Note: This is NOT an actual chapter. This is me elaborating on aspects of this fic that did happen in my version of events. If you don't want to read this, you don't have to, but it does expand this universe slightly in what happened to other characters and why certain things happened (as although the events in this fic do happen in chronological order, they are basically snippets in time and not the full story).
Firstly, the title of the fic. Originally it was going to be 'Written Amongst the Stars' as that is more grammatically correct, but when I played the title in my head it just didn't sound right so I changed it to 'among' rather than 'amongst'. Sorry to any grammar Nazis out there. The reason behind this fic being named what it is, is because of Rook. Rook is 'from the stars' (i.e. he's an alien) and the soul mark is 'written' on his wrist (actually burned on, which yes, hurts quite a bit when it forms). So it is a soul mark that was written on a being from the stars, thereby being written among the stars.
Secondly, this fic is from Rook's POV. It may be from a third-person perspective, it is Rook's perspective. Everything in this fic is something Rook knows, but there is a lot he either doesn't know or doesn't mention. This is what I will be explaining. Think of it as my abbreviated notes for the story (I do have actual notes, too! A lot of thought goes into every one of my fics). So, let us begin!
1. Rook did wake up in the morning of his eighteenth birthday screaming because when the soul mark appears, it feels like having the name literally burned on your wrist. It also looks like a burn.
2. Young One knows about soulmates because a lot of studying has been done on human soul marks and why only humans have soul marks (the Elders are so out-of-touch with the rest of the universe that they aren't aware of such things existing), as well as there being lots of internet theories and a couple of radio shows (the Ben 10 radio show being one of them) having soul marks as a plot point, even alien ones as a kind of idealised universe where everyone has soul marks, whether they're human or not. Even aliens have fanfics, folks!
3. Sheriff Wat-Senn knows about soul marks due to Max Tennyson moaning about not having a soul mark to him during their younger years. This usually resulted in societal prejudice on Earth and is the reason why Max chose to be a Plumber rather than an astronaut as aliens don't have the same prejudice.
4. Plumber Mann is Lucy Mann, Gwen and Ben's 'cousin' (she's actually Max's nephew's wife's cousin, not blood-related to them). No Lenopan before Max has ever been a Plumber since there was a war between the Lenopans and the Plumbers that was ended by the marriage of Joel Tennyson (Max's nephew) and Camille Mann (Lucy's cousin). Lucy is actually quite young to be a Plumber, but Max pulled some strings for her to be accepted as it would hopefully improve relations between Lenopans and Plumbers.
5. The universal translator also works on soul marks as it doesn't actually change the words into, say, English, but provides a holographic translation for the words. In this case, to translate Rook's soul mark into Revonnan (reh-von-an, I guess that's Rook's language…) rather than English. Not all soul marks are in English. They are in the first language of the person's soulmate. So Rook's soul mark is in English (as that's Ben's first language) whilst Ben's would be in Revonnan.
6. Knowing what I know about Octagon and Rhomboid Vreddle, they probably blew up the entire Academy during weapons practise. Rook would probably either be in the same class as they were when they did this or was tutoring them (probably the latter). This would mean that Rook would probably have been injured by the Vreedle Brothers – quite possibly the only one injured – which is why he really, really doesn't like them.
7. I reasoned that Max probably chose Rook to be Ben's partner because Rook was top of his class in the Academy, so no, Max did not chose Rook to be Ben's partner because Rook was Ben's soulmate. At this point, he doesn't know about this being the case.
8. Ben is failing his grades in school, but he isn't stupid at all. He probably has an eidetic memory since in 'Where the Magic Happens' Ben was able to write down magic runes that he'd only seen for about ten seconds from a distance perfectly enough for Gwen and Charmcaster to read. However, eidetic memory doesn't mean Ben is a genius, there is no causation between having an eidetic memory and having a genius intellect. Knowing something isn't the same as understanding it, which is what is really required for school, which is why Ben has bad grades. Ben is more of a field learner than a book learner.
9. The reason why Ben hides his blank wrist is a habit caused by him feeling left out once Gwen and Kevin got together and he broke up with Julie. Ben and Julie broke up for a different reason than in my fic than in the show. In the show, BEN broke up with Julie accidentally when playing video games (I hate this and seriously don't think that Ben would be stupid enough to do this. He really loved Julie). In this fic, JULIE broke up with Ben when her soul mark appeared and the name wasn't Ben's. She then went to France during the summer and met her soulmate accidentally.
10. Rook didn't know that there were age differences between when the sexes got their soul marks. He thought that it was always 18 before seeing Gwen's soul mark as that's what his text books said in the Academy. Both Gwen and Kevin keep their soul marks out in the open like all found soulmates do as a kind of proclamation to others that they are not available for flirting with. This is an example of the many things my version of human society has developed to accommodate soul marks. Another which I never mentioned in the fic is soul bands. Soul bands are basically full bracelets which completely cover the wearer's dominant wrist and in the US are usually given as a 13thbirthday present. Ben does have one, and he did wear it in the time period when he didn't wear the Omnitrix, but he can't wear one now as he now has the Omnitrix on his dominant wrist. It probably replaced the Omnitrix in that shoe box…
11. Rook is slowly getting used to using English metaphors, which is why he begins to use them more often as the fic progresses.
12. Rook says that he is uncomfortable about the thought of Ben being unwillingly betrothed to Princess Looma. This is actually the first instance of Rook slowly realising his feelings for Ben as it is actually the thought of Ben being betrothed to somebody else rather than being unwillingly betrothed that is making him uncomfortable. He just hasn't realised his crush on Ben yet.
13. Rook refusing to take Rayona to the Harvest Festival and instead spending it with his family and Ben is a significant event. One, it is another instance of Rook's feelings for Ben overtaking his traditional upbringing as he chooses to attend the festival with a human rather than a Revonnahgander by technicality. Word probably would have spread around Rook's village about Rook having a soul mark so guesses and assumptions would have been made when Rook rejected Rayona.
14. Two, this is when Rook Da really goes against the idea of Rook having a human mate as the societal reaction to Rook rejecting Rayona is very negative and the Rook family began being pushed out of societal circles. And while Rook Da doesn't outright disown his son until it comes out that Rook and Ben are dating during this 'universe trip', their relationship is very strained which is why Rook isn't surprised that his father did disown him. His mother followed suit as she didn't want to go against her husband (Revonnahganders have a patriarchal society), and Shi and Shim were bullied about having a brother with a human mate and so also disowned him. Shar had already left for Plumbers Academy and Young One had already planned to leave Revonnah when he came of age and so just didn't care.
15. Three, Ben doesn't know the significance of Rook rejecting Rayona. He thinks that Rook and Rayona are dating and so doesn't pursue Rook as he doesn't want to be a 'homewrecker'. This is also why Ben's confused about Rook's courting techniques later on. Ironically, if Rook had taken Azmuth's advice of just telling Ben about his soul mark, Ben would have pursued Rook and the whole fiasco of Rook trying to court Ben wouldn't have happened. Rook thinks that Ben will reject him if he outright tells Ben about his soul mark because he's projecting his society assumptions onto Ben. Ben does the same when he assumes Rook and Rayona are dating.
16. Four, this is when Rook accepts that he has a crush on Ben. He knew the implications of rejecting Rayona and went through with them.
17. Gwen didn't realise about Rook and Ben being soul linked because she can see life energy. This is just Rook's assumption. She realised it because Rook would constantly talk about Ben and how he misses Ben and so put two and two together. Rook doesn't realise he did this.
18. Blukic got away because Driba accidentally provided a distraction for him when he knocked over a piece of lab equipment. Gwen and Kevin were in Bellwood because they saw the news and hightailed over there as soon as possible. It was coincidence that they all met up. Argit had already made plans with the Incurseans before he joined up with Rook, Gwen, Kevin and Blukic. This is because although the Incurseans knew there was a resistance, they didn't know who was in it or who was leading it and wanted an inside man.
19. Max knows about Rook's soul mark because Rook told him. He thought it would be important for his soulmate's grandfather who also happens to be his employer to know about the soul mark before pursuing Ben.
20. Max and Verdona aren't soul linked. Their psychic link is the result of Verdona actively deciding when they were together to produce an artificial link so that they could pass off as soulmates while raising their children on Earth. Real soulmates only feel each other's vague emotions and it depends on how long they've known each other and how long they've been apart for. Max and Verdona's is like this but without the variables.
21. Ben's favourite flavour of pie being apple is a reference to his very American lifestyle through the phrase "as American as apple pie".
22. Sandra Tennyson knows about the significance of the apple pie Rook gives Ben because Max gave her and Carl Tennyson a heads up about Revonnahgandan courting behaviour so that they'd know what to expect from Rook. Ben wasn't told this because Max, Sandra and everyone else in the family and Plumber Headquarters wanted to watch the hilarity unfold.
23. Everybody in Plumber Headquarters knew about Rook trying to court Ben. They never mentioned it to Ben beyond dropping a couple of hints that Ben in all of his obliviousness didn't catch.
24. If Ben hadn't of taken off the Omnitrix for a while between the original series and Alien Force, his soul mark probably wouldn't have developed. This is why Spanner doesn't have an Omnitrix despite Kenny owning one, to avoid this happening.
25. Azmuth finds the idea of Ben and Rook being soulmates to be very interesting because there are very few examples of humans being soul linked with aliens and he hasn't had the opportunity to observe two soulmates before they're mated.
26. Trying to physically harm your soulmate leads to the soul mark of the attacker burning as if having your wrist placed on a cooker while it's on. It does cause injury. The universe usually cares about intention, so accidentally hurting your soulmate doesn't cause this to happen, but being mind-controlled causes the mind controller's intentions to outweigh the intentions of the person being mind-controlled. The 'bro essence' neutralised this because the area in Rook's brain the 'bro essence' affected is also the area of the brain that 'controls' the soul mark, which is why Rook's soul mark doesn't burn him when he fights Ben in 'No Honor Among Bros'.
27. Rook is still 'there' when being controlled by the 'bro essence' but isn't 'all there'. When he was being controlled by the 'bro essence', it was only Rook's instincts, Plumber training and desire to court Ben that were still there. Afterwards, the events of 'No Honor Among Bros' would feel like a dream to Rook, even though it actually happened.
28. Master Kundo does return and Rook and Ben do go back to Revonnah during the Incursean invasion, but nothing really notable happens outside of the canon except for Rook Da being more hostile towards Rook.
29. Ester and Kai are not aware of Rook's soul mark nor his intentions to court Ben until Ben and Rook start dating.
30. Ben does still have a crush on Kai, but he also has a crush on Rook. By the time 'The Most Dangerous Game' comes around, Ben has already chosen Rook over Kai since Kai broke his heart as a child and he never really forgave her for it. Plus, Kai's soul mark isn't his name, so he wouldn't really have had a chance with her.
31. Kai claims not have found her soulmate while helping Rook with Ren and Gwen, but she does actually know who he is. He was an Argentinian who died in his mid-teens, so Kai was quite happy to distract herself with her exploring and raising Ben and Rook's kids. Later on, her desire to have children is fulfilled when she helps raise Kenny and retires from exploring to curate a museum dedicated to her in Bellwood. Her relationship with Ben is that of co-workers and kind of friends. It is warmer than what young Rook sees during the Time War, but definitely isn't romantic in any way.
32. The "literal push from Spanner" is a goof on my part. Originally, I was going to have it so that Kenny pushed Ben into Rook's arms which would cause Rook's sleeves to roll up, thus allowing Ben to see Rook's soul mark. But I changed it so that Kenny simply told Ben that Rook had a soul mark because, although the original revelation was more romantic, it just felt too plot convenient to me.
33. Everybody from the future knows how Rook and Ben get together. They also know that around this time in the past, Rook was beginning to lose hope, but they couldn't outright tell Rook how he and Ben got together without damaging the timestream, so they settled for winking to keep Rook's hopes up.
34. Azmuth knew about Ben's future from his pregnancies to his kidnapping to his change of heart as an adult from Professor Paradox. He didn't tell or help Rook in any way because he knew it would all work out in the end and he had more important things to worry about.
35. Rook doesn't go through with teaching Ben hand-to-hand combat because Ben ALREADY KNOWS hand-to-hand combat. Seriously, watch the fight scene between Ben and Pierce Wheels in 'Voided' and Max's reaction to Ben winning.
36. The story of Ren's namesake is inspired by the Greek myths when Perceus is travelling Greece, collecting items to help the gods with the war against the Titans.
37. What happened when Ben was kidnapped: Ben was actually pregnant with twin girls (Gwen and Jen, a homage to Jennifer Nocturne who Ben felt really bad about abandoning to her Stockholm Syndrome to Captain Nemesis). There is no way to say this nicely, Vilgax killed Jen. When she was born, Ben was only really capable of protecting one child immediately after giving birth, which gave Vilgax the opportunity to take Jen away from Ben and break her neck. This understandably made Ben very angry which resulted in the aftermath briefly described by Rook. Ben was focused enough to put baby Gwen in an escape pod which was set to dispatch if Vilgax's ship began to malfunction due to Ben trashing the place (and Vilgax). Ben never told anybody about this until after the Time War and he told Rook about their deceased child.
38. Ren leaves to become a Plumber when he turns 18. He is basically Rook's son is every way possible, except for being able to understand metaphors and uses contractions. He doesn't have an Omnitrix as Ben wasn't really mentally with his family when Ren was a teenager, but Rook gives him a Proto Tool of his own.
39. Baby Gwen is eventually found out to be an Anodite and is sent to Anodyne to live and train with Grandma Verdona at around 10 years old as Gwendolyn didn't have time to train her and she inherited Ben's disinterest in book learning so she couldn't teach herself. This is why he doesn't appear in the story after her birth. She originally looked like Ben but with amber eyes but created new body for herself when she was fourteen that looked more like Kai who was her female role model. Look on the Ben 10 wiki for 'Gwendolyn Tennyson (Ben's daughter)' and that's what she looks like now. She was there for Kenny's 10th birthday, but left to explore the stars with her Uncle Ben (aka, Young One, aka, Rook's brother) before the Time War began.
40. Gwen didn't take in Devlin after he was found because she was a) busy, b) trying to save her relationship with Kevin, c) helping Kevin with his therapy, and d) knew that Ben would be a safer bet to raise Devlin than his real parents who were either workaholics or deeply traumatised.
41. Rook did not want to leave Ben to go sort out the Null Void. Originally, Manny and Helen were going to leave, but they needed a Magistar there and Rook was the only one available at the time, until Kevin was stable enough to take over.
42. Rook didn't experience any of the negative effects of being apart from your soulmate (which are depression, paranoia and apathy) because he isn't human. Ben did experience these.
43. Rook and Ben have a fifth child after the fic finishes. He is born nine or ten months after the fic ends and is called Zenon (aka, Zen) after the planet Ben first met Azmuth on. I was going to include him, but I cut him out since I'd already included two OC children in the fic. He may or may not still exist in my AU, but isn't in 'Written Among the Stars'.
Sorry for deleting it before. I was agonising over whether people would like having this extra information or not. It was requested that this be returned, so it has.
