Chapter 10: Time Will Tell

Disclaimer: I still do not own Ben 10. I rather like smoothies, though.

When Ben awoke, Kevin was no longer with him. The tanned body sat up swiftly and looked around to see only the empty room. He quickly stood to his feet, ignoring the pain that shot through his body as he strode over to the door which began to open before he had even touched it.

"Tennyson, Ben?" It was Serv, Ancilla's voice and Ben realized he was still naked, he bolted back to the bed and wrapped the blanket over his waist.

"Uh.. yes?" He replied once he was covered. The small form entered and bowed lightly.

"Forgive my intrusion, Tennyson, Ben." She padded quickly into the room.

"Ben."

"Pardon?" she stopped her walking and looked at him squarely.

"You can just call me Ben."

"I thank you," she replied, "But now is not the time for discussing formalities. There is an issue that requires attention on the main floor."

"Problem?" Ben reached for his jeans and boxers, thankful when Ancilla turned her back so that he could dress himself unwatched. "Where's Kevin?"

"Kevin is out patrolling. He will return later, no doubt. But for now, please join us in the main hall." Ancilla ushered silently for the young man to follow, which he did after he pulled on his black shirt.

They rounded to the top of the spiral quickly, and Ben caught site of the ruckus. All the inhabitants were gathered around three teenaged forms and one adult that the brunette recognized almost immediately despite her aging.

"Gwendolyn!" He waved and she swooped over quickly, giving him a bear-hug.

"It's so good to see you, Ben!" She squeezed and knocked the air out of his lungs before setting him down on his feet and beaming at him. "I'm glad we came when we did," she lowered her voice so that only he could hear, "I would hate to have interrupted." Her cousin turned a brilliant shade of red and he immediately hushed her.

"Ah-hem!" a girl behind Gwendolyn began and the two boys next to her stared at Ben.

"Who are your friends?" Ben asked politely as he looked at the three.

"Oh, silly me," Gwendolyn chortled. "These two are your children and that one is Kevin's."

Ben stared at them with a perfectly blank face before turning back to his time-traveling cousin. "M-my?"

**

Meanwhile, not so far off into the Null Void, Kevin felt a small ache in his stomach. It had been quite some time since his last meal and he was due for a good rest. Patrol had been boring him anyhow, boredom resulting either from low activity of bothersome aliens or the thought that Ben was still probably sleeping naked in his bed. He smiled and turned back to the tall tower looming in the distance.

As he landed, the doors creaked open to the loud sounds of busy chattering. He could hear familiar voices mingling with new ones and his curiosity was drawn to the tall and shapely form of Gwendolyn. She waved at him cheerfully and his attention turned to Ben- who looked back in utter dismay.

"Oh good!" Gwendolyn cheered, "I was afraid I wouldn't get to see the introductions! These two are Gwen and Kenneth, Ben's children. And this one," She gave Devlin a hard shove towards his father, "is your son!"

Kevin looked down in bewilderment at the young teen that glared up at him. Just as he was about to extend his hand in welcome, a sharp voice cut through the air.

"We've already met," Devlin turned on his heels and strode back to his adopted brother. Kevin looked at Ben who continued to stare back at him in utter dismay.

"Well then," Gwen chimed, either not realizing or ignoring the obvious tension that had suddenly entered the great hall, "I hate to run, but unfortunately there is work to do. Take care now, everyone!"

She opened a portal and waved goodbye to Kevin as he ran towards her in an attempt to stop her. He had no idea he would be expected to baby-sit! When the portal closed, Kevin turned back frantically to Ben- who continued to stare at him in utter dismay.

"Well," Gwen did not hide the venom in her tone, "this is going to be a blast."

****

Hours later, after Ben came out of his stupor and much discussion had been done, it was revealed that Ken and Devlin were expected to train with the younger versions of their fathers and Gwen, who was still thoroughly pouting, would be picked up by Ben's cousin of the same name.

A glowing pink light formed and the red head entered the great hall in a much less flamboyant style than her older self.

"I really appreciate this Gwen," Ben was saying as he handed his daughter (who was actually older than him by a year) to his cousin.

"No problem; with Julie gone, I need a new shopping buddy." For the first time, Ben's daughter gave an actual smile. She hurried over to her 'aunt' and dragged her into the swirling pink portal before turning to wave to her father and siblings. Devlin waved back and Kenny made a face at her- but stopped before his father was able to catch him.

Ben turned to the two boys, they were only slightly younger than him and he doubted that they would learn very much during their stay. "First things first," the brunette began, "let's get some breakfast down before we start training."

Devlin frowned. He remembered food from the Null Void and held it on-par with the memories of his father. He glanced over at the young man with the X-shaped scar on his chin and scowled. It wasn't the same man yet, but he hated him all the same.

All inhabitants of the tower sat together while they ate, something that Devlin had always been grateful for because it made slipping bits of unwanted scrap to the Vulpimancer very easy.

"So you have the omnitrix in the future?" Ben asked his son while he ate.

"Well, not the omnitrix, this is one that you made for me." Kenny did not seem to mind the strange tasting food as he was eating more than anyone. "At first you told me I couldn't have one, but then you surprised me on my tenth birthday."

