Author's Note: Yes, I did kill Ethan off. But I had to. I own nothing.
45 Numb
When Grandpa Max shook his head at Kevin's question Gwen held back a sob. Tetrax, though unaware of who Ethan was, offered a ride to Mount Rushmore and Kevin nodded driving his car up the gangplank as Gwen sobbed into her Grandfather's arms. Kevin's heart gave a twist at the look on Gwen's face. But he was more concerned about finding Jen. She would not take this well. She hadn't, as they discovered when they reached the base. She'd run all the way to Keystone as XCLR8 and attacked Pierce when he tried to stop her from seeing the bodies. She was escorted in by Pierce a few minutes after they arrived, wrapped in a bright green blanket her eyes blank. She just stared ahead of her. Pierce sat her down in a chair and Max stepped over to her, kneeling down in front of his granddaughter. He was talking to her softly, trying to get her to respond. It only took a few minutes for Gwen to join him. Kevin frowned, unsure of what to do. Tetrax tapped him on the shoulder.
"Who was this Ethan?" He was keeping his voice low so the Tennyson's couldn't hear him.
"He was her fiancé." Tetrax's eyes went wide and he glanced over at Jen who was crying silently, like she didn't even notice she was doing it. Kevin shook his head. "They didn't want a lot of people to know until they made it official, but Jen trusts you, she doesn't just forgive anyone for shattering her." Tetrax flinched. Max had managed to get Jen to look at him in the face. She blinked as if just now realizing that he was even there. She sniffled seeming to just now realize that she was crying. And with that realization came the shattering of whatever force had held her together. She wailed in despair and threw herself into her Grandfather's arms. She sobbed into his shirt with abandon and Kevin glanced around.
"Alright out!" He pushed Tetrax and the onlooking medics out of the room, Pierce getting the idea after a moment and helping him get everyone not named Tennyson out of the room. They stood sentinel outside the door though which they could still hear Jen howling in anguish and sorrow. Kevin looked Pierce up and down.
"You ok?" Pierce looked at him. He looked back at his shoes.
"I don't think so. I mean I didn't know him like you guys did but… When we got the call, I couldn't believe my ears. That something so simple could be how it happened." Kevin nodded. He'd seen death before, he'd lost his father at an early age, lived on the streets of New York for a good chunk of his childhood and spent the rest of it in the Null Void. He knew death. He had long ago learned how to deal with it. But the Tennyson's, despite their experience and with the exception of Max, had been protected from that sort of thing. To face the person you love and know they were never coming back it wasn't something easy. Kevin closed his eyes as the sobbing from the room continued.
Two days later found the full Max Force back on Earth, a bit sooner than they'd planned. They had been back a little over a month ago for a few days to visit everyone and spend the day on a little private section of beach. Jen and her team had been dragged out by a delegate from Lewoda and had to skip it but they'd had fun regardless. Though they had missed the company of the four teens who'd been sent on a diplomatic mission. They'd hoped their next visit would be a triumphant one where they could share their experiences at the academy. This was not what they'd hoped for. This wasn't how they wanted to see the new base still being built under Bellwood for the first time. This wasn't how they wanted to find out about the Hall of the Fallen.
The Hall of the Fallen was a small section of the base set off to the side, away from where they were still building, far away from the holding cells. Every Plumber base had one. It was customary, and each base had different names engraved on its walls in this hall. Ethan and Viktor were the first to have their names chiseled here in the new Bellwood base. For a moment all activity in the base stopped. The workers stopped building, everything was still except for the laser held by Max Tennyson as he carved his old student's name into the wall in the appointed spot. When he finished he handed the laser to Jen who carved Ethan's name beneath his fathers. Though in life he had never held a badge of his own, as he'd still been in training, he'd been posthumously inducted into the Plumbers for his actions of bravery in life.
When Jen was finished she flicked off the laser the whole base went quiet again. Everyone present was in their Plumber armor as a sign of respect for their fallen comrade. Everyone except Jen, Gwen and Kevin. They all wore the more traditional black. Kevin was in a suit and black button up. Gwen was in a black blouse and skirt her hair tied back with a black band. Jen was in a black dress, the sleeves only reaching her elbows. She was still wearing the ring Ethan had given her, though no longer on her finger, instead it hung from a silver chain around her neck. There were dark circles under her eyes again. Max stepped forward as the silence stretched on.
"Viktor Valadis was one of the best scientists I ever knew. He knew how to spot a threat even when no one else saw it. Though we had our differences he was one of the best Plumbers I ever trained. He will be sorely missed." Max laid his hand on Jen's shoulder. She nodded and stepped forward. She took a deep breath.
"Ethan was one of the bravest people I knew." Her voice was hoarse and ragged from crying and screaming at an uncaring world. Her toxic green eyes were fixed on the ground as though if she made eye contact with anyone she would break again. "He faced world ending threats with me and made it through to the other side. He was my teammate and one of my closest friends. But he was more than that. I loved him." If it hadn't been such a somber occasion Kevin was certain there would be murmuring through the small crowd of Plumbers. Jen's hand wandered to the ring on the chain around her neck. "He was taken from us before his time." Her voice cracked and she stopped talking. Taking this as his cue Pierce stepped forward handing Max one Plumber's badge. It was traditional that the next of Kin got the badges after the death of a Plumber but Ethan and Viktor had been all the small family consisted of. So instead they went to those closest to them. Pierce handed Jen the second badge and stepped back as Jen and Max joined the crowd. Another moment of silence fell before the crowd began to disperse. Kevin held Gwen as she cried then he looked up and frowned.
