A Hero's Pain

Summary: A summer of fun and adventure slowly turns to one of pain and betrayal from those he trusts most. Watch as the sting of betrayal leads him on a path of a lone hero. What challenges will he face?

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Ben 10 series!

"What do you want" talking.

'What am I thinking' Thoughts

''I am awesome" alien/yelling

'I am awesome" alien thoughts

Chapter 1:

3rd P.O.V.

'I cannot believe this.' Thought 13 year old Ben Tennyson. Thinking about how he had finally convinced his Grandpa Max to go on another summer road trip across the country after the last two years of him being on 'Plumber' business and couldn't do it, but of course grandpa had to put the stipulation that they would only go on the trip is if Gwen agreed to go along with them again.

So that leads us back to his earlier predicament. After many weeks of pretty much begging Gwen to go, she had finally relented and agreed to go on the condition that he would do all her share of chores for the first month, along with agreeing to everything that she put forth for them to do on the trip and leaving her alone while she studied for the upcoming year. Ben, after mumbling to himself about evil cousins, reluctantly agreed to what she wanted.

'I finally get Grandpa Max to go on another trip, and now not only am stuck in a RV with my cousin again. I have to do what she wants for the first month. Huh. Just great.' Thought Ben looking out the window, watching as Bellwood got smaller in the distance.

Now don't get it wrong. Ben doesn't hate his cousin, far from it actually i mean come on she had save his life too many times not to care for her. After their adventures during the trip when they were 10 they had gotten close and he cared a lot for her, not that he'd admit it to her. She knew more about him than just about anyone else he knew. Now they still argue just like any other cousins do, chores, shower, food, simple things, just not as much as before.

The problem was he just didn't expect to be in the RV all summer with her again. The two of them do just fine for a few days together, but put them in a RV, together, during the hot eighty to hundred something degree heat of the summer, on the road and well it probably isn't going to end well for him, not at all.

"What are you signing about over there?" Gwen asked in a snappish voice.

Ben now realizing he signed out loud, looked over at his cousin not really caring spoke.

"Just thinking about how I got myself into this situation of stuck with you again. Why?" Ben replied in a slightly bored off handed tone.

Gwen rolling her eyes before replied ''Well while you were daydreaming Grandpa Max told me it'll take us about 3 days to get where we are going."

"Really, did he tell you where we're going?" Ben asked as he looked to his cousin, who had gone back to her book, now curious of what she knew.

"No, just how long it'll take to get there.'' She replied back without looking up from the book in her hand.

"Great, stuck in here for three days." Ben said while leaning his back against the back of the bench seat he was sitting on.

"I don't see why your complaining doofus this was your idea in the first place." Spoke the aggravated auburn haired girl looking up from her book to look at her cousin with a look of clear irritation, confusion and what looked like curiosity in her green eyes.

"I know, I know, I just wanted, no I NEEDED to get out of Bellwood for a while before I completely lose my mind." Ben tiredly told her in a short whisper without opening his eyes.

Gwen's eyes showed complete confusion from what her cousin just said. And now that she was paying close attention she noticed the slight bags under his eyes and how he looked and sounded exhausted when he spoke. He looked and sounded like that whenever he goes overboard with his fights with the Omnitrix.

"Ben are you alright? You sound completely exhausted. You haven't been pushing yourself with the alien fights again have you?" Gwen spoke with slight bit of concern in her voice.

Ben noticing the slight change in her voice slowly cracked his eyes open too look at her before slowly answering "No it's not the alien fights. The fights haven't been all that much of a problems this year really, mostly just now skirmishes with the usual's. Do you remember the year after our first trip? How after we got back, my grades in school kept falling even below my standards. My parents kept asking where I was going and disappearing too. And so, with grandpa max we made the decision to tell them about some of the stuff we did over that summer." Gwen nod her head roughly.

"Yeah I remember they almost had a heart attack when you turned into Four Arms. I guess it's was a good idea not to tell them about the time you we went into space, with you almost dying and the universe ending an all." She said with a slight smirk on her face.

Ben couldn't help letting a small chuckle out remembering that. "Yes, that wouldn't have ended well at. Anyways after that they both became overzealous about my health, am I eating enough, my school work, any alien fights, and whole lot of other crap, that I sometime just can't keep up. I'll go some nights with so little sleep because there standing over my shoulder watching me do my work or questioning me about what I've been doing, that I end up sleeping in class. Which, of course leads to more talks about responsibility and the cycle slowly continues and it's just been too much for me to handle." Ben slowly said finishing his story, still looking at Gwen to see her reaction.

Gwen couldn't believe what her cousin was saying. Not only did he just tell her lots of personal things, which showed a lot of trust to her, he was telling the truth. She had thought that he had it easier with the all the aliens to help him do simple things. Gwen had heard her parents talking about how he barely passed his classes this year, she had assumed that he was just being lazy and not putting in the effort. But here he is telling her that his parents were making him so tired that he couldn't keep up was saying something.

'I guess there are some things about him that even I Don't know." Gwen sadly thought too herself.

"Don't worry Ben this trip will be the break you need from most of that. There may be some alien things to deal with but other than that it'll be a fun summer of relaxing." Gwen spoke with a smile looking straight at Bens widening eyes.

Ben couldn't believe what he was hearing. His cousin was being understanding and was bringing his mood back up with her words and surprisingly he actually believed what she was saying. "Thanks Gwen." He said with a slight smile on his face.

They both went back to what they were doing before, both with smiles each thinking the same thing.

'Maybe this summer won't be so bad.' They both thought at the same time. What neither knew was they couldn't have been more wrong with what problems were heading there way.

AN: I added a few adjustments and fixed few things.

8/22/18 revised.

Second and new third chapter will take longer as changes i made didn't save.