A Ben 10,000 Christmas Carol
By Invader-Hime
Chapter 1: The Day Before Christmas
Ben 10,000 rushed past the countless masses of people as XLR8.
He winced.
All of them seemed so mindlessly cheery. They were so oblivious to the world around them it was ridiculous. All their shopping,all their parties...what did it matter in the long run?
Nothing.
A woman on the street waved at him.
"Merry Christmas, Ben 10,000! God speed!" she called out cheerily.
The hero growled under his breathe and sped up.
He arrived back at his headquarters in the blink of an eye.
He deactivated the Omnirix and let out a sigh.
Would this madness never end?
Apparently not.
There was a brisk knock at the door.
Not just any door, either, but the side door which only a select few knew about and thus, meant this visitor had some importance. Ben got up and yanked the door open. He was met with a rather unpleasant sight, at least to him, on the other side.
"Merry Christmas Uncle Ben!"
Devlin. The perpetually smiling purveyor of Christmas cheer. What he had to be cheerful about was quite beyond Ben's understanding. He had always been a slightly skinny boy who was constantly picked on by his peers. He didn't seem to care much, he said his mother had told him it didn't matter what others really thought. What a naive little brat. It was kind of sad, really. The whole world seemed to turn his nose up at him and he didn't do anything but smile up at them wishing them a "Merry Christmas".
Ben didn't hide his disappointment.
"I'm not your Uncle! What are you even doing here?"
Devlin blinked his large blue eyes.
"Great Grandpa invited me. He said I should come ask you over to our house for Christmas,"
The boy seemed to invite himself in, take off his snow covered boots and sit down on the opposite side of the large control panel between them over the course of a single sentence.
"And?" Ben sighed.
"And...Merry Christmas?" Devlin smiled and drummed his fingers absently on the control panel's surface.
"Don't do that!" Ben snapped.
Devlin withdrew his hands and placed them in the front pocket of his hoodie.
"Okay. So...will you come visit us later? It is all Christmassy and stuff. Dad helped me get all of Mom's old Christmas stuff out. Will you come see it?" he asked hopefully.
"You know your father and I don't get along. Why on earth would I want to go to your house after your mother's passing?"
"You didn't come to visit us when Mom was alive either. You can't use that excuse. I'm a kid,but I'm not stupid,"
"Got that from your father did you?"
"He says its from Mom," the boy shrugged.
"I'll bet he does," Ben sighed and attempted to carry on with his business, doing his best to ignore the tiny pest that seemed to always be at his heels. Unable to stand any more, the hero let out an exasperated moan.
"What do you want?"
"To know if you will come see Dad and I later. Great Grandpa is coming. It would mean a lot to me if you came," Devlin smiled an oddly familiar half smile that Ben recognized from years ago.
It was her smile.
That smile on the face of that child sent him into a rage.
"No! No I will not come see you! You little twit! What have you got to be so merry about anyway? Your mother's dead and your father's a hoodlum. You're an outcast at school and from what I understand, you don't have any friends either,"
The child looked stunned at the sudden onslaught. His eyes looked glassy, but he swallowed his tears and managed to face the older man.
"Mom always said to be grateful for what I have,"
"What's that?" Ben snapped.
"Hope. I have hope that the future will be better. That next Christmas will be even merrier than this one. That things will be better,"
He was so unabashedly naive that Ben could stand being in his presence no longer.
"Get out!" he snarled at the child. "Get out and take your silly 'Merry Christmas' with you! It isn't wanted here...and neither are you!"
Devlin just scowled, looking more like his father than ever.
"Fine," he mumbled.
The boy shoved his hands in his pockets moved towards the door.
Upon reaching its frame, he turned around.
"Merry Christmas, Uncle Ben. I hope you have a happy new year,"
He turned and left without another word.
Ben sniffed.
Idiot boy. What did he know about anything?
Ben couldn't believe he once had cared as much. What a fool he must have looked like. Why hadn't he been able to see how miserable the world was? All these fools and their "Merry Christmases" drove him insane.
"Bah!" he spat to himself.