(A/N: Thanks for the reviews, they are my food. I've had most of this chapter written for awhile but just couldn't get it to all flow right, I think it works pretty good now though. I also have the next chapter done already so review and I'll update faster.)
Disclaimer: who here thinks I own Ben Ten? Ok well I have some land in Florida I'm selling so drop me a line (Sarcasm)
Tilted Summer
Chapter ten: Hail
Gwen beat Ben back to the hotel by a few seconds. When he caught up to her they both started laughing. They both felt lighter somehow, happier. When they saw the crazy smiles on each others faces the collapsed laughing. When they stopped laughing and caught their breath Ben got up and stuck out his hand for Gwen. Gwen took his hand and he helped pull her up, they ended up very close to each other.
Gwen stepped back, "Sorry lover boy someone might see"
Ben sighed, "yea yea."
They stopped by their Grandpas room to let him know they were back, then Ben walked Gwen to her room. Gwen opened the door and stepped inside, she turned back to Ben. "Well, good night Ben."
Ben stepped past her into her room and closed the door. "Ben what are you" She was caught off when Ben put his arms around her and pulled her into a kiss. This time though instead of just letting their lips touch Ben opened his mouth and his tongue ran along Gwen lips. Gwen opened her mouth in response, their tongues touched and felt each other out. Then began fighting for control.
Neither Ben nor Gwen knew exactly how it happened but the next thing they knew they were on Gwens bed. Gwen broke the kiss, "Wow"
Ben sat up, "We have so got to do that again"
Gwen smiled, "Yea we do, but not tonight." Ben sighed, he knew she was right. After Ben left Gwen just lay in bed, I can't believe it. Me and Ben. Her thoughts were interrupted when her room phone rang. She sat up and reached for it, suddenly it stopped.
Gwen shrugged and got up to change into her pajamas. Since it was so hot out Gwen just threw on an old button down shirt and a pair of blue short shorts. She picked up her hair brush and the phone started ringing again. Gwen walked over to it and it stopped again. Gwen shook her head and went back to brushing her hair.
Gwen settled herself in to her bed with a book she had gotten at the tiny book store. She was completely engrossed in it when the phone rang, she nearly jumped out of bed. I've got to unplug that thing. Gwen picked up the phone, "Hello?"
"……" There was a rasping breath on the line but that was all.
"Hello? Whose there?"
"………."
"Ben? This isn't funny."
"…..I'm not Ben" Gwen nearly jumped, it was defiantly not Ben.
"All right, who are you"
"….."
"I said who are you, what do you want!?"
"….. To live again" There was a click and the line went dead. Gwen shivered, this was just to freaky.
Gwen walked to her door and opened it, she went next door to Bens room and knocked. She kept glancing around. Then there was a noise from the elevator down the hall, it was too loud in the quiet of the night. With a ding the doors slid open but the light inside had gone out. Gwen started hitting Bens door as another light in the hall flickered and went out. One by one a darkness was making its way down the hall.
Ben was in the shower when there was a knock at his door, he was tempted to ignore it but got out of the shower anyways. He put a towel around his waist and walked to his door. The knocked had turned into pounding. He opened the door and Gwen practically feel in on top of him, she kicked the door closed with her leg and lay on top of Ben breathing heavily.
"Gwen! What happened?"
"The phone was ringing but every time I went to answer it they hung up then when I did answer it all I heard was breathing. I asked who it was but no one answered and I thought it might be you playing a prank on me and then a voice said, "I'm not Ben" and I asked who it was and what they wanted and they said, "To live again". I got freaked out and came to your room, but then the elevator came up and when the doors opened the lights started to flicker out and something was coming towards me."
When she finished she slumped against Ben trying to catch her breath again. Ben gently moved Gwen off of him and went to the door. He opened it a crack and looked out. Nothing seemed wrong, the lights were all on. He closed the door again. "Everything seems alright now"
"You sure? Um Ben. Why are you in a towel?" Gwen looked away from Ben
"Oh I was in the shower. Hold on" Ben ran back into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later fully dressed. Gwen was sitting on the bed and he set down next to her. "Um Gwen, do you want to stay in here tonight?"
"I better not, besides I probably just imagined the phone and lights. After that dog thing and stuff." Neither of them believed it though.
"Ok, I'll walk you back to your room." Be stood up and Gwen followed. They went out the door and Gwen glanced towards the evaluator, all the lights were on. Ben went in with Gwen, the room was normal. "Well I'll be next door if you need me." Ben kissed Gwen and left.
Gwen unplugged her rooms phone and lay down in bed. She didn't bother reading anymore. An hour late Gwen was sleeping lightly when there was a noise at her window. She sat up groggily and looked at her window. The curtains were pulled close so she couldn't see out but there was a noise on the other side. It was a scraping noise, like a hand being run along the glass.
