A/N: The original title for this chapter was "Three Years Later." As the name suggests, there is a three year time skip in between chapters three and four.
Ben awoke to the distressed mewls of a hungry cat and fell out of bed as Kovu leapt lightly off his chest onto the floor. He hit head first and muttered "Stupid cat…" with a voice that was much deeper than it had been three years ago. He walked into the other room and filled the cat bowl with food before returning to his room to dress. He passed a mirror and couldn't help grinning, thinking about how he had looked the day he had gotten the adventurous, frisky cat. Although his natural frame was still thin, muscles were now firmly established all over on the once skin-and-bone boy. His face was not as thin as it had once been, and he looked much like his father had, but with jet-black hair that, instead of being combed back from his face in the penultimate picture of nerdhood, formed bangs over his forehead and was slightly untidy, and his eyes were a deep sapphire blue instead of brown.
Ben found a pair of clean enough jeans on the floor and put them on. He was picking up a plain red tee shirt off the floor when May stirred in the other room. They had gotten a wall put in the middle of the large room they had once shared so that they each had their own room. May, then a thin young girl, had become a lovely young woman, much resembling her mother. Her hair now reached the small of her back and framed a face with an almost delicate nose, forest green eyes now accented with hardly-needed makeup, and full lips rose-red from lipstick. She got up and started applying said makeup after putting on a pair of jeans and a three-quarter length shirt. The shirt was light green and the opening for the neck came from one shoulder to the other, dipping down into a "V" in the middle. Underneath it she wore a white garment resembling a spaghetti strap shirt, and it was visible in the dip.
After breakfast, Ben took out his cell phone and called Leigh, inviting him over. Within five minutes, Leigh was there, clad in a black tee shirt and a pair of jeans that were ripped on both knees due to age and overuse. All of his jeans had been like that for as long as Ben could remember. With him were the now eight-year-old Ty, still small and skinny in a blue shirt that looked too big for him and what looked like a pair of Leigh's old jeans, and Kayla, who was wearing jeans like everyone else and was wearing a plain purple tee shirt.
Leigh grinned at the pair of them and they traveled into Ben's room, where a small television and an Xbox resided. Ben popped in his favorite video game, "Batman Beyond," and snatched up a controller. May and Leigh both took one as Kayla and Ty found a place to watch. Before Ben could do anything, May had chosen Batman, just like always. "Crap!" Ben exclaimed before choosing Robin. He hated playing as Robin, but he'd sooner play as him than a villain. Leigh, who didn't care one bit who he was, took The Joker and a game fest began, with Ty and Kayla taking the loser's controller every now and then.
Twelve hours later, Leigh took his younger siblings to a pair of friend's houses, where they were spending the night, and promised to be back in a minute. He never let the pair stay at home past five without him, especially Ty.
Ben checked to make sure he had his car keys in his back pocket before they left to go see a late-night movie and walked out to his car. Leigh was already standing beside it when they reached it.
Seeing the keys hanging out of Ben's pocket, Leigh snatched them and jumped into Ben's car. This was a simple task, as the small car didn't have a top at the moment. It was at least twenty years old; it was boxy like all old cars and the red paint was peeling in a couple of places. Still, Ben loved the old car, and he was determined not to get rid of it until it was impossible to get running. May thought his love for the car was ridiculous. Ben thought that women just didn't understand these things.
Seeing that he would not be able to drive his beloved car, Ben frowned a little. However, he accepted the fact quickly and yelled "Shotgun!" before jumping into the passenger seat. That left May in the back.
When they left the movie theatre after the movie, the moon was shining brightly above them, surrounded by an array of twinkling stars.
"It's a beautiful night." mentioned May, looking up at the sky. Ben and Leigh looked up for a second, and then Ben looked at his watch. "It's almost midnight! Curfew!" he yelped.
At that exact moment, he heard a crash and screams behind him up the street. He looked in the direction of the crash, yanked May and Leigh into the alleyway beside them, and stripped off his jeans and shirt, throwing them beside him. Leigh and May did the same, and all three pulled masks out from under the rest of the suit simultaneously and put them on. They looked exactly the same as they always had- except a considerable amount taller. Leigh was to the scene in less than a second, and the twins tried to keep up as best they could, using webs to assist themselves. When Ben saw the figure causing the mayhem, he froze entirely.
Standing before him was a man, at least six foot four and built like a body builder, wearing a suit that was red except on his hands and feet, which were black. The black on his feet and hands faded into the deep red of his suit, and dark black lines that looked almost like cracks in dry, desert sand ran through the whole suit and mask. The mask only covered to below his nose, and he was currently looking over at the trio and grinning. His canine teeth were large and sharp, and looked almost like fangs to Ben. It felt to Ben that he was spiraling into the past. It was the figure of the monster that had killed his father.
