Okay, wow I finally updated. Sorry everybody, I got homework thrown at me followed by writers block :/

Also, I have begun to write a new story with a friend of mine and it's going pretty well! We've been working on it for a few months now and so far we've made it to the third chapter... we don't get that much free time together :/

Any way, back to the topic at hand. ENJOY CHAPTER 7!

Lost And Found ch7

When the nightmares began...

The first sense that came was his ability to smell. He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with smoke and ash. He didn't cough, he only opened his eyes to see the ash as it fell. To his surprise his surroundings were covered in a thick ash. What was left of homes and stores was falling from the sky in a thick blanket of a fiery snow.

The smoke had a strangely sweet smell to it and he could feel himself inhaling more deeply. He saw the remainder of the buildings in the distance. Not one of them was full. Sheets of metal scattered the ground and he could hear the soft screams of terror in the distance. Whoever had lived here once was escaping and that was probably what he should have been doing, but instead he stayed and stared at the smouldering city.

The street lights that lightened the town had all exploded and glinted the ground in a broken glass sheet. The sky had even shown it's work in destruction. It was grey and foggy to pattern the smoke. Through the grey fog he could see what looked like ships, ungraciously seeding the ground. Parts of the ships had been blown to pieces and what looked like cars were burning beside them.

He blinked at the sight of the city in ruins and felt compelled to move on. Get away from the city, and go somewhere new. Even though the thought to him seemed gracious he knew that the next city would have the same fate, as well as the next and the one after that. It would never stop, but was he really one to care?

He heard the voice of a girl scream out his name and his eyes darted to meet the running figure. She stopped metres away from him, wanting to keep a safe distance. The girl's face was smeared with ash and tears. Her glasses were broken and her clothes were torn slightly. He recognised this girl. It was Gwen.

"Ben please,... please stop," she whimpered as he stared at her in as if he were a statue. He blinked at her and continued to stare, not knowing what to do about this girl. He could see by the way she looked they had fought and obviously she had lost. As he stood in silence she began to sob, wiping her tears away with her pale wrists. "How could you?!" she began to shout in anguish. "How could you do this to us?! To your own home!"

Memories suddenly came flooding back at once. His mind was a monsoon of previous events.

The blood curdling screams and the horrified expressions of the towns people. The plumbers marching in and firing, his grandfather screaming for Ben to stop, but he didn't. He spread his arms and embraced every hit with a satisfied smirk before he ploughed down on them, sending bodies flying and even more fractured voices to silence.

Next was the ships, flying in to stop him, but he took them on. All at once he whisked them away with a wave of his hand, stationing the flying vehicles in surrounding buildings and cement pavements. Crushing all in their wake just as he did. All the while he kept his smile wide and proud.

"No one can touch me...," he could distinctly remember leaving his lips before his memory went blank.

He blinked at the memory and stared at her with wide eyes as he realised what he had done. He moved his head away as he stared off into the distance. He glanced back at her and grinned.

The smile scared Gwen and she took a step back as she stared at her cousin through teary eyes. He laughed at her fear, flicking his head back to the sight of the city his smile widened.

"An improvement," was all he said. She gasped as he marvelled his own work on the town. "It wasn't any better than ash before, this is better than the dirty town it was to begin with."

Gwen watched her cousin in horror, her eyes spilling with more tears as his smile widen at her expression. She fell to her knees, sobbing and holding her chest.

Ben felt what could have been called pity for the girl and chuckled lightly. He turned his attention back to the mess that was his own. "You really are pathetic," his voice hissed.

She looked up at him and saw that he was no longer smiling. He glared down at her in hatred. "If your so weak then what makes you so special? Hmm?" he raised an eyebrow. "Grandma always liked you the most, so did everyone else. Constantly, I was reminded to be like you, act like you and this is what they want me to be like? A pool of suffering filth?!" his voice thundered down on her as she shivered. He began to laugh again, throwing his head back so his laughter could touch the sky. "You are the weak one, not me."

Ben jerked awake, his eyes snapping open to meet the brightness of the lamp over his head. He blinked for a moment and then sat up slowly to keep himself from falling back down. He held his head with one hand, while he kept his other supporting him on the bed. His eyes were wide from the nightmare he had just woken from. Was it a nightmare? He seemed too happy in the dream for it to be a nightmare, but the idea of doing that to people he loved, saying those things seemed so horrible. He turned his head to look around the room.

The walls were green, as was everything in the base, but this room was bigger. Ben smiled a little. Ben had been moved into a bigger room thanks to Rook. His smile grew a fraction.

A lot had changed thanks to Rook. Ben was now able to get out of the room once in a while. Of course he couldn't leave Plumber HQ, but he was allowed to wonder the halls for a while a day, providing Rook was with him.

