Breakdown
Chapter 1: Bloodbath
Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10.
A.N.: This is a one-shot and it's pretty violent, but hopefully it's not too graphic. It's got a fairly happy ending. Pairings are up to interpretation.
Rated: M (violence, violence reference, death, death reference, blood, slight language…)
Warning(s): Slight spoilers, death, possible major character death, blood….
Vilgax is getting closer…he's got Gwen and Kevin and Rook and…. He coming closer…he's going to win…. "Stay still or I'll kill them." Ben swallows hard, but stands still. Vilgax smiles evilly, "Now, Albedo, get that Omnitrix off his arm." Albedo laughs as he walks over with a knife in hand. Ben backs up, but is grabbed by Eon. "No!"
Ben shouts and screams, but it does no good. Ben looks down at his left arm as Albedo cuts into his skin with the knife and blood begins dripping out. His breath catches in his throat, he feels faint. He always makes it out of trouble, right? He would get out of here…and everybody would go home happy, right? Nothing bad will come of this….
He squeezes his eyes shut as the knife cuts deep into his arm. He screams out, and if Eon wasn't holding him up by the arms, then he would collapse. He used to laugh when they said they would 'cut the Omnitrix right off his arm', but this wasn't funny.
Albedo laughs, "Ha, the Omnitrix is ours! Now who's more worthy of the Omnitrix, Azmuth?" Azmuth doesn't reply as he stares with watery eyes at Ben. "Ben! No…no, release us, Vilgax! No…" Gwen yells out in fury as tears run down her face, then Kevin yells out, "You got what you want, now let us go!" Even as he spoke, he couldn't stop staring at Ben's severed hand.
Vilgax lets out a crazed laugh, "We'll let you all go after we get our revenge on Tennyson!" Albedo smirks and hands the severed body part to Charmcaster before taking the knife to Ben's neck, "Are you scared? Want us to stop? You could try begging."
Ben looks at him through glassy angry eyes, "I'm not scared, whether I want you to stop or not won't change anything, and I won't give you the satisfaction of watching me beg. I'll die before I beg to you." He nearly spat the last part.
Albedo smiles, "That could be arranged." He was about to cut deeper into his neck, but Vilgax spoke, "He'll suffer more if we hurt his family and friends." Albedo nods before turning to Charmcaster who was standing by the door of the cage that everybody was in, "Get me Julie."
"Here you are." Charmcaster uses her magic to bring Julie out of the cage without opening it, and then she drops her on the ground before Albedo. Albedo grabs Julie roughly by her shoulders, and then asks, "Where did you put the Omnitrix?"
"Ben's hand and the Omnitrix are with Mad Ben. He insisted on doing the job of separating the Omnitrix from its master's hand." Albedo nods to Charmcaster before grabbing a new knife from his backpack, and then he puts it to Julie's arm and sliced into her arm-sleeve and arm.
Julie grits her teeth, but lets out a scream despite trying hard not to. "Leave her alone!" Ben yells, attempting to free himself from Eon. Ben manages to kick Eon in the shin, and then he turns and runs at Albedo angrily.
Albedo quickly grabs the knife he had used on Ben, and then he throws it at Ben. Ben falls to his knees as blood gushes out of his lower chest. Julie screams, tears running down her face and landing on the stone ground, and then she turns and kicks Albedo in the mouth before grabbing a nearby knife.
Eon grabs her by her arms, but she manages to throw the knife into Albedo's leg. Albedo shouts in pain, he had still been holding his mouth, but now he turns his attention to the knife in his leg. Julie continues trashing and screaming, and then she yells, "Are you scared yet, you filthy monster?! Want it to stop?! Beg! Beg, damn it!"
Albedo simply grunts. Vilgax angrily takes out a blaster, "Benjamin, we warned you to not try anything!" He turns to the cage now. "No…! You…harmed Julie…you started it!" Vilgax points the blaster towards the cage, "Who all do you think I'll kill? Let's find out."
"No…!" Vilgax ignores Ben's pleas and instead blasts at the cage multiple times; many people scream and yelp in pain. Julie yells at Vilgax, "You're all crazy monsters!" Albedo stands unsteadily, and then holds up the knife he had been cutting her with, "Shut up," he says, and then shoves the knife into her chest.
"Ben, you okay?" Ben sits up when he hears a familiar voice. He turns to see Kevin, then he asks, "You're…alive? Is Vilgax…? What happened?" Kevin stares at him, and then raises an eyebrow, "What are you going on about?"
"…Is Julie…dead?" Ben's voice is just a whisper. Kevin frowns a bit, "You were having a nightmare. She's fine as far as I know." Ben nods, blinking away tears. They stay quiet now as Ben's breathing starts slowing down.
It had all been a dream then? Good…. Ben lets out a sigh of relief. "You still like her or something?" It took a minute for Ben to realize what Kevin asked, and when he knew he still didn't say anything.
"I guess this is why guys don't talk about this stuff," Kevin says, smiling, "Unless…you want to talk about this stuff?" Ben smiles up at Kevin, and then shakes his head, "Sorry…I don't want to talk about it…."
"It's fine." Ben looks down for a moment, and then he glances back at Kevin, "Why are you here? And where's Gwen?" Kevin smirks, "For someone who just woke up, you have a lot of questions. Gwen wanted to see her family since she's taking some time off from college, and I thought I would drop by to play your video games or something."
"What time is it?" Kevin glances at the clock on the wall, "About six. We got here kind of early." Ben laughs, "'Kind of early'?" Kevin smiles, but then his smile fades, "You usually like talking about…your feelings…. Is something…wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong…now…." Kevin stares at him with worried eyes, "Ben…?" Ben doesn't say anything else, and then he leans on Kevin's chest and hugs him. Kevin stares at him for a moment more, and then returns the hug, "We aren't going to talk about your bad dream, then?"
"Maybe later…you really want to talk about feelings, huh?" Ben chuckles a bit. "Nah, you just scare me when you don't want to talk about feelings…. And yeah, I'm used to it now, I guess." Ben smiles, "We'll have a feeling party later. It'll be fun." Kevin nods, "Anything you want." So long as you're happy.
This isn't meant to be a Ben & Kevin, I think of them as best friends, because that's what they are, but you know, whatever. Please leave a review!