It had been days since Ben had gone down with that ship.
Vilgax's ship had gone under, into the depths of the ocean. A body had been recovered, but it wasn't Ben's. Grandpa Max had demanded a search as soon as Gwen had gotten them out, but there was no sign of her cousin in the murky depths of the sea.
The ship had been recovered, along with the destroyed remains of the Omnitrix, but there were no bodies to be recovered. Worryingly, the Ultimatrix was nowhere to be found either. After a few days, Gwen knew that the team were no longer looking for Ben.
They were only looking for his body now.
"This is your fault!" Carl turned to Max, his eyes bloodshot from sleepless nights. "It's because of that damn watch! If he hadn't have found it…!" He slumped into the sofa, his head in his hands.
Max sighed, running a hand through his grey hair as his son despaired. Of course Carl was going to be angry; Ben was nowhere to be found, and it had been… at least 4 days now. Max couldn't deny that he was sick with worry himself. "Carl, you need to –"
"Calm down?! How can I be calm when my son is out there somewhere?!" He stared up at his father, his rage had dissipated back to despair, "He's my only son.. what if he's…?"
"Ben's a lot tougher than that," he put an encouraging hand on his son's shoulder, trying to offer and encouraging smile, but it felt too forced to even give himself any comfort, "He'll show up. I'm sure of it, Carl. We've already found the Ultimatrix, Ben's bound to show up along with it."
Carl didn't seem convinced – not that Max felt convinced by himself either. Max went to continue when Sandra stood next to her husband. She looked tired, just like Carl. But instead of raging at Max, she offered a calmer and more genuine smile. "Gwen's upstairs, maybe you should go talk to her, Max."
Gwen stood by Ben's window, watching the street outside. A woman walking her dog, an elderly man waiting for the bus, a world carrying on as usual. As if her cousin wasn't missing. As if the entire world hadn't been threatened by other-worldly warlocks. She clenched her hands into fists, turning away from the window. Ben's bed was still a cluttered mess of pillows and blankets, just as he'd left it. The tangle of wires from his TV was still there, the incoherent notes from class on his desk, the crushed cans of soda piled up in his trash bin.
Everything was still here, except the one thing that mattered most.
Everything was still here, except for Ben.
"Knock knock." Grandpa Max opened Ben's door, and he wondered over to Ben, glancing around the room with a soft smile. "He always hated cleaning up, eh?"
Gwen grimaced, turning away from her grandfather.
"Makes it sound like he's not here anymore when you put it that way," She crossed her arms, staring mournfully back out the window, "Like he's not alive."
Max frowned, putting his arm around his granddaughter's shoulders. "Gwen… it's been nearly a week. We have to be realistic –"
His watch began to beep loudly, drawing his attention to his wrist as he received a call. He turned from Gwen, answering it. It was from Plumber's HQ.
"This is Max Tennyson."
"We've found him! Your grandson is alive!"
Max's heart stopped for just a moment. He turned to Gwen.
"They found Ben!"
Ben had to drag his eyes open. They felt like lead. He grimaced at the harsh lights in his room… but then he realised he wasn't in his room. Where was he…?
"Ben…? Come on Benji, open your eyes."
He recognised his mother's voice, though it sounded strained somehow. That was when his vision finally started to clear, and the pain started to set in. Ben found himself in some kind of hospital room. There were tubes attached to his arms, and a stinging pain covering his whole body like a second skin.
He could just about make out his mother's face; her expression lit up, and she flung her arms around Ben, babbling and chattering but he couldn't keep up with what she was saying. His senses felt like they were lagging, and it hurt all over.
"Come on, Sandra, he just woke up." Max chuckled softly, gently prying Ben's mother off him. "Give him a moment."
Ben's vision was still blurred, but he could make out Max's ugly shirt, the red of Gwen's hair, and the overall blackness of Kevin's attire. He tried to sit up, but a searing pain shot through his spine.
"Easy there, kiddo." It was his father's voice.
Ben smiled softly at the blobs in his vision that must be his parents. "What happened…?" He managed to mumble.
"Some tourists found you washed up on the beach." Kevin replied, crossing his arms as Gwen took hold of her cousin's hand.
"You'd vanished for days, Ben, we thought you were…" Gwen bit her lip, glancing at Ben's parents for a moment.
"Days?!" He clenched his jaw as he forced himself into a more upright position. "What…?"
Then it all came flooding back to him. Vilgax, Albedo, the Omnitrix… the Omnitrix! He grabbed at his own wrists, but there was no Omnitrix or Ultimatrix. All to be felt was his patient tag. He remembered having to blow up the Omnitrix, that was fair… but where was the Ultimatrix?
"Where's…?" He muttered, panic setting into his heart.
"We all thought the Ultimatrix disappeared with you," Max explained, scratching the back of his head, "We managed to recover Vilgax's ship, and all we found was the Omnitrix."
"What about Albedo? Or Vilgax?! What if they have it? We have to -!"
"Whoa, whoa," Carl placed his hands firmly on Ben's shoulders, "Calm down, Ben. You're gonna hurt yourself."
"If Vilgax gets the Ultimatrix -!"
"Ben," Gwen squeezed his hand, "Vilgax is dead."
The room was silent then.
Ben stared at Gwen for what felt like forever. "…Dead?"
"We… recovered his body inside the vessel." Max admitted. "Seems like he went down with his ship."
"That's one less freak we have to worry about." Kevin shrugged.
"Kevin!" Gwen frowned at her boyfriend, but he just shrugged again.
"What? You know I'm right."
"Vilgax is dead…" Ben repeated, before leaning back into the bed. He hated it, but he couldn't deny the weight that had suddenly disappeared off his shoulders. "That can only lead to one of two things… either the Ultimatrix is still in the sea, or –"
"Or Albedo has it?"
The group turned to Azmuth, who stood at the back of the room. Azmuth tilted his head towards Max. "I'm going to assume you haven't told him yet."
"What? Told me what?"
"The Ultimatrix, while heavily damaged, has been recovered. You have nothing to worry about, Benjamin."
Ben sighed, leaning back into his pillow.
"It will, however, take quite a long time to fix, and even longer to recreate the old Omnitrix."
"How long's a long time?" Ben rubbed his wrists; he already felt vulnerable without its presence.
"Several months, at the latest. There's no way around it." Before Ben could protest or even voice any disgruntlement, Azmuth addressed Max. "Maxwell Tennyson, there's something important I'd like to discuss with you."
Sandra turned to Ben, beaming, "I think it might be best if we left as well. You'll need a lot of rest after what you've been through." She hugged Ben again, smothering him with kisses. All Ben could do to defend himself was to gag and grimace, but like always it never worked.
Max chuckled, before turning to follow Azmuth out of the room.
"What is it, Azmuth?"
"I'll be frank with you, we're not completely sure yet." Max raised an eyebrow as he walked with the Galvan. "We have found a few… oddities within your grandson. There appears to be some kind of tissue growing around his forehead, though currently our only theory so far is that it's a result of some physical trauma he suffered under the ocean."
Max nodded. "Go on."
"Well, we've noticed a few biological changes in Ben. Especially in terms of brain movement and muscle growth."
Max crossed his arms. "So you're saying he's growing up a bit and has a bump on his head. I was expecting more than that, Azmuth."
Azmuth frowned, but shook his head. The human was clearly worn out as a result of the weeks' events. "We'll continue checking him as he develops. It is, how you people say, better to be safer than sorry."
Max nodded, before turning away from Azmuth.
"I'm sure he'll be fine, Azmuth."