He'd grown attached to Rook. Rook was what Ben would call a very good friend. Ben couldn't think of any other way to think of him with what he'd done for him. There was that odd thump in his chest when Rook opened his mouth to talk and when he smiled. Just about anything Rook did made Ben feel warm. Rook's general kindness and his laugh was probably the two things that Ben loved the most about him. Ben looked down to his lap for a moment.

He knew that after he was 'cured' Rook would just go back to his normal routine and Ben probably wouldn't ever see him again. This was a thought that Ben had been poking at for a while now. When Rook was done fixing him, what would happen?

Would Rook say goodbye and leave on another suicide mission? What if Ben never saw him again. What if Rook's visits were cut short and he left in a matter of days?

Ben didn't like this thought at all. Rook was his friend, maybe even more than that and Ben didn't want to see him go. Hadn't Ben experienced enough loss over the two years that had practically flown by?

It was as if a dark cloud covered Ben and he shivered at the thought. What if Ben didn't make it through recovery? After all, Ben knew perfectly well it was only a matter of time before they came for him and when they do Ben won't be ready. He wasn't ready to begin with.

All Ben wanted that Saturday night was some alone time, but instead he disappeared in the snow. He could only imagine Gwen and Grandpa Max screaming for him, trying desperately to find him. Only after two years had anyone found him and by then Ben lost hope. He knew that he wouldn't be accepted if he went back out there. That's why he didn't talk to Rook.

He was scared of what Rook would do to him. He never expected Rook to flash him his plumber badge, smile to him and say that he was going to help him. No, Ben could barely remember anyone treating him so kindly and so he stuck to Rook when he'd actually gotten him out of there and successfully gained Ben's previously damaged trust.

Ben knew that Rook was the only one who was going to keep him safe. He couldn't trust anyone else, nor could he face his family after what had happened. True, he wanted to talk to them, but he couldn't watch them cry over him or ask him a million questions at once as they also asked why it was Ben that had to go missing.

They still don't know. The reason Ben was in the energy core in the first place was because he was being used as an energy source. That was what they knew.

No one knew how he got there and why he was used.

Ben was an anodite, but not even Ben knew that before he was disappeared.

So how did Psychobos know about Ben's abilities, he could have easily mistaken Ben for a normal human and leave him be.

A harsh knock to the door sent Ben springing behind the bed. He poked his head over the top to stare at the door as a voice began to speak on the other side. "Ben Tennyson? It is time for you physical," a young man's voice rang through the thickness of the steel door. Ben grumbled as he stood from behind the bed, dusting himself off and reclaiming his position on the bedside.

It had become a usual thing for Ben. You could say that the plumbers had written him a schedule. A strict one at that. When Ben woke he would be escorted to a large white room where his vitals would be checked as well as a random blood test just to make sure his blood sugar levels were at normal. The plumbers wanted him to be overly healthy while he was with them.

After that he would be taken back to his room and almost an hour later would be taken to have his omnitrix poked at yet again. The plumbers for the life of them could not determine why the omnitrix was no longer working the way it should. It would not respond to any tuning they gave it.

Finally, in the afternoon Ben would be able to do something he wanted to and talk to Rook, who would often ask him a range of questions revolving around his captivity. Ben only hoped the afternoon came quick enough.

"Ben Tennyson?"

"I'm here," Ben grunted to the voice behind the door. "I'll be out in a minute, just don't drag me out like last time." Ben leant back into the wall next to his bed and sighed aloud, feeling exhausted from the vivid dream he had just woken from. He was still questioning the dream with deep curiosity, feeling that it was too real to only have been a dream. He could still taste the smoke on his lips and the power that was pulsing through his limps was still there, a faint, but very familiar energy was still coursing through his body at that moment.

Ben heard the door slide open, meaning the plumbers on the other side didn't trust him enough to get off the bed and let them in. Three men were standing there, all staring at him with blank expressions.

"Ben Tennyson, this way please," the man gave him a minuscule grin as he pointed Ben out of the room. Ben groaned softly before he slid off the bed and made for the man's right.

The other two boxed him in the centre of the group as they walked out of the room. Ben walked with them down the hall. Silence reigned for almost an entire minute as they walked.

Ben was far from patient the entire time though. He felt too boxed in and felt that the man behind him was walking too closely. If Ben was courageous enough then he would have striken the man in the ribs with his elbow to stop the heavy breath on his neck, but Ben was trying to behave that day so he encouraged himself not to.

He sighed heavily again, feeling that the hall was never going to end and that he was going to be trapped within the group forever. The hallway did end eventually as he had made it to the large room on the end. It was a large white room, with a long metal table inside, as well as a few doctors and nurses who looked stirred to see Ben approaching.

Ben entered with the three men who had disbanded to leave Ben at the doctor's hand. He wrapped an arm over Ben's shoulders as he lead Ben to the table. He was speaking, but Ben wasn't paying him any attention. Ben sat up on the table as the doctor spoke to him.

