodded, but was shaking in her aunt's arms and she hid her face from the other three, whose faces took on very sad expressions.

Rachel nodded gently to let them know she knew they hadn't meant to scare the little girl and pulled out her key from her pocket. "Camryn, where did you find Auntie's key?" she asked.

Camryn looked up at her aunt. "On…the play table," she answered, sniffling a little.

"Of course," said Rachel. "It must have slipped out of my pocket. I didn't even know it was gone."

She now turned to the other three. "Well, looks like you gave your aunt and uncles here a surprise," she said with a chuckle.

That made Camryn look at Rachel confusedly. "Aunt and uncles?" she asked.

"That's right," said the owner of the Grant Mansion. "These three people are good friends of mine and a part of the family." She then turned to gesture to them. "That's Scary Godmother, Skully, and Bug-A-Boo."

Camryn turned her face back into Rachel's arm. "They're scary," she whimpered.

Rachel gently rocked her. "They might look scary, but they're very kind and they would never hurt you."

"Of course not," said Scary soothingly and gently patted Camryn's head. "Isn't she just a sweetheart?" she asked.

"She reminds me of Hannah when she first met us," said Skully.

"She's certainly cute," said Bug-A-Boo.

The compliments helped a bit and Camryn turned her head to look at them as they warmly smiled at her. Rachel then handed the small girl to Scary, who held her in a way that reminded Camryn of how her mother, Isabella, held her and that made her calm down some more. She even let Skully and Bug-A-Boo hold her and before she knew it, she was trying to escape the many-eyed monster and the skeleton as they began tickling her and she giggled and laughed.

Rachel and Scary laughed at the amusing scene, watching at Camryn got free and ran toward them. Rachel caught her, but started tickling her too with Skully's help, making Camryn laugh harder before they stopped, seeing she was tired, but not afraid anymore.

After a bit longer, Rachel invited the Fright Siders to join her, Camryn, and Diamondhead for lunch and they headed over. The Petrosapien helped Rachel make lunch while Camryn spent time with her new aunt and uncles, who told her stories and tickled her to make her laugh.

Rachel smiled and looked at Diamondhead. "Looks like Camryn now sees that even a monster can be kind," she said.

"Yes," said Diamondhead with a smile. "Just as you learned with us aliens, hmm?"

He gave her a nudge in the side and she giggled before poking him in the side, making him chuckle as they served up lunch and they all enjoyed each other's company.

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GoldGuardian2418