He could remember it like it was yesterday.
The day THEY came.
No one had known what they were at first, only that they were massive, looking like skyscrapers as big as cities. Tall pillars of towering obsidian,with undecipherable glyphs and red dots and patterns. They were showing up everywhere, impacting planets with massive force, and he had been surprised that none had been knocked out of orbit. No...on second thought, the pillars had been positioned on exact opposite sides on each planet, as if to ensure that the planet never moved out of their usual path.
That thought alone had been troubling. One of many disturbing things. Once they landed, no one could get near enough to study them. Electronics, no matter how advanced, all seemed to just...shut down...when brought too close.
Ben 10k had been the only one to approach the pillar, as Diamondhead. When he had come back, the Omnitrix had locked, needing a full WEEK to recharge. The pillar was hard, extremely so. It had been like a diamond, unscratchable, unbreakable, and mysterious.
They had had a five hour warning.
The first warning had come from another planet, who had been having regular contact with earth as they both tried to investigate.
"They came like an ill omen of old...In a time of heroes, the heroes shall fall first. The remnants will look on, wondering who will save them.
Who among you will dare to stand? For to stand against them is death; to walk among them is to live in fear. Your life is now forfeit, and all will fall under their shadow.
You cannot run. You cannot hide. Flee for your life, and they will find you. Fight, and you will die. They have come for us.
The End has come. Flee before them, for we are out of time.
They walk in the shadows, shades of malicious fear, leaving only before the fleeting and flickering light.
They walk on the light, their eyes burning hungrily, devouring everything that moves, drawn to the light like a moth to a flame.
Flee now, for the end has come.
Flee now...
They are coming for you."
The world had been shocked as the last transmission came from the first planet to fall. Several ships had been dispatched to the planet, but they had never returned. The last transmission from the Galactic enforcers had shaken Ben to his core.
"As per the Galactic Code of Conduct, I, Ultimos, am reporting in. The planet seems to be covered in a strange darkness, and the surface of the planet is as dark as night. Upon landing, we found the other ships of our convoy deserted. We assume that they have already begun the search."
Behind him, a shadow moved. The communication ended.
The next transmission had been from a random crew member. His eyes darted back and forth in the flickering lights.
"W-we must have b-brought it back with us...it's gotten all of the others. Ultimos tried to stop it, b-but it got him too! We're all dead! We're all gonna die!"The man had gone into hysterics for a few minutes. He seemed to calm down after a while. "It's messed w-with the lights...Y-you rarely see it c-coming..."
The lights flickered, and the shadows grew more ominous. The man yelped in fear, looking behind him. Seeming to gather his courage, he turned back to the screen. A shadow blurred behind him."I-it doesn't like the light...it always disappears when you try to shine light on it.."
A shriek filled the air, and the man screamed. backing up against the screen as the lights flickered one last time, and went out. He had thought the transmission had ended then, but the message had one more surprise.
Two bloodshot eyes filled the screen, and an unholy shriek filled the speakers, before the connection was cut.
Things only got worse from then on. Five hours after first message, the pillars of black began to glow...then they exploded. The shock wave had been massive as a black cloud filled the sky, blotting out the sun. The world screamed in one voice as mass panic reigned.
They walked in the shadows, and he had begun to call them the ShadowBorn. They hunted in the dark, hiding in the shadows, gleefully stealing the life from the hunted, leaving naught but cloth and dust behind.
The heroes of the world had tried their best; his father included. He had heard tales of the Alien Force, and the Trio of whom led it, his father included. Lasers, concentrated light, and fire kept the shadows away as they kept a ragtag group of survivors alive. But they still had to worry about fighting the Freaks, who held no fear of the light, or any kind of energy weapons.
They were horrifying creatures. They tended to vary in size and form, but most were vaguely humanoid, with sharp claws and teeth. a mass of ropelike tentacles sprouted around their arms to assist in snaring their prey. They had a look of rotting flesh to them, looking nightmarish as they attacked.
The first time he saw them, he had nightmares of being caught by them. Their claws and teeth seemed to contain a strange poison. Once scratched or bitten, the poison would infect you, driving you insane as is mutated your body. Most died within days.
They usually didn't stay dead for much longer after that. It was how they procreate, they found out. They mostly killed outright, feasting on the flesh, but sometimes, they would bite or scratch, then leave. The ShadowBorn and Freaks left the infected alone in every case.
One by one, the heroes fell. The shadowborn never seemed to die. Get wounded, yes. Die, no. The Freaks were unholy juggernauts. They took horrifying amounts of damage before dying. Projectile firearms and melee seemed to be the best way to fight them. He'd lost count of the times Ben 10k had gone Ultimate Humungousaur to fight them, taking no chances and crushing them into the dust as fast as he could.