Ben could hear that his tone was a pleased one, so either the doctor was happy with Ben's last examination or he was just happy to see that Ben had co-operated today. Ben didn't hear the words, but instead stared at the wall as he usually did.

He watched the only painting on the long white wall. The only colour in the room it seemed. The painting was of a small bird that was sitting in what looked like mother natures hand as a tree. The painting was coloured with gorgeously bright colours and a golden frame.

Ben enjoyed this painting, it was the closest thing he had to the outside world and it was beautiful. As Ben watched the painting and questioned what type of brightly coloured bird was in the painting as one of the doctors began an effort to remove Ben's shirt.

Ben did as the doctor wanted and lifted his arms to help him with the shirt. Once the shirt was off the doctor neatly folded it and set it aside on the small metal table next to his. As the doctor took Ben's arm into his hold Ben still watched the painting, not interested in the world of the plumbers. He wanted to go outside, to a place that he wanted to be.

After the physical was done and Ben had pulled his shirt back over his head he gave the doctors and nurse a final wave goodbye and began a stride down the hall. Of course the three men from earlier were walking alongside him.

Ben ignored their presence as he paced down the hall, staring forward at the ground as he did. Now, it was to the lab where his omnitrix would be abused yet again by the plumber scientists. Why they tried so hard was beyond Ben. Ben knew it didn't work any more and saw no point in trying to change it. He exhaled deeply as he train of thought crashed when a loud screeching noise was heard from up the hall. He looked up in fright of what the loud noise could have been. His eyes narrowed as he realised it was just a woman laughing.

The plumbers around him seemed angry that the woman had laughed so loudly and decided to take Ben a different way to the lab. They didn't want him to see anyone that was not allowed to be near him.

To be honest Ben didn't care who he met, he just wanted to see new people. He was certainly tired of seeing the same faces in and out of his room each day. The plumbers turned Ben down a different hall to take him away from the laughter and made sure that Ben didn't look back as they had crowded behind him and asked him not to worry himself when he had tried to looked passed them. Ben's eyes fell to the floor once again as he chest was beginning to hurt. He was tired of all of this.

Being treated as if he was an experiment, not a person. He had enough of that when he was with Psychobos. Ben tightly closed his eyes as he felt them begin to water.

Horrible memories began to shoot through his mind all at once. He begged, pleaded and cried to be left alone. The pain in his limps was unbearable as he remembered being held up by that large machine that held onto each appendage, while Psychobos poked at Ben's Omnitrix. Ben's eyes were now burning as he remembered the horrible tortures he'd endured under that monster's claws. Ben could only clutch at his elbows as he walked. No one asked if he was alright.

Then again when did they? When did they actually ask Ben if he was alright? If he needed help or if he just needed someone to talk to. No one did. They assumed that if Ben was healthy then that was all that was important. Ben's hand brushed passed one of his scars and he felt the light graze as if it were sand paper. Tears were now pouring from his eyes as he moved with the men.

Ben's body rattled with pain as he rasped for breath and held his pain ridden chest. Ben's legs gave in and he fell to the floor. The men around him raced forward to him and tried their best to help him stand, but he slapped their hands away.

"No!" he yelled. "I don't want your help!" Ben's tears clogged his vision as he patted his head against the ground, feeling that the thumping within was going to get even harder if he kept still. He squeezed his eyes shut as hot tears coated his cheeks.

He felt the men begin to tap at his shoulder once more. "Ben, let's return to your room, you don't need a check up today," one of the men whispered to him. Ben appreciated the man's kindness and let them help him to his feet before they began to take him back to his room. None of them spoke to him and Ben preferred it that way.

Ben didn't want to have them speak to him as if they were worried because Ben knew they weren't. It wasn't their jobs to worry over him after all and any emotional problems he had were none of their concern.

They had made it back to Ben's room in a matter of minutes and by then Ben's tears had almost completely stopped. The pain in his chest remained though, as did the flashes of memories. Before the men left Ben to his lonely room they asked him a question he would not have expected.

"Is there anything you need before we leave Ben Tennyson?"

Ben whimpered for a moment and collected his words. He looked up at them as he sucked air through his teeth. "I want to see Rook Blonko now."

I decided to make this chapter from Ben's point of view, seeming I've had just about everyone talk about themselves, but we haven't heard of what Ben's thinking about.I'm also considering making a chapter from Kevin's POV... Sound good? or don't want to hear from him? Either way, it's going to get loads more dramatic. XD

This chapter was a lot sadder than it was meant to be. I was listening to a sad soundtrack and it just came out this way. Sorry.

Give me some feedback on Ben's dream, it took me a while to write :)

I'll have some more Ben/Rook in later chapters~

See you soon!

-Serinablackcat98