Gwen waited, and the sound stopped. She was now fully awake. The noise didn't start again and Gwen was half convinced she'd imagined it when there was a loud noise from the bathroom. She got up and quietly went to the bathroom, flicking on the light she saw a bottle of shampoo laying in the tub. Gwen sighed, till the noise started again. Then the window rattled, something wanted in. Gwen was glad she had locked it earlier.
Gwen was backing up towards the door, not wanting to take her eyes off the window. The window stopped rattling, then there was a tapping noise on the glass. When that start there was a noise from inside the bathroom again, Gwen had closed the door and something inside was knocking on it now, jiggling the handle. Then she heard Bens voice. "Gwen? Gwen you out there? Hey let me out!"
Gwen knew Ben couldn't be in there, though it was really disturbing to hear his voice coming from behind the door. There were tears in Gwen's eyes now, she opened her door and ran out. She hammered on Bens door, "Ben! Ben open up!"
Ben opened the door, his eyes still half closed. "Gwen? What's up?"
Gwen threw her arms around Ben and started crying. "Gwen! What's wrong what happened." When Gwen calmed down she told Ben about the window and bathroom. "Ok were getting to the bottom of this"
Ben with Gwen reluctantly following went back to Gwens room, her door was still open. Gwen stayed close to Ben, first he walked over to her window and opened the curtains. Her window looked out over an almost empty parking lot. Next he went to her bathroom door and slowly opened it, it didn't look like anything was wrong inside but they slowly walked in. Everything seemed ok, the shampoo bottle was still in the tub. Gwen turned to leave and froze, there was a single bloody handprint on the inside door handle. "B-ben."
Ben looked at her, then the door. He put his arm on Gwen and they went back to his room. They were sitting on his bed, Ben had never seen Gwen so freaked out before. "Ok you're staying with me tonight, tomorrow we help Grandpa fix the rust bucket and we leave."
Gwen nodded her head, she lay down and closed her eyes. Ben stayed sitting up, he had decided to wait up all night in case something else happened. He looked over at the clock, 2:00 A.M. Only a few hours to go. Gwen was soon asleep but Ben did his best to fight off sleep, including drinking three cans of soda. Everything was going fine till a little after five when the phone rang. Gwen woke up and looked at Ben. He looked at the phone, and waited. The hotels answering machine picked up, "Hello, you've reached Sandy Beach Hotel, room 115, no one is here to take your call, so please leave a message."
Bens voice came from the machine, "Gwen? Gwen you there? Pick up! Why didn't you let me out of the bathroom?!" Suddenly Gwen had a horrible thought, what if whatever that thing was really could have stuck Ben in the bathroom, and then changed itself to look like Ben. She glanced at the Ben sitting next to her.
Ben reached out and picked up the phone, "Shut the hell up! Leave Gwen alone!"
The voice changed from Bens to the raspy voice Gwen had heard earlier. "Now why would I do that? Is it because I'm scaring her? She looks cute when she's afraid, shame I need to kill her." Then the line went dead. There was silence for a moment before the lamp next to the bed started shacking, followed by the dresser and bed.
Ben grabbed Gwen by the arm, "Come on were getting out of here."
Unfortunately the door wouldn't open, Ben was done playing around. He turned the omnitrix and hit it, Diamondhead turned to Gwen. "Hop on, were busting out"
Gwen climbed on to Diamondhead's back and he put his arms up, hitting the door with a dozen crystal shards. The door cracked and was knocked off of its hinges. Diamondhead ran out and jumped down to the ground. "That wasn't so hard."
They heard clapping, they turned to see a man in black tattered clothes standing nearby. "Who are you?"
The man lifted his head slightly and they saw his eyes, his eyes flickered orange like fire. Diamondhead heard Gwen stifle a gasp. "Ben, that's the guy I saw at the cabin."
Diamond head leveled a arm with at the man and brought his hand to a single razor sharp point. "Alright just who or what are you."
The man tilted his head slightly to the side, considering the question. "Hail"
"What?"
"My name, I am Hail." The rasping voice said.
Diamondhead kept Hail in his line of fire, "Alright Hail what do you want?"
"As I said, to live again."
"Your dead?"
"Yes, I was little more then a sprit when the both of you visited that accursed cabin. I had planned to kill the girl and take her life, she is so full of it. But now I desire to kill you as well. That device on your arm, I have been feeding on it. I feed on it and was able to leave the cabin, I feed on it was able to do more. My pet gave me a feast of that power tonight. Now I have come for the rest." Hail raised his head and Ben and Gwen got their first real look at him. His skin was brownish and cracked, his nose and lips were mostly gone. He looked like a walking mummy. Without the bandages. He had a few stands of stringy black ratty hair poking out from under his hat.