Heatblast also saw quite a bit of use, being a humanoid torch that didn't smell horrid. In fact, it had been the last form Ben 10k...ever...took...
He wiped a tear away as he remembered his last words...
"Kevin! Lead them out of here! I'll hold them off!" Heatblast wasted no time, lighting a line of fire as inhuman shrieks filled filled the air.
But Kevin had stayed, a look of fury on his face. He and Ben had never been the same after...Gwen had been the first to fall. Her sacrifice had saved the lives of seventeen people.
He got the feeling that Ben and Kevin never got over her death. Ben and Kevin had fought fiercely, side by side, as brothers of war. They had gone out heroes, fighting to the last breath, defying death with each Freak body that fell dead. They had fallen within moments of each other.
It had all gone to hell afterwards. They were teenagers; that in and of itself broke the group. The survivors had been willing to listen to Ben and Kevin; however, their children they would ignore.
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"Ken. I hate to interrupt your sentimental, "remember the past" moment, but we need to go soon. The light is drawing attention, and we don't have the time or energy to hold the portal open. We need to get going the moment it opens." Devlin stated, putting a hand on the shoulder of his only companion.
They had bonded over time, having no one else to talk to.
A shriek filled the air.
"…Shit. Umm...Devlin, get that thing up faster." Ken said, deceptively calm as he fiddled with his omnitrix, a nervous habit he had developed.
"Working on it, Ken...Got it! It'll be up in a few seconds. We just need to set a time-" Ken pushed him out of the way, hitting buttons on their homemade Time machine. In his hurry, he didn't notice the he hit a number wrong as he shoved Devlin into the portal before jumping in himself.
He last thought before everything went black was a memory of something Gwendolyn had told him once.
"Time is a tricky thing, Ken. It has a way of surprising you. Personally, I think that something out there is controlling time travel and gets a kick out of messing with us, myself. But if you absolutely have no choice, be warned. With Time travel, anything and everything can and will happen."
After the two had disappeared, two Shadowborn come into the room. Seeing the portal, the one entered it, anticipating the meal it would soon have, not aware of what would happen.
The other was young, and having slipped into the room unnoticed, stared at the portal before entering it as well, unaware of the consequences of doing so. As it did, the power source for the portal had a surge and died.
Pain. The Shadowborn, a female, or as much one as a shadowborn can be, shrieked in pain and fear.
It was alone in a scary and painful place. It wanted company, something to share its pain. Two...things…were floating in front of it. Having not been old enough to hunt and know the look of its "prey", it tried to get closer. Shadowed limbs reached out to the unconscious forms of Ken and Devlin.
Contact was made, and something wondrous happened.
The pain stopped. Dark, almost black skin began to cover its limbs as DNA met, merged, and reconstructed her body. Red veined eyes turned green, glowing momentarily. Black hair grew, long, light, and silky. Minds met, mingling momentarily as the Shadowborn was instilled with a newborn's consciousness, forging an instinctual link with the two boys.
The no-longer-shadowborn felt consciousness leaving it. It felt...odd. Like in needed something. A...hunger, for something. '..Hunger?' No...no…that word felt...wrong, somehow. It searched its young mind, trying to understand the odd sounds, feeling an odd familiarity with them, as if she knew what they meant, but couldn't remember. 'Tired.' yes...that was it. It felt tired.
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Devlin woke first, feeling warm light on him. Looking around, he felt his heart jump in his throat. Boxes. The ruins they had used as a hideout was a warehouse, and it was intact.
Sunlight. It was warm. It felt nice against his skin, having not felt it in over nine months. He snickered softly. The snicker turned into a chuckle. He was soon laughing uncontrollably as Ken stirred.
"It worked! Ken, get the fuck up, you lazy douchebag! We did it! We traveled in time!" Ken moved on instinct, having heard Devlin yelling. They had a well planned system going. Devlin was awake when Ken was not. When it was time to switch, one would silently wake the other. Yelling was NEVER good. The laser pistol was in his hand in a fraction of a second as he looked around wildly. It was light. It was SUNLIGHT. And Devlin was smirking at him.
"Damn you, Devlin! It's NOT funny!" Ken swore, glaring. He wasn't able to hold his anger, though, as a grin broke out on his face. "You retard, I could almost kiss you, you stupid bastard." His right hand swung at Devlin, their hands clasping in a sign of brotherhood as they both laughed at their resourcefulness and success.
A few feet away, the Shadowborn stirred, hearing a commotion. Feeling warm, it wondered why it couldn't see. Instinct prompted her eyes open, where she saw something that prompted her Shadowborn instincts.
A high shriek broke the two boys from their light and joyful mood as they whirled to face the source...