"Where's Jen?" Gwen shot up from her spot in his arms.
"We need to find her." But by the time the reached the hanger where the cars and spacecraft were parked they were too late, Kevin's car was already peeling out and racing off out of the base, Jen alone behind the wheel.
She had no idea why she thought hotwiring Kevin's car was a good idea, or why she wanted to leave so badly but she just couldn't stick around and feel anymore. She put her foot down as soon as she reached the road outside the base, uncaring if there was any traffic around her. She didn't even care that Kevin was probably going to kill her for stealing his car. She didn't even know where she was going, not until she fishtailed onto the dirt road leading to the fishing spot where she'd spent so many hours with him. She stopped the car with a shriek from the brake. But she was so far beyond caring. She picked up his badge from the passenger seat and stumbled out of the car. She made it up to the top of the rock they normally used to watch the stars before the tears came and she howled out in pain again. She didn't have to try and be quiet out here, she didn't have to hold back. There was no one here to hear her anyway. And no one to stop her.
She blinked. A spark of hope blossomed in her heart. There was something she could do. Well not just her. She dropped his badge not even hearing it hit the rock as she spun the dial on the Omnitrix to the transformation she'd sworn to herself she would never use again. Even the outline of Alien X glimmered slightly. She made to slap down the dial and someone caught her wrist. She looked up shocked that even emotionally destroyed as she was someone had managed to sneak up on her. She blinked into the grey eyes of Professor Paradox.
"You can't Jen." He spoke clearly but she shook her head.
"Yes I can!" He tightened his grip on her wrist.
"No you can't." Blue lights flashed around them and Jen blinked around. They were in the same spot, or at least it didn't feel like they'd moved. But the world around her was dust as far as the eye could see. She shook her head. Paradox still hadn't released her hand.
"If you do this, if you bring him back you use the Omnitrix in a way it was never meant to be used." They moved without ever taking a step. They were in Bellwood, but it was deserted and overgrown, nothing moved, there was on life here, and it didn't look like there had been in some time.
"Azmuth sends agents to collect you and stows you away in the Cradle, permanently. Believing that if you would use your celestialsapien form for something so selfish you cannot be trusted with the Omnitrix." Again they moved, this time into a graveyard, broken headstones proclaimed the names 'Max Tennyson', 'Gwen Tennyson' and 'Kevin Levin' alongside her parents and aunt and uncle.
"Your enemies, enraged at the loss of the Omnitrix mount an assault on your world, these are the ones they had time to burry. Ethan dies last in the assault tortured by Vilgax until his heart gives out." Blue lights flashed again and they were back on the rock at the fishing spot. Birds twittered and sung but Jen collapsed to her knees, her wrist still in Paradox's hand.
"You can't bring him back Jen. I have seen everyone I ever loved die and turn to dust in their time. I know how hard it is but if you save him you rain devastation down on your world and countless others." Jen's whole body shook as she sobbed. Paradox knelt in front of her and she shoved him away. She curled up, pulling her knees to her chest and cried. Paradox sat down beside her. It took her a long time to speak. When she did it was almost too quiet for him to hear.
"I should have been here. I could have saved him." She sobbed again. Paradox reached out and gently tilted her chin up.
"Even you can't save everyone." Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks and she buried her head back in her knees.
It took Kevin and Gwen a few hours to track Jen down. Kevin wanted to be mad at her for stealing his car but when he saw her tear stained face he couldn't bring himself to be angry. Gwen pulled her cousin into a hug and Jen returned it. Kevin frowned. For the first time in days she wasn't crying. Instead she had determination glinting in her eyes as she turned to him.
"I need a favor." He nodded, she still looked so defeated in the funeral clothes she'd worn at the base.
"Whatever I can do."
"I need a lock for one of the Omnitrix transformations." Kevin blinked.
"Why?"
"Because right now I can't be trusted to not use it. And if I do use it…" She looked back out over the small body of water behind her almost as though she was looking over the end of the world. "There are some things you're just going to have to trust me about. Can you do it?" Kevin nodded.
"Yeah I think so." It took them eight hours to rig it up. They ended up using a vocal control Kevin didn't know the Omnitrix had to reprogram the device to accept the two keys Jen insisted on. When they finished and Alien X was locked away Kevin tried to hand Jen the keys but she only took one and handed it directly to Gwen.
"I need a real legitimate world ending catastrophe to unlock this again. If I beg you to do it without a reason tell me no. Do not let me use this unless there is no other option." With that she took a deep breath and walked out of Kevin's apartment. He made to follow her but Gwen caught his hand.
"She needs to be on her own right now. I think there's more to these than she's telling us." Kevin nodded and pulled Gwen close. They sat down on the couch unsure of what to do now. It felt sort of like the arm of their team had been cut off. As he held Gwen close Kevin wondered if they would ever truly recover.
