It was Kenny's fourth birthday, and his dad forgot. Again. Mom tried not to make a fuss about it, but he could tell she was upset too—Ken could always tell. His pre-k teacher said he was very bright for his age, and Mom said he was destined for great things, and he knew that all he wanted was to be a hero like his dad. His drawings in art all included the Omnitrix, and he asked Dad to get it for him for his birthday. But honestly, he'd just be happy having his dad there for his birthday.
He was asleep when Dad finally came home and woke him up to give him his present. It wasn't the Omnitrix, but it was a track for a really cool hovercar set, and he promised to help Ken set it up that weekend. Then he kissed him goodnight and left him in bed.
That was when the yelling started.
"You missed it again. I swear, do you even want to be a father?"
"At least I try to be there for him!"
"Excuse me?"
"Don't give me that line about how hard you work being a good mother. The calls from school always come to me. I might be working all the time, but I'm always in touch."
"You have no idea what I've given up..."
"For what? For me? For our son?"
"I had a life, Ben! I was a medicine woman! But no, you can't even begin to understand."
"I would if you'd even talk to me! All you ever do is complain—complain and blame!"
Ken closed his eyes tight and hugged his stuffed doll of Shin Ishiyama from Shin Sumo Slammers: Samurai. Tears were running down his face. He hated when they fought.
A light suddenly turned on, and Ken opened his eyes to see stars dancing around his room.
"Your parents forgot to turn your nightlight back on, didn't they?" asked a man.
In the starlight, Ken could see a man close to his dad's age, but dressed in a white labcoat and goggles standing by the window. He started to reach for something in his pocket, and Ken screamed.
His parents stopped fighting immediately and ran in.
"Who are you?" Mom demanded.
"Wait, Par—" Dad started.
He didn't have time to finish. They froze in place, then ran backwards through the door, closing it, with the stars going backwards all the while.
"I'm disappointed in myself," the man said. "I normally think my entrances through much better than that. Please do me a favor and don't scream again."
Ken was shaking by now, hugging his doll and crying silently. The man saw this and sighed, "Oh dear, I really have made a mess of things now, haven't I?"
"I want my daddy," Ken said quietly.
Mom and Dad were back to fighting, as if they'd never heard Ken scream for them. The man glared at the door and turned to the nightlight, turning on the music.
"There. That should drown them out," he said judgmentally. "I don't know what Ben is thinking, arguing like that where his son can hear him."
"You know Daddy?" Ken asked.
"Of course I do—who in this part of the universe hasn't heard of the famous Ben 10?" the man asked. "Although I hear he's been calling himself Ben 10,000 for the past decade or so. I do miss the rhyme."
Ken still wasn't sure whether or not to trust him, but the man only walked around the room, looking at his toys.
"From the technology level, I'm guessing I'm sometime in the 2030s?" he asked.
"I don't know," Ken answered.
"Ah, well, I suppose an exact date was too much to ask for," he replied. "You can't be much more than five."
Ken shook his head. "I'm four. It's my birthday."
"It is?" the man asked. He finally noticed the hovercar box and declared, "So it is! And I didn't bring a gift—where are my manners? Well, there's nothing for it." He reached into his coat pocket again, but this time Ken didn't scream—he watched as the man pulled out a paper bag. "I have a terrible sweet tooth, and the last time I was in England in the 1970s, I picked some of these up. Would you care for a jelly baby?"
"What's that?" Ken asked.
"It's a kind of candy," the man answered, taking a gummy and popping it in his mouth. "Quite good, I must say. Although I suppose it is a bit cliché. Your father used to remind me I wasn't exactly the Doctor, but someone had to inspire that show."
"You don't look like a doctor," Ken said.
"Professor, actually," he corrected. "I was a teacher, not a healer. And I also dabbled in experimentation, which is what eventually led me here. But more importantly, I am a friend, not an enemy."
Ken set down Shin, watching as the Professor ate another candy. Finally, he reached out, and the Professor gave him one.
"It's a gummy bear," he giggled.
"Very similar," the Professor replied. "Now, normally, you shouldn't accept candy from strangers, but I'm hardly a stranger to the Tennyson family."
A door slammed somewhere in the house, and the Professor frowned again. "Ben, most likely. He has never known how to deal with Kai."
"Are Mommy and Daddy okay?" Ken asked.
"Physically, yes," he answered. "Psychologically, emotionally, spiritually...just not romantically." Ken looked at him, confused by all the big words. There was sadness on the Professor's face as he looked over at him. "A shame that you will have to pay for their mistakes."
"What?"
"Things will be harder for you from here on out, Ken," the Professor explained. "This awful moment is the start of the loss of your innocence. But it doesn't have to be. Never give up hope."
"Hope?" Ken asked.
"Look up," the Professor insisted. Ken looked to the ceiling, but instead of the nightlight he expected, the walls were gone, and real stars were all around them.
"We're in space!" he cried.
"Relatively speaking, yes," the Professor answered. "See the stars?"
"Yes!" Ken answered.
"Every single one of them has a story," he explained. "Each one has a name, and when you connect the stars into constellations, you create a story large enough for a legend."
"Huh?"
The Professor sat next to him and pointed out a group of stars. "That one is called Ursa Major, but you may know it better as the Big Dipper—do you see the handle and cup."
"Yeah!"
"Follow the star at the top of the end of the cup, and you'll find it pointing to another dipper."
"I see it!"
"That is the Little Dipper, Ursa Minor, and the star it's pointing to is called Polaris—the North Star. Well, at least for another thousand years or so. Long ago, people thought that those stars connected into familiar forms and created stories about them."
"What kind of stories?"
"Many about heroes."
"Like my daddy?"
"Similar, although there will be plenty of legends about your father in the future. But it's never just one person who creates a legend all by himself—he is always connected to other people, just as the stars are connected to each other to form a constellation and then a story."
Ken drew his knees closer to him. "I wanna be a hero when I grow up. I wanna save people and fight bad guys."
The Professor smiled. "That is a good story. I hope you write it one day. Fly the moon and reach for the stars, with your sword and your head held high."
"What's that mean?"
"Ask your great-grandfather someday," the Professor advised. "He's much better with classic rock than your father is."
The stars began to fade, and the walls of Ken's bedroom reappeared, with the fake starlight swirling around. He yawned and asked, "Can I see the stars again?"
"Not tonight, I'm afraid. Tonight was just a meeting, and we will have more in the years to come. And I wanted to remind you, in this difficult time, that you must remember how lucky you are to be loved. No matter what happens with your parents, no matter how many times they seem to forget about you, they will always love you. This love is your greatest gift, and one day, you will be able to give it to someone not nearly as lucky as you, and this will change the future."
"I don't get it."
"You will, in time."
Ken started to lie down, dropping Shin to the floor. The Professor picked the doll up and placed it next to him, covering him with his blankets.
"Goodnight, Ken Tennyson. Happy birthday, and many more to come."
Queen's "Princes of the Universe" was written by the late, great Freddie Mercury. There is also a very slight reference to Gackt's "Journey through the Decade" from Kamen Rider Decade, as foreshadowing for a future fic. I also apologize for the blatant Doctor Who references with Paradox, but it's nigh-impossible to avoid them with him.