"I'm just surprised Azmuth would ever allow such a thing," Ben placed his hand on his chin.

"You always told me some guy named Paradox convinced him."

"PARADOX?!" Kevin's voice was louder than he intended, caught off guard by the mention of the professor that had caused them all much trouble. He calmed himself when he saw the look given to him by his son, an expression of pure discord.

Ben noticed the look as well, but continued with his conversation, "Paradox? I wonder why he would do that."

"He wanted to make sure there was always a hero around." Kevin was guessing, but his voice sounded convinced.

"Like what he did with us," Ben spoke quietly, casting a glance at his dark haired companion. He could tell that the raven wondered how he knew, so he added a name to connect the pieces, "Gwendolyn."

"Yeah, she told us about you guys," Devlin's voice was hard and he refused to look at his father. "How you used to be friends before my dad betrayed you."

Ben tried to fight back the deep blush in his cheeks, "Oh, s-she did? What all did she tell you?"

"Just that you guys used to fight together but one day Kevin-11 attacked you and Great-Grandpa Max." Kenny was talking with his mouth full but mercifully swallowed before he finished his sentence as he turned to Kevin, "We only recently found out why you did it."

Devlin's eyes narrowed, he did not believe his father could ever be the hero his adoptive family had described.

*****

"Wow, they're still at it!" Kenny panted as he rested against a floating asteroid. Kevin was next to him and equally out of breath. Training had gone better than expected. They split into teams of two, Kenny had chosen Kevin to spar against because they all feared that the dual omnitrixes might malfunction when facing each other and because the smaller brunette wanted to fight the legendary villain. It was a good match none the less, their fighting styles were similar, fast, natural, and brutal. Devlin and Ben were a bit more meticulous and calculating, better at conserving energy until opportune moments.

"Mind telling me why Devlin keeps glaring at me?" Kevin worked up the nerve to ask as a loud boom erupted off in the distance.

Kenny paused, unsure if it was his place to be talking about this, "let's just say Ben isn't the only one you betrayed… He's been living with us for four years. You two worked up a plan to escape from the Null Void, but once you got out, you attacked us. Devlin asked you to stop and you didn't… you pushed him aside to fight us… so he attacked you and helped us instead."

Kevin smiled. He had a good kid.

"What I don't get is why you attacked us," Kenny continued, talking more to himself now than the tall raven. "If you didn't want to fight my dad in the first place, why did you want to fight him in the future?"

"He probably went insane," Devlin spoke as he landed on the asteroid, followed by Ben. "Or he always was that way." He glared at Kevin who looked back silently, his face unreadable.

"None of that," Ben warned. He liked the authority of being 'dad' more and more. "It's getting late, we should all head inside for a meal and a shower."

Devlin nodded, finally breaking his glare as he took off into the endless asteroids towards the tower. Kenny and Ben threw sympathetic look at the tall raven who shrugged it off. He didn't want their pity.

****

"Looks like it's just you and me then," Ben spoke to Kevin as they began to walk down the long spiral. They had eaten a good meal and were all ready for bed but Devlin had refused to sleep down in Kevin's room- it had been their room while he was growing up and he had no intention of ever setting foot in there again. Kenny understood why and elected to sleep upstairs with his adopted sibling.

The raven cast a glance behind him to see his future son still scowling at him. He couldn't blame him; from the sounds of it, he'd done a pretty terrible thing to him.

"Don't let it bother you," the brunette had read his mind, "he just needs some time to come around." Ben opened the door to Kevin's small room and ushered him inside, closing it soundly behind him and turning with a mischievous glint to face the lean body, "Plus, with the kids gone, we can have some fun." He pushed Kevin against the wall, wrapping his fingers into the long black hair and standing tall to kiss him.

Kevin frowned but kissed back. Knowing his only son hated him didn't exactly put him in the mood, but he would fake it if it meant seeing the brunette happy. He quickly twirled around and pressed Ben to the wall, lifting his leg to press against his groin while his hand traveled under the black fabric of his shirt. The hero began a moan that was interrupted by the crackling of electricity.

The two bodies froze as the static grew louder, blue and red lightning danced on the floor as a crude portal opened wide. A ghostly pale hand extended from its depths and clawed at the floor, bringing rise to a long mop of tangled black hair. Soon the entire body was out, standing raggedly and glaring at the two from under a sheet of the black hair.

"It's-" Ben stared in disbelief.

"Me…" Kevin stared also.

The body was the same but older, and the eyes had changed to a lighter color, making the figure look even more menacing as the teeth were bared in a twisted snarl. It stood before them, breathing harshly and clenching his fists as though he were calculating something awful.

Without warning, the older Kevin began a lunge towards the two bodies, a murderous glint in his eyes as a hiss escaped through the jagged teeth.

Oh noes! Evil future Kevin is here! His hair is so long and pre- Er… I mean, He's evil! What will happen next?!

'The End' is nigh! Just two more chapters after this! What would my readers like to see next? I was thinking about doing a couple of one-shots and maybe a sequel to "Benfield" but I'm not sure. I need your help deciding! Send me a message or leave me a review- and while your at it, tell me if you like the story!

Also, thanks to everyone that has left reviews! I just now found out that I can reply to them ::gonk:: so I'll be sending thank you messages to those that sent me reviews!