Lullabies of New York Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End, a ben 10 fanfic

A/N: Just going to start this for you all. It's not the best as of now, but I'm doin' it the best I can. Kevin's POV.

Disclaimer: I own Melody, Mandy, & Carson.

'We got the words if you got the melody,
We got the time if you've got the place to be
No we're not gonna stop
'til we set this party off'
~'Set This Party Off', Jonas Brothers

The Beginning of the End

It was good to be back with everyone again. It was good to be out in the open and to be on the road again instead of caged in the tiny town of Bellwood. Sure, I had Los Soledad and all those little side places, but nothing could make a guy feel free like the open road and a muscle car to drive it with.

Carson was ridin' shotgun with me while Melody and Mandy were sitting quietly in the back. The two were usually a couple of chatterboxes, a lot like Julie and Gwen when I was driving them to the mall.

A lot had changed. Trust had shifted. It was all quiet.

I had really gotten used to Ben's talking. He was the one who had talked like every second of the day, never shutting up even when I threatened him within an inch of his life. And he still kept on talking like a moron. So I had grown adapted to the natural chatter of people, even if it wasn't me talking. And with the seriously loud silence of no one talking, it was weird. So I cranked on the radio.

Carson's ocean blue eyes whipped to stare at me. "This thing has a radio?" he asked, shock rolling off his voice. His hair was a ruffled mess after sleeping in the backseat the night before. I'd already pulled us through a full twenty-four hours of driving. And I wasn't even tired yet.

I checked the rearview to find Mandy staring at me long and hard, shock written across her features. Melody didn't look at all surprised. "It's always had one," I told Carson.

"But you never, and I mean never, listen to music." His gaze flickered from me to the windshield again so he wasn't staring at me like Mandy was. "Really, never."

"You guys are being too quiet." I reached out and started flipping between stations to find something that at least sounded like metal. Or even hardcore rock. Anything to get some sound pumped into the car. Their silence was killing me. "I got used to sound instead of silence." I found one station just as they were introducing another song and settled back into my seat, eyes focused back on the nearly empty road. I didn't expect it to be crowded at like four in the morning.

A grin crept across Carson's face as he recognized the song. And he flipped up the volume to a higher level so that we could barely hear each other talk over the opening. "This is our song, boys," he laughed, leaning back in his seat and putting his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling as if there were stars up there.

And I knew it all too well. This was one of the songs Carson and I had gotten horribly used to. So we were immediately all over it.

"I'm through with standin' in line at clubs I'll never get in, it's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win. This life hasn't turned out quite the way I wanted to it be."

Me and Carson were practically brothers. We had worked as truckers for a while to cart some of Mandy's weapons back and forth between hideouts and he liked music but I didn't. And this song had been on every five minutes back when we were driving our way everywhere. Let's just say we were the kind of guys that picked up easily on it. And it was practically the story of our lives. So why not sing along? To break the silence and the obvious tension. It couldn't hurt.

"I want a brand new house on an episode of 'Cribs' and a bathroom I can play baseball in and a king-sized tub big enough for ten plus me."

"I need a credit card that's got no limit and a big black jet with a bedroom in it, gonna join the mile-high club at thirty seven thousand feet. I want a new tour bus full of old guitars, my own star on Hollywood Boulevard, somewhere between Cher and James Dean is fine for me."

Mandy and Melody were staring at us like we were a couple of lunatics. Which I didn't totally blame them for. "Come on," laughed Carson. And this was the guy who was my best friend. This was him, not the stiff serious guy. This was the real Carson.

"I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame. I'll even cut my hair and change my name."

Mandy and Melody had no idea what the heck we were doin' so I just let Melody's powers pick up on it while Carson and I carried on. But apparently Mandy knew the chorus. So we were all just rockin' like we were back in the subways, the world all our own and nothin' to do but have fun. Because this was our world now. And this was my home turf, not Bellwood. New York was freedom.

Carson stared at me with that familiar grin. Story of our lives. We all just wanted to be something more. Maybe not rockstars, but we wanted to be considered more than street scum.

"Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar."

The music got cranked a little louder and I found Mandy's hand on the volume control this time. I checked the rearview to find a smile stuck on her face. My gaze flickered to Melody and she was already mimicking the voice of Nickelback's singer flawlessly.

"I want a big break like Elvis without the tassels, hire eight bodyguards that love to beat up assholes, sign a couple autographs so I can eat my meals for free."

Carson was just looking at me. He was grinning like crazy. This was how it used to be: every day we weren't fighting, it was a party. And parties were always good for us. We had a big crew; we were just considered to be the A-Team.

"I'm gonna dress my ass with the latest fashion, get a front door key to the Playboy mansion, gonna date a centerfold that loves to blow my money for me. Gonna trade this life for fortune and fame, I'd even cut my hair and change my name."

Mandy was back in with us again, loud as ever. And this was the life. This was one of the good times.

"'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars, livin' in hilltop houses, drivin' fifteen cars. The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap, we'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat and we'll hang out in the coolest bars, in the VIP with the movie stars; every good gold-digger gonna wind up there, every Playboy bunny with the beach blown hair. And I'll hideout in the private rooms with the latest dictionary and today's new Zune. They'll get you anything with that evil smile, everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial, well, hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar."

This was our lives, all wanting something more than what we had, not out of greed but out of wanting something more for ourselves, just to know that we were failures at everything.

"I'm gonna sing those songs that'll bend the censors, gonna bite my pills from a Pez dispenser, get washed up singers writin' all my songs, lip-sync 'em every night so I don't get 'em wrong."

I quietly smiled to myself. This was what I missed about Mandy and Carson and Melody. The way it could all just seem so natural and so warm all the time. But never peaceful. Never peaceful.

"Well we all just wanna be big rockstars, livin' in hilltop houses, drivin' fifteen cars. The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap, we'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat and we'll hang out in the coolest bars, in the VIP with the movie stars; every good gold-digger gonna wind up there, every Playboy bunny with the beach blown hair. And I'll hideout in the private rooms with the latest dictionary and today's new Zune. They'll get you anything with that evil smile, everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial, well, hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar."

Carson quietly turned down the radio just as the last line was dying and I was the last one singing. "Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar." 'Cause that's what we all wanted. Something more.

A/N: lyrics are a bit off, but I did the best I could. Please review so I'll write more sooner. Thanks for reading!

~Sky