Alternate Versions of You Chapter 1: Ben 23: Left Before the Universe, a ben 10 fanfic

A/N: I'm starting with Ben 23 since out of all the alternate Bens we've seen we know the most about him.

Despite what many people think, there was a lot more going against Ben 23 than simply his grandfather's death. His parents were absent most of the time, his father so busy with work it had nearly developed into an obsession and his mother more concerned about maintaining a social circle than raising her son. So for a while Ben was raised by his Uncle Frank and Aunt Natalie – Gwen's parents – until they found him too difficult to deal with. He was then pawned off to his Grandpa Max, which suited him fine. Other than his weird cooking (which Ben didn't know was actually alien food) and his somewhat odd way of raising a child, it was a comfortable arrangement. Ben still legally lived with his parents but in reality lived with his Grandpa in the RV.

The day before Grandpa Max's death was surprisingly average, all things considering.

Grandpa Max picked up Ben from school – like he did every day – helped him through his homework, cooked a strange meal of squid hamburgers and put Ben to bed. It was only that night that things went wrong. An attack from an alien drone was what truly changed Ben's life. An attack from an alien drone that exploded the RV, leaving Ben as the only survivor having managed to flee through the back window. Grandpa Max didn't make it before the RV went up in flames. It would only be later that Ben would be told that the drone had been sent by Eon to kill Ben and not Grandpa Max. To kill a Ben before he got the Omnitrix. Before he became a threat.

That summer was the one of the few times Ben's parents looked at their son and realised that they had to be there for him. They took him camping, something that beforehand only Grandpa Max had done. The trip only lasted a day before the Hero Watch inserted itself into Ben's life and onto his wrist. Naturally, Carl and Sandra Tennyson were terrified of what their son had become, but still accepted him after they found out that the Hero Watch wouldn't come off. The drone that then attacked the campsite was the last straw for Ben who now saw all aliens apart from his transformations as enemies. The drone was destroyed in such a violent fashion that it scared Vilgax (who was much more timid than his Prime counterpart) from further seeking the Hero Watch.

After Ben had gained the Hero Watch, scores of aliens decided to try their hand at retrieving what the famed conqueror was too scared to do. Ben was made out by the media as being the 'Slayer of Aliens' and 'Protector of Humanity' from the evil alien scum that dared try to harm the Earth. As scared as the people were about having an shapeshifter protect them, Ben was still just a child, only ten years old, they could mould him into what they wanted. Endorsements, advertisements and TV shows followed soon afterwards, including Super Hero Ben Adventures which brought many people over to Ben's side over the aliens. Life then became a series of repetitive events. With the money the endorsements brought in, Ben didn't have to go to school. Fame was more important than education, was what his secretary said. And fame didn't care about your personal life. Ben welcomed the distraction, which helped him grieve over his Grandpa's death.

However, not everybody was as grateful as Ben for this. Uncle Frank and Aunt Natalie were the first to object, taking Gwen and Ken away and moving to another state as far from their nephew and his toxic lifestyle as possible. His own parents came next. With Ben now earning more money than himself, Carl Tennyson quit his job and he and his wife went on a tour of the world. They said they would only be gone for the summer, so that Ben could adjust to being a superhero, it would be two years before they even called their son again, and that was only because of his change of attitude towards aliens. His so-called 'friends' at school were the last line of his old life to be cut. With fame came an obnoxious attitude and most ten-year-olds can't handle their friend now thinking that he was better than them. One by one, they simply stopped talking to him.

And with that, Ben was on his own.

All things considered, he adjusted quickly and with minimal aftereffects. He threw himself into his work and found solstice in beating up alien 'bad guys' every few days or so. Until he met the Intellectuary. Usually, the alien 'bad guys' followed the motto of "hit first, ask questions never", but the Intellectuary first words then eleven-year-old were "How did you get that device". Ben never answered, instead proceeding to give the 'giant robot' a smack down before it suddenly disappeared. Ben didn't think much about it. Bad guys sometimes got away, but they always came back. And the Intellectuary did come back. Again, and again, and again…

Meeting his Prime counterpart was quite honestly the coolest thing Ben had ever done in his life. Fighting bad guys was getting repetitive but the revelation of alternate universes was awesome! These days, the best things Ben could hope for was a new movie and gyros, but Ben Prime's visit had brought something even better: a new mentor.

Finding out that his "greatest enemy" was in fact the creator of his Hero Watch was only something that could be found in a movie. And Ben would know. His whole life was just some really long movie (or TV show, the trademark for that was still pending). There was some backlash for his sudden change of heart towards aliens, but to be honest at that point people just believed whatever the now twelve-year-old said without question. Azmuth soon became more than just a mentor, he (along with Tetrax and Sevenseven) became his only family. With his Grandpa dead, Gwen and her parents on the other side of the continent, and his own parents in Europe most of the time, these three former enemies became his rock against a universe that either wanted him as advertisement, a slave, or dead.

Yes, Ben did do some stupid things to Azmuth (like swallowing him), but in his defence he hadn't been to school for some years and didn't really know anything besides how to kick butt (and rather crudely at that, Azmuth said that he had no strategy and needed to work on it). Azmuth slowly began to resolve that, introducing him to the Extranet and teaching him basic maths and science. Not enough for him to get a high school diploma – he was still only twelve, after all – but enough for him to return to school somewhat seamlessly. A system was put in place; Azmuth taught Ben about academia (which sometimes went beyond Earth-levels, but hey, he was being raised by aliens, what did you expect), and Tetrax and Sevenseven taught him battle strategies, as well as help him in his fights.

A/N: According to the Ben 10 Wiki, Ben 23's Grandpa Max died around the same he got the Omnitrix. He also hasn't encountered any bigger enemies (like Vilgax) than Azmuth. Since we never meet or even have any mention of Ben 23's family besides Max, I feel like they've abandoned him or at the very least ignore him. At the very least, at the age of 12-14 (as the Wiki states his age range is), Gwen should be there since she should also be 12-14 years old, yet she never makes an appearance. The fact that Ben 23 immediately accepts Azmuth, Tetrax and Sevenseven's help when it's offered makes me think he's just a lonely chid with no one to look after him. Azmuth seems to think so as when Ben Prime upsets his Azmuth he's left by himself to deal with his problems while Ben 23's Azmuth gives him to Ben Prime to look after (in 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Ben World'). So either Ben 23's Azmuth is more caring than Ben Prime's Azmuth, or Ben 23's Azmuth understands that Ben 23 is just a child who needs to learn some morals.