Ben was tired of this dead freak, especially because Hail had threatened Gwen. He let a single crystal shoot from his arm. It hit Hail in the chest and knocked him back, he fell to the ground. "That wasn't so hard"
Then Hail reached up and grasped the crystal with both hand, pulling it out and throwing it aside. He then stood up, it was hard to tell but he might have been smiling. Hail stretched his arm out and there was sickening popping sound from inside his chest. Diamondhead set Gwen down, "Go find Grandpa."
Gwen ran towards the stairs but Hail snapped his fingers and the stairs shifted, crumbling into dust. Diamondhead let loose on Hail with a voile of crystals. Hail ran at Diamondhead, the crystals only slicing his clothes. Diamondhead changed his arm into a crystal blade and brought it down on hail. Hail dodged the blade and hit Diamondhead in the chin. Ben staggered back, Hail looked at his hand which was twisted, with a few sickening popping sounds it was fixed though. Diamondhead recovered and punched Hail, even though his punches weren't as powerful as fourarms it still sent Hail flying.
Hail landed by the pool, though in a moment he was getting back up. Diamondhead looked around, at least Gwen wasn't anywhere to be seen, hopefully she got away. Hail was on his feet again, he charged Diamondhead and knocked him back into the side of the hotel. Of course then was when the watch timed out again, Ben stood up and faced Hail.
Ben was out of option, so he grabbed a brick from the wall and hurled it at Hail. Hail stepped to the side as the brick sailed past, watching as it flew into the pool. He turned back to Ban, but Ben was gone. "Oh no little one, you can't run"
Ben had run around the corner of the hotel and crouched down behind some bushes. He kept his eyes on the corner where Hail would come around if he decided to follow him, which Ben hoped he would. The more time he could by Gwen the better. Then two hands grasped Ben from behind and he was spun around to face Hail.
Hail was even uglier up close. "Come now little one." He said carrying Ben back towards the pool, "Gwen, Oh Gwen! Come out or I'll start with your cousin"
"No!" Gwen said running out from behind a parked car.
"Gwen! I told you to get out of here!"
"Quiet" hail hissed, "Come here little one"
Gwen slowly walked towards them, her hands behind her back and head bent down, the picture of obedience. Hail held Ben with one hand and reached towards Gwen with the other, suddenly Gwens hand shot out and stabbed Hail with a long sharp fragment of Diamondhead's crystal. It slide between Hails ribs, passing through the spot where his heart should have been.
Hail screamed in rage and threw Ben through the air, Ben hit the water slide hard. The air was knocked from his lungs and he nearly blacked out but he fought back the darkness. Hail had grabbed Gwen and lifted her up. "You'll pay for that."
He lifted Gwen closer to his mouth and Ben could swear he saw a thin silvery mist coming from Gwen. Hail opened his mouth and the mist started to move towards it. The Omnitrix turned green, Ben had one stupid idea left as he hit the watch.
Gwen could smell the horrible odor coming from hails mouth, and see the black worm that had once been his tongue. She weakly kicked at Hail, but her strength was gone. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a green light and was tossed to the ground.
Ghost freak slammed into hail causing him to drop Gwen. Then, unsure how to even try to do it he went intangible and forced himself inside of Hail.
Gwen looked and saw Hail standing perfectly still, his eyes flashed green and he screamed as he was blown back in a burst of green light, Ben was blown the other direction and landed near Gwen. She crawled over to him, "Ben are you ok"
"Ouch, yea but never let me do that again" Ben sat up holding his head.
"You will pay for this" Hail said standing up. He took a step towards them and stopped, behind Ben and Gwen the sun was poking above the horizon. Hail smiled, it has been so long since I could look at the sun from beyond the shadows. "I am finally strong enough to exist in the day."
Hails smiled was wiped away when something started to happen. The crystal was still imbedded in his chest and as the light reflected off of it on to his head he began to dissolve. He stood still in shock, then tried to grab the crystal from his chest but his hands were melting away and too weak to grasp it.
Gwen covered her mouth, "Oh my God I think I'm going to be sick" They watched as Hail dissolved, soon there was nothing of him left. Ben and Gwen turned to look at each other, Gwen looked a bit green and Ben was pale. "Think he's really gone Ben?"
"Yea, that didn't look pleasant." Both of them slowly smiled. It was over. Ben and Gwen got up, both hurt from head to toe. They had to lean on each other as they made their way up the stairs on the other side of the building, the ones closest to their rooms still laying broken.
They went to Bens room and both collapsed onto Bens Bed. As the sun rose higher the stairs and Bens door appeared, first as a shadow and then solid. Soon there was no trace of the battle that had shaken the hotel.
(A/N: Remember review!)