What is lost can be found

Dexter wanted to cry with the rain but held back. There were too many people around. He had to act strong for now, once they left he could break, but he had to be strong… His adopted father softly laid a hand on his shoulder and held a saddened yet stoic expression; he, too, had to be strong. Everyone was feeling it, the loss; everyone knew what this would mean for them… Dexter glared at the grave as if it was to blame for it all; he glared as if it would somehow bring him back. No, not the demon that was obsessed with Mr. Green, but him, as in the very person that stole his heart…

Ben Tennyson. That was the name on the tombstone... The dear friend, the lover, the boy that wormed his way into their hearts, was gone. Everyone stared on yet no words were said. How was it fair? How was it fair to Ben? How fair was it to Dexter? Or fair to anyone? Their General, who had leaded them through so many fights, had died just today, during a fight on a cliff in the twisted forest while it was raining. They were so close to saving him, they failed him, and they watched him fall. What's worse is they looked for hours and found no trace of the body; bodies don't disappear like that. But thanks to this, there was no proper burial. How was that fair?

Dexter wished he hadn't watched the fight. He had seen it all; the strike that knocked Ben onto the slicked ledge, Ben's struggle to pull up, and his Dexter's fusion's sick, twisted smile as he steadily approached the Brunet. Thanks to the crappy quality he couldn't hear what either being said before Sinister had kicked Ben's hands away from the edge, forcing him to let go. Dexter wished he knew what to say or do, for one of the few times in his life, Dexter was at a loss for words.

No one knew what to say, or what to do to be honest. During the "Haywire" and the Townsville incident with Dexter's fusion that hurt been and took him out of the fight, they had been severely hurt by the loss of their General/Commander for a small amount of time. Could they last long term? Who would take his place? So many questions lingered in the air, all of which were left unanswered. The worst part is they didn't have the time or ability to go down and search for his dead body any longer then they had, they were short on man power and resources. Some people were hopeful and seemed to think he survived, but how could he? As much as Dexter really, truly wanted to believe there was a chance of survival he knew that if there was any chances at all, it was far too low.

Ben's omnitrix had recently run out of battery just before he got knocked onto the ledge. Dexter's own fusion doppelgänger and Ben only talked for two minutes, not enough to charge sufficiently. The drop itself was well over a thousand feet but not quite ten-thousand. Ben had no parachute or anything else to slow him down. At best he would have hit the ground within minutes at a high enough speed to kill him. Everyone was both scared and hopeful to go down and retrieve the either dead or alive hero. Either way, Dexter couldn't make himself to be naïve enough to think Ben would have made it. He knows how strong he is, but even then, Ben is mostly human and he can still die.

After the funeral was over Dexter sat in his lab in silence for a few minutes, and then he broke down. His dear friend, his boyfriend, was gone and wasn't coming back…. Minutes later his adoptive father, Patrick Lawrence Utonium, came down to the lab and softly turned the distressed scientist so they could face each other. No words were spoken, fore they both knew they were not needed. Dexter softly gripped his father's lab coat and leaned in for a hug as his father tightly wrapped him in an embrace and let the red-headed genius vent out his sadness. After a while both scientists went upstairs and joined the girls where dinner was unusually quiet.

Eventually, Bubbles spoke up "Professor, can we watch a movie?..." Prof. Utonium smiled at his sweetest daughter, he knew she was trying to distract everyone from the sad course of events for a little while. "Of course we can, let's finish eating first though." Dinner was still quiet but a little more rushed on the girls' ends. The three girls finished first and impatiently waited for the other two members of the mix-matched family. Once the two males finished eating the girls practically dragged them to the living room. Blossom quickly hid all of Ben's favorite movies before Dexter got in there. There was no need of a reminder right now…. Buttercup made, and ate, all of the popcorn before anyone else could get any, which lead to the girls bickering about popcorn during the entire movie.

: Time skip :

The movie eventually came to an end. Dexter and Bubbles inevitably fell asleep while Blossom was slowly starting to nod off. Instead of trying to rouse the two, Buttercup carried Bubbles and dragged Blossom off to their shared room to go to bed and the Professor carried Dexter to his room. Patrick stared down at his son sadly; he himself was saddened by the loss of the young man he called family. He hoped that this wouldn't deter Dexter from trying to get out into the world more. After all, Ben was the best at getting Dexter to act his age and explore new ideas about the world. Ben wouldn't want Dexter to give up, and heaven forbid that Pat would let his adopted son sink into one of his worst depressions yet. He removed Dexter's glasses and put them on the nightstand carefully. He placed a gentle kiss on his forehead and turned on the bathroom light before leaving the room with the final sad, gentle look of the night before heading to his own room.

Dexter's dreams were not dreams, but nightmares in sheep's clothing. He dreamt of all the happy times spent with his friend before he died. Over and over, memories played in his mind. Till eventually he had seen each and everyone one at least one time…. Then it happened, it started showing how it happened. Exactly how Ben fell off the ledge. Over and over the dream repeated. Was there no stopping the sorrow that threatened to consume his heart? Then, it stopped, and rewinded back to the very start of the day….