..in time to see what looked like a five year unclothed girl scrambling to the nearest shadow. Pity turned to shock as it curled up in the shadow of a stack of boxes, looking totally different in the shadows than she had in the light. What had been perfectly normal looking light colored skin had turned pitch black, blending in with the shadows, her red glowing eyes looking at the illuminated floor fearfully. A soft whimper escaped her lips as Devlin pulled his laser pistol and aimed at the girl, before Ken put his hand on the top, pushing it down.
"Devlin, you're scaring her!" he hissed, looking at the girl curiously as she hesitantly poked at the line between the light and the boxes' shadow, pulling her hand back quickly as it touched the light.
"Ken, that's not a 'her', it's an 'IT'. These things KILL people, remember? All they leave is ash!" Devlin shot back hotly.
"Would you just LOOK at her?" Ken retorted, pointing at the little girl, who was starting to hold her fingers out in the light. Three eyes widened as the skin exposed to the light turned a very human pink as she stuck her hand out, watching in fascination as the skin changed. Her lips twitched. Slowly, she began to venture out into the light cautiously, her black shadowborn skin turning human.
"...Devlin, I don't think that's a Shadowborn anymore." Ken whispered, awestruck.
"...Yeah, I think I figured that out. What do you think happened?"
The shadowborn looked at the two whispering boys. There was some sort of connection to them and her. Something about them just screamed "Safe" to her. She let out a questioning hiss. One other them moved his arm to point the odd thing at her. She eyed it warily. She wasn't sure why, but she got the feeling it would hurt her. She began to think, unaware that her lips had turned down into a frown. A flash of...something flitted through her mind as she looked at the brown haired one. A picture and a word. The pictures weren't quite the same, but it worked.
Ken and Devlin continued to argue over what to do with the Shadowborn-turned-human, only stopping to stare in shock as the Shadowborn pointed triumphantly at him and said one word.
"Daddy!" Jaws dropped.
"...Ken, did the thing just call you daddy? Is there something I need to know?"
Devlin felt an odd sense of amusement crossed with alarm as the shadowborn moved quickly, wrapping her arms around Ken. "Daddy!"
Green questioning eyes turned to him next. "F-fa-Father?" She said, uncertainly.
Chuckles met her inquiry. "See Dev? She's harmless. She thinks we're her parents!"
Devlin was unsure of what to do. On one hand, it was-IS, he corrected himself- a Shadowborn, On the other, the little girl-THING!- was looking at him, looking so heartbreakingly cute that he had a hard time connecting her to the vicious things that hunted him for 9 months.
"Father? Daddy?" Her face was starting to look troubled and slightly afraid. Was she wrong? But why did she feel that they were supposed to keep her safe? Why did she feel connected to them?
"Aww...don't worry little girl. Daddy will protect you from big, bad Devlin." Ken said teasingly, hugging the adorable girl, and then, realizing she had no clothes, smiled and took off his ragged jacket, wrapping it around her.
"...Fine, but if she kills us both, then I SWEAR I'll kill you." Devlin said, finally giving in as his friend smirked.
"Great! Now we need to find our dads and Gwendolyn, and warn them about the future. And get some new clothes. I seriously need a new wardrobe." Ken grinned.
"Yeah. We'll need to think of a name for the Shadowborn, though." Devlin stated, rolling his eyes.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'll be calling her Shadow for now, though." Ken smiled, pointing at Shadow. "Shadow."
Shadow thought for a moment, before the word came to her mind. "No." She made a strange hissing noise.
Devin snickered. "I guess she doesn't like that name."
Ken glared, before pointing at her again. "No. SHADOW." He said slowly.
Shadow frowned for a moment, before realizing her daddy was giving her a new name. She pointed to herself. "Shadow?" Seeing Ken's smile, she beamed up at him happily, before pointing at him. "Daddy." She stated, before pointing to Devin. "Father?" She queried.
Devin let out a long suffering sigh. "Fine. Father." Shadow giggled, hugging her new parents."Come one Ken, we need to find a way to get new clothes without being seen." Ken nodded, a smile playing on his lips.
"...You do know that we now have a daughter that refers to us as Daddy and Father, right?" Devin smirked, seeing a way to get back at Ken.
"Yeah. So?"
"That makes us a gay couple." Ken tripped, almost falling over.
"Dammit! That isn't funny, man!"
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I hereby declare this the beginning of a challenge! Rules are as follows:
1. Shadow MUST refer to Ken and Devlin as her parents.
2. Shadow MUST NOT fall in love with either of them, or Ben.
3. Shadow will grow insanely fast, and be very smart.
4. Shadow MUST be able to use her ShadowBorn powers; that is, meld into shadows and be intangible when in them.
5. Shadow MUST take their side when the other Freaks and ShadowBorn arrive.
6. Pairings may vary. Bwen is preferred. Kevlin is optional.
7. They MUST have moved back in time, and Ben, Gwen, and Kevin MUST be at least 12, at youngest.
I know that little beginning sucked, but at the start, I was basing it off a dream I had.