No one saw Ben's eyes widen behind his mask, but everyone saw his back slam hard into a wall as the villain threw his entire body through the air with one arm. He hit the wall with such force that it cracked. His head hit and he blacked out, coming back a few seconds later. He was now pinned to the cracked wall by one, large hand, enforced by large arm muscles and squeezing out his ability to use his windpipe. At the same time, he felt a slicing pain that tore through his stomach and lower chest. The hand that was not pinning Ben to the wall had slashed him; all five fingers looked like large claws beneath the suit. The pain brought Ben back more than anything. His stupor was broken, and a rage he had only known once before shot through his veins like poison. His hand shot to his neck, where he tried to pry the suffocating fingers off of his throat. He pinched the nerve between the black thumb and forefinger, and it retracted just enough for Ben to use all of his strength to push it off. He ducked under the man's arm grabbed his wrist, and struck him hard where his elbow was. He threw his whole body weight into the strike, and he heard the elbow crack as well as saw it bend slightly in the wrong direction. Still holding on to the monster's wrist, he heard another snap as his fist connected to his enemy's nose. Blood was on his knuckles, and was flowing freely from the nose he had just hit. The man wrenched his broken arm away using the muscles in his back and fled. Ben tried to run after him, but he felt his friends, whom he had forgotten entirely, holding him back. "LET GO!" he yelled, struggling against them.
"Ben, calm down!" May yelled back, restraining him until he stopped struggling. It took a while for him to come back to himself. He looked around him and saw how people were staring. "You're hurt; we need to get you home!" He ignored her, though he knew it was true. She and Leigh let go of his arms, and he immediately shot up a web and swung out of sight.
Leigh saw what Ben was doing before he even did it, but his body wouldn't respond to his brain. Finally, he bolted after his best friend, frantically shouting his name. "BEN! BEN!" He ran into the dark corners of the city, leaving May behind in a cloud of dust.
It took Leigh hours to find Ben. He was sitting on top of a tall office building, his back to Leigh. It was only by chance the he had seen him, and he climbed up the stairs to the roof slowly. He was exhausted and irritated, but he stuffed those emotions away and forced calm and sympathy to drive him. "Ben… I think it's time to come home." Ben remained with his back to Leigh, and didn't acknowledge his existence, much less respond. "May was right, you look hurt. It's time to go. Let's get you home." Ben remained silent.
Trying to relieve some of the tension radiating off Ben, Leigh sat down next to him and followed his line of vision, looking out at the horizon. He made one last-ditch effort to get Ben home. "Come on, let's go. Sitting here isn't going to do anything." When he still didn't get any response, Leigh sighed. "Look, Ben, I know what you're thinking. But getting revenge on this guy isn't going to help anything. Your dad wouldn't want this." At this, Ben spoke.
"How would you know what my dad would want?" He seethed, his voice a dangerous whisper. His entire body seemed to generate a livid hatred. Leigh could almost feel a sort of heat coming from it. His voice started to rise with each syllable of his next sentence. "How would I know, he's not here anymore, thanks to this bastard!" He stood up, shouting now. "Don't you pretend you know him! Don't pretend you ever knew him!"
"Ben… I know what it's like to lose a father." Leigh said quietly. He silently invited Ben to sit back down. Ben didn't move from his spot.
"Yeah, I guess so! So if you were in my shoes, you'd do nothing to avenge him? He was your dad's best friend! I bet he'd be real proud of you, sitting here doing nothing!" Ben's voice was soaked with a stinging, malicious sarcasm.
It was Leigh's turn to stand up. Ben had never said anything like this to him before. Was Ben saying that Johnny Storm would be ashamed of him? For trying to save his best friend? For the first time he felt his emotions rising beyond his control. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"What was that?" Leigh's voice was deadly quiet. He was shouting before he knew it, barely paying attention to what he was saying, but by the time he finally tuned in to his own irate rant, he didn't care enough to stop himself.
"-You're so fucking self-centered! Have you ever stopped to think that you affect other people too? I'm so sick of your damn pity-party! He's dead, alright?!" Everything he had been thinking the whole conversation came spilling out. "He's never coming back! Getting yourself killed isn't gonna-"
The impact of Ben's fist against Leigh's jaw nearly knocked him over. He still had enough control over himself not to cause Ben bodily harm, but barely. He could feel his brain giving the command to let his arm fly and then cutting it off right before his body obeyed. Neither of them said a word, but glared heatedly at one another, each daring the other to move.
"Leave." Ben finally growled.
"Gladly." Leigh returned. He turned his back to Ben and descended the stairs, fervently regretting ever coming up